Canasta 20 años Cream

Canasta 20 años Cream is a Sherry from Williams & Humbert, a Jerez bodega with more than a century of history whose founders helped shape the modern D.O. Jerez-Xérès-Sherry. It is a Cream style, built from dry Palomino aged oxidatively and sweetened with Pedro Ximénez, both grown on the chalky albariza soils of the Jerez region, where the pale limestone holds winter rain through the hot, dry summer. The base wine is fortified and aged for an average of twenty years in the criaderas and soleras system, where younger and older wines are fractionally blended as the wine moves down through the casks. Long oxidative ageing concentrates the wine and develops deep colour, nutty complexity and a caramelised, dried-fruit character, while the Pedro Ximénez brings unctuous sweetness. The wine is mahogany in the glass, with a nose of raisin, date and walnut. The palate is sweet and viscous yet balanced, with caramel, toffee, dried fig and orange marmalade through a long finish. Serve lightly cool at 12 to 14 degrees in a small glass.