The author is suffering from a severe hangover this morning but one that was well earned after a great night drinking some brilliant wines (and, it must be said, a top brandy).

As always, it will take a while to fully digest the learnings – and indeed find my notes – from last night but I wanted to share some immediate general impressions.

• First, the Coleccion Añadas is a brilliant concept well executed. Sincere congratulations and thanks to Williams & Humbert for putting together this boxed set which made for a fascinating tasting.
• Most importantly, the wines are very attractive, approachable wines with a clear personality to them – elegant for the most part but with juicy hazelnut, and very attractive on the nose in particular.
• In the spirit of the collection we tasted by añadas – the 2012s followed by the 2009s, the 2006 Vintage Fino and the 2003s – and although we were not comparing like with like it was curious to note that the wines from warmer years came across as finer, more elegant than we might have expected.
• There was of course a very notable difference in character between the finos and the olorosos – even at the younger end of the scale – but the differences between the different years were just as marked and very interesting. In particular, the finos became richer and more oxidated as went back in time and definitely gained in complexity – the 2006 Vintage Fino in particular was superb and the 2003 Amontillado was almost as good.
• Having said that, I also thought the 2012s were excellent and a great advertisement for the “less is more” theory of wine making. I really think these wines with limited biological or traditional ageing are a way forward for the region in terms of winning over wine enthusiasts in general.

So all in all some cracking wines and another great learning experience, which was enriched in particular thanks to the great Victor de la Serna, who joined us as a special guest and brought along, in