Alvear Fino C.B.

Bodegas Alvear, founded in 1729, is the oldest winery in Andalusia and works the Montilla-Moriles appellation in the province of Córdoba. The grape here is Pedro Ximénez, grown on albariza, the white chalk soil that stores winter rainfall and helps the vines through the long, hot summers. Unlike neighbouring Jerez, Montilla's warmer climate ripens the fruit to a strength high enough that this Fino can develop biologically without much added spirit. The wine spends 48 months in American oak under a veil of flor, the film of yeast that grows on the surface of the wine and lives off its oxygen and alcohol. That flor blocks oxidation and gives Fino its bone dry, bread-dough, almond character. The C.B. initials, drawn from a cellar marking, identify one of the bodega's classic bottlings. It pours bright pale straw, with a nose of almond, fresh dough and green apple over a yeasty depth. The palate is dry, clean and slightly sharp, with a saline tang and a crisp finish. Serve well chilled in a white wine glass, with olives, fried fish, cured meats or shellfish.