Toro Albala Amontillado NV

As the name suggests this is seriously old Amontillado. Like all of Toro Albala's wines it is made from 100% Pedro grapes. The average age of the wine when bottled is 30 -35 years old (with a minimum age of 25 years old). It's a dry wine, yet remarkably, at 21% ABV., the wine has not been fortified: the ripeness of the fruit's sugars at picking coupled with the length of ageing accounts for all the natural alcohol in the wine. This is legendary stuff amongst the Bibendum Sherry clique, not least for the fact that it's such a great pound-for-pound value. While it's the younger Fino and Manzanilla wines that are leading the line, as Sherry continues its slow retreat out of the drawing room and onto the restaurant table and wine bar counter, it's wines of this ilk that are providing the quality back up. Smooth, smoky, and deeply complex, it's a fittingly contemplative example of the style.