Valdespino Palo Cortado Viejo CP VOS

Valdespino Palo Cortado Viejo CP VOS is made by Valdespino, a Jerez house with origins in the 13th century and a long reputation for traditional ageing, now part of Grupo Estévez. It is pure Palomino Fino from the albariza chalk soils around Jerez, where the bright porous subsoil stores winter rain and reflects the summer heat to ripen the grape while keeping its acidity. Palo Cortado is the rarest style of sherry, a wine that began under a veil of flor like a Fino or Amontillado but lost that veil early and shifted to oxidative ageing, so it combines the finesse of an Amontillado nose with the body of an Oloroso. The VOS designation guarantees an average age of more than 20 years through the criaderas and soleras, the long oxidation concentrating the wine and converting alcohol to acetaldehyde. It is deep amber with a fine, dry palate of walnut, hazelnut and orange peel over dried apricot and oak, finishing saline and persistent. Serve at around 14 degrees in a copita, with aged cheese, jamón, mushroom dishes or game.