Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Gran Reserva, Montilla-Moriles, Spain

托羅阿巴拉酒莊特級珍藏佩德羅-希梅內斯雪莉酒

點擊次數：19627

The 1990 Don PX Gran Reserva has unusually high sugar, close to 400 grams (when this range is usually less than 360). Compared with the rest of wines, this feels like a very good value. These wines mature in old 550-liter American oak casks for decades, and the wines have great concentration. It felt unusually perfumed, a little spirity and with notes that made me think of Moscatel—notes of orange peel and flowers, and of course the raisin and dry dates and figs from these wines made with raisins. It's sweet and dense like motor oil and leaves a combination of raisins and chocolate in the spicy and faintly warm finish. This was bottled in early 2019.

Tasting old sweet PX from Toro Albalá is like a roller coaster ride, which started with the 1988 Don PX Gran Reserva, what for them is their more commercial range, a wine that at close to 30 years of age is still unbottled. They compared it with the 1981 (which I never tasted), because it was a warm year with an exceptional harvest. It has 16.4% alcohol, 340 grams of residual sugar and mixes notes of youth, raisins, figs and dates with other aromas of a long aging like tar, graphite, chocolate and licorice. It doesn't feel too sweet but compared with the other wines tasted next to it, it doesn't have the complexity or depth. They expect to produce 25,200 bottles and 36,000 half bottles of this.

Brandy-soaked prune, blueberry reduction and warm molten chocolate notes are layered here, with a rounded and very sweet finish redolent of intense black licorice. Distinctive, and not for the faint of heart. Drink now. 4,000 cases made, 1,000 cases imported.??–JM??Region: Spain / Montilla-Moriles Select to Add

Each year they select a number of single vintage, sweet PX wines to be bottled, the first of which (besides the young wine) is the 1987 Don Px Gran Reserva in 2016 - a wine aged in American oak casks for some 28 years. These wines are almost indestructible, so the drinking windows are mostly academic. This showcases the classical aromas and palate of an old PX from Montilla, strong notes of dark chocolate, dried figs and plums, raisins and sweet spices; the dense, thick and persistent palate where the 380 grams of unfermented sugar are not noticeable, as they are balanced by good acidity that also gets concentrated by age. This is probably the densest of all the wines I tasted today, and there is a distinct, perfumed, almost floral note here (is it violet pastille?), which makes it extremely attractive. It's also the most drinkable of all these old vintages, very balanced within its sweet profile, with marked flavors (also licorice and black olives) that stay in your mouth for one minute. Exotic and exuberant. This is incredibly young and lively, and very good value for the age and quality it delivers. 52,000 liters bottled in 750- and 375-milliliter bottles. The price is for a 750-milliliters.

Toro Albalá has been releasing vintage-dated, sweet wines in chronological order for a while (I have great memories of the 1972) and the 'current' release is the 1986 Don PX Gran Reserva, which is a dark, sweet and concentrated dessert wine aged in American oak casks until bottling in June 2014. It has 350 grams of residual sugar. It's extremely dark, motor oil-dense, sweet wine with notes of raisins, hints of flowers, minty with aromas of candied orange peel and herbs, really aromatic and showy. The palate is dense, with the sweetness balanced by good acidity plus spicy and chocolate flavors. 40,000 bottles and 25,000 half bottles produced. The price shown is for a full bottle.