Palo Cortado Tradición VORS

Palo Cortado Tradición VORS is produced by Bodegas Tradición, a Jerez house founded in 1998 to continue the legacy of CZ-J.M. Rivero, a bodega dating to 1650 that once supplied the royal houses of Spain and Portugal. It is made from Palomino grown on the chalky albariza soils of the region, whose limestone base reflects sunlight and holds winter rain to carry the vines through the dry summer. Palo Cortado is the rarest classified Sherry style: it starts to develop under flor like a Fino, then loses the veil and finishes its long life oxidatively like an Oloroso, taking the finesse of one and the body of the other. The wine is aged in the criaderas and soleras system, a fractional blending across stacked barrels, for an average of more than thirty years, the VORS mark confirming that age. The colour is deep mahogany. The nose is fine and elegant, showing bitter almond, a pastry note and a balsamic edge. The palate is delicate to begin, then turns sharp, dry and saline, finishing very long. Serve cool at 13 to 15C in a copita. It suits aged cheeses, cured meats, mushrooms and roasted roots.