Barbadillo Amontillado Principe

Barbadillo is one of the giants of the Marco de Jerez, producing across a wide range, and this Amontillado Príncipe is among its more serious wines. It is made from Palomino Fino on the chalk-white albariza soils of the Jerez region and aged fifteen years through the two stages that define an amontillado. For the first eight years it ages biologically under flor, the veil of yeast that consumes the wine's sugar and oxygen, leaving it bone dry and lending bready, saline character while shielding it from air. The flor then dies back and the wine spends seven more years in oxidative ageing, in slow contact with air through the cask, which darkens the colour and develops deep nutty and dried-fruit complexity. The colour is a beautiful amber. The nose is complex and intense, with almond, hazelnut and orange peel over a savoury base. The palate is dry, concentrated and long, with roasted nut, dried apricot, caramel and an umami depth on the finish. Serve cool at 13 to 15 degrees in a copita or white-wine glass. It is a wine for savoury dishes and aged cheese rather than an aperitif.