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Joseph Bembry
Wine Lover
Posts:4876
 | | 05/26/2003 2:00 AM |
| You really don't want to pair this with a dessert as it is a meal unto itself. I just tossed this in a brandy snifter (only clean fairly decent vessel) and kicked back and let it rip.
Wine is a deep brown amber color with a gold rim. Extremely powerful nose of raisins, brown sugar and roasted nuts (from a NY street vendor). Very thick and full bodied. This sherry coats my teeth. Loads of figs with butter, prunes and other dried fruits. Very long finish and good acid balance. Outstanding. jb Rating 96 pts.
This is not for everyone. It takes someone with a real sweet tooth to enjoy it, but I think this is amazing stuff. A great dessert all by itself.
jb | | | |
| wineismylife
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts:12265
| | 05/26/2003 2:09 AM |
| Couldn't agree with you more jb. Check these notes out as well:
Here | |
Joe
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Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. | |
| Joseph Bembry
Wine Lover
Posts:4876
| | 05/26/2003 2:19 AM |
| Damn, I should have done a search first. My bad...
The Sherry I had was not the Amontillado and from your description neither is the one you had. Alvears' NV Amontillado is more nutty and lighter. It is excellent as well. This stuff however is fantastic. If you love sweet things you will adore this Sherry.
jb | | | |
| wineismylife
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts:12265
| | 05/26/2003 2:29 AM |
| jb, I will qualify our note. We were having an offline and I think this was bottle 15 out of 17 so it is very possible our notes were not precise, to say the least! Either way, I'd buy either one by the half case in a heart beat. Simply outstanding sherry.
Now, I'm off to taste my R.L. Buller Fine Muscat Victoria NV. | |
Joe
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Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. | |
| ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts:442
| | 05/26/2003 8:17 AM |
| OK, my specs have fallen off my nose with laughter, now stop the fun at my expense. "I know you're doing this on purpose" (  ):
I posted a note on this in the sweet wines section, then saw another apparently on the same wine but with the word amontillado in the name (this just can't be right because there's no such thing as amontillado de añada from 2000). Now a third TN comes in but in Euro-other. It's awfully representative of the Sherry marketing outside Spain: "I loved it but I'd have a hard time trying to order it again in a restaurant"
It's ALL "our" fault but I'll try to make it user-friendly (well, almost) for a change:
1- Montilla-Moriles is the D.O. (appellation) name. It's made up with the names of two cities in the Cordoba region. Alvear has all its products there.
2- M-M is the other fortified-producing area in Spain besides the Sherry D.O. (properly called "Jerez-Xeres-Sherry-Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda" See what I mean when I say it's our fault?)
3- The Jerez appellation has given name to a fortified wine generically called "Sherry" (I know you know that but also that it doesn't help much). This covers anything from the pale Manzanilla to the fino, amontillado, oloroso, palo cortado and sweet PX wines...when made in the Jerez D.O. Each style is made there and we'll all call it "sherry".
4- Montilla gave origin to the word "Amontillado", a dry fortified style that has nothing to do with the sweet wine under review. "Amontillado" was the adjective used to refer to a fino aged in the Montilla style (and transformed into what today is known as a dry, pungent, nutty amontillado). This should put and end to the question...
5-...were it not for the fact that the grape that almost monopolizes the M-M region (used in all of its styles: fino, amontillado, oloroso...) is Pedro Ximénez...the same one that's used only for sweet PX wines in Jerez.
6- So while in the Jerez D.O. they use "Palomino" for all the dry styles and PX only for the SWEET PX (and in many cases they legally bring the PX grapes from M-M because it's the ageing process that gives the right to use the appellation, not the grape source, in stickies at least, I believe), in M-M they use Pedro Ximénez for all the styles, dry or sweet.
I don't know if I've made things worse or not but I'm willing to answer any more ambiguities that I'm sure I've opened with this...
My original TN is here:
http://www.vinocellar.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=DessertWineTNs&Number=27438&Forum=All_Forums&Words=213&Match=Username&Searchpage=1&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=27438&Search=true#Post27438
I mean it when I say there's better stuff, no matter what RMP may say...and the 98 was better balanced | | | |
| wineismylife
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts:12265
| | 05/26/2003 1:40 PM |
| | I'm still confused Gastro. Basically, the only thing that matters on that label is "2000 Alvear"? Montilla-Moriles describes the appellation and Pedro Ximenez describes the grapes; both of which are basically useless because if we buy vintage sherry we will probably be buying from the Montilla-Moriles area where Pedro Ximenez grapes are produced, both 80% of the time, correct? | |
Joe
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Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. | |
| ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts:442
| | 05/26/2003 1:55 PM |
| Yep, the thing is that this is a PX "de añada" so vintage may be important, and the fact that it's going to be a sweet style. The label emphasis on "PX" is an unconscious wink to the fact that people outside the area associate PX with a sweet wine. Alvear's own vintage Fino is sure made with Pedro Ximénez, but obviously no one would perceive it as a potentially sweet wine at all, as the category fino is by definition a (very) dry wine.
There will be more vintage releases from other producers in the future, but so far the other vintage (sweet) PX in the market are virtually all (both) from Toro Albalá (the young stuff is also a 2000, I think, and now there is a range of very old PX but the current old-year out there is 1975, the others are VERY rare and not so good as they are old).
Also, if you can lay your hands on a 50 cl bottle of Sweet vintage PX made by a coop in Montilla-Moriles and called "Piedra Luenga" give it a try. It's not so balanced but the density and sweetness are simply mindnumbing. A shot of insuline may be in order....  | | | |
| Joseph Bembry
Wine Lover
Posts:4876
| | 05/26/2003 3:34 PM |
| Thanks for clearing up some things, Gastro. In addition, the Amontillado is made from 100% PX, but is dry as you stated. 90% of all sherry is from the Palomino grape.
