Osborne Venerable Pedro Ximenez VORS

Venerable Pedro Ximenez VORS comes from Osborne in El Puerto de Santa Maria, drawn from a solera founded in 1902 that was long one of the most prestigious of the Domecq stable. The VORS designation marks an average age above thirty years, placing it among the most aged styles in Jerez. The Pedro Ximenez grapes are sun-dried and dehydrated, then pressed, and fermentation is halted by adding pure wine alcohol to lock in the sweetness. The wine then ages for decades in oak under the criaderas and soleras system, where younger wine is fractionally blended into older casks. Over such a long oxidative ageing the wine concentrates as water passes through the wood, the colour turns near black and the profile deepens from fresh dried fruit toward roasted, savoury complexity. The nose is layered and deep, with raisin and prune over roasted nuts, coffee and molasses. The palate is thick and sweet, but the great age brings a dry, almost bitter edge and a very long finish that keeps it balanced. Serve cool in a small glass after dinner, with dark chocolate, a slice of nutty fruit cake or an aged hard cheese.