Ximenez-Spinola Old Harvest

Profile:

Rich fig, toffee, toasted nuts, a decadent and complex Spanish dessert wine.

How It Was Made:

Grapes harvested by hand and exposed to the sun for 3 days in addition to the usual harvest. They are taken to the winery in small boxes of no more than 15 kg and fermented in barrels until they reach 17º natural alcohol. When this graduation is not exactly reached, it is acquired by concentration in the barrel itself. It is incorporated into our Solera from 1964. 100% Pedro Ximénez Oxidative Aged wine, “unique piece” in the entire Marco de Jerez. White variety that behaves “dry” with notes very similar to “Palo Cortado” and “Oloroso”, but with the subtlety and elegance of a grape that has never been bottled with this particular elaboration. It is not the typical Oxidative Aged Sherry wine, in fact the alcoholic perception is minimal thanks to the fact that the degree is obtained by fermentation and by concentration in barrels. For this reason and to avoid refermentation, the addition of raisin juice, which softens the wine and leaves unfermented sugars, is done very carefully each year, adding very few litres per ageing barrel, until reaching 45 grams per litre in the last year. The selected barrels are blended a year before being bottled in a proportion in which the notes of Oxidative Ageing predominate, but in which the oak edges are avoided, following sensory tasting criteria, in order not to distort the final balance achieved. The objective is to achieve a balanced harmony between age, oak tannins, fermentative alcohol and the characteristics of the Pedro Ximénez variety.