Gastro, how do these vintage PX's age? Is there any reason to lay it down or should it just be consumed now? BTW, after having the '01 Henry's Drive Reserve last night (15% alc) this PX knocked me on my ass last night. It's always the sweet wines that get you. The residual sugar masks that alcohol and you just keep drinking it and then, all of a sudden... 
jb | | | |
| wineismylife
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts:12265
| | 05/26/2003 3:51 PM |
| Tell me about it jb. My wife and I split a 750ml Zin @ 15.5% alcohol, a 750ml Cab @ 14.5% and a 375ml Buller @ 18.0%. Needless to say, I slept in this morning.
Gastro, I'd like to hear your comments as well on the ageability of these wines. Vintage Sherries are new to me. | |
Joe
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Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. | |
| ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts:442
| | 05/26/2003 4:12 PM |
| Well, I'm totally at a loss when it comes to the ageability of this particular style, among other things because there's no track record, and not even much 98 available around in proper condition.
This style demands some decent acidity to balance all that sweetness, but a PX V.O.R.S. (30+ years old) from Jerez (say...Noé) or the fabulous Toro Albalá 1972 from M-M DO have it, so the real question seems to be whether these vintage PX are premature releases or just an altogether different product. I'll post this question in a Spanish forum and see what feedback I can get.
As far I know the question is not vintage vs. NV but rather the age of release and the style of sherry. González Byass produces small quantities of vintage Oloroso (now from the early 70s) and I read ($$) it's beautiful, but olorosos pose different problems. The question there is aggressiveness from too long a crianza (even higher alcohol level from evaporation, bitter tannin).
Gimme a few days... | | | |
| wineismylife
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts:12265
| | 05/26/2003 5:45 PM |
| Thanks Gastro. I appreciate your input.
Saludos. | |
Joe
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Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. | |
| Tim
Barrel Filler
Posts:1465
| | 05/26/2003 5:51 PM |
| My thanks as well, I've found this quite interesting, if not just a little bit confusing  , which is no fault of the author. Thanks Gastro!  | | | |
| ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts:442
| | 05/28/2003 8:53 AM |
| Got a response from "the boss" VÃctor de la Serna ("VS" at Squires) who says there shouldn't be a longevity problem due to high-everything in the wines, but possibly these are not meant to age the way their older brothers are. We "want" them youthful.
A different story is the collecting bug: whether future vintages will be as good or prices will get busted upward. BTW he says he likes this 2000 better than the 98, so there's diversity of opinions to pick from...and in a couple of years you'll have been exposed to several vintages to compare...and that's part of the plan behind vintage sherry, I imagine.
Meanwhile drink these in 2-3 years and keep one or two under cellar conditions to see the evolution (I can't) and surprise me in 6 years time with a TN that makes me wish I had kept some
The thread (in Spanish) is here here
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| Joseph Bembry
Wine Lover
Posts:4876
| | 05/28/2003 12:29 PM |
| Thanks, Gastro. I only have one bottle left. I will try to secure some more and do just that.
jb | | | |
| Sacred Cow
Wine Thief
Posts:2764
| | 05/28/2003 12:47 PM |
| I would like to clear up some of the confusion about what we tasted in Denver. Unfortunately, when we opened this bottle, it was the 15th of 17 we tried that night, and I do not have the dead soldier.
However, between BenTheWineBerg and I, we have purchased 18 more bottles of this in town, to be shared amongst those who were at the last tasting. Hopefully, we can get some real notes on this wine.
The case of 12 that I found in town seems to be this wine, though it does not look any different than the one we had back then. I propose opening one on June 6th a little earlier in the evening to check it out.
I know that Ben purchased six for $14, including tax, after a mixed case discount. I paid $16 per bottle, less a 10% case discount from a local store www.worldcellars.com if you cannot find anywhere else. They did still have some left (8 bottles?), but no guarantees after June 6th.
Mike | | | |
| ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts:442
| | 05/28/2003 1:19 PM |
| | If it was sweet and said 2000 rather than 1927 then it'sthis one | | | |
| wineismylife
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts:12265
| | 05/28/2003 1:25 PM |
| Mike, we definitely had this bottle that jb posted on. I copied the label from the bottle exactly the next day.
Thanks for the notes on ageability Gastro. I tried to read the post in Spanish (I need the practice). I got from the post that there should be no problem trying to age the wine because of the high acidity but that there is no reason to do so - the wine is meant to be drank young. I think I will do what you propose: I have six of these waiting on me in Denver. I will save at least 2 to drink 3-5 years down the road to follow the progress of this wine.
Gracias. | |
Joe
-----
Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. | |
| Joseph Bembry
Wine Lover
Posts:4876
| | 05/28/2003 10:23 PM |
| Mudpuppy is currently trying to locate some more for me.
jb | | | |
| wineismylife
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts:12265
| | 07/04/2007 4:29 PM |
| I'll use this thread since my original tasting note has apparently been deleted.Â
2000 Alvear Montilla-Moriles Pedro Ximénez de Añada - Spain, AndalucÃa, Montilla-Moriles (7/3/2007)
WIML92,PURPLE91,WA95,WS87
Tasted July 3rd & 4th, 2007 at home. Opened and served immediately in a Spiegelau Authentis Sweet Wine glass. Dark amber color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of toffee, brown sugar and sorghum. Flavors of toffee, sorghum, honey and roasted nuts. Medium acidity, medium body. Thick and viscous on the palate but not really cloying. Quite enjoyable. Seems to have settled down quite a bit over the last year or so. Drink or hold. (92 pts.)
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Joe
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Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. | |
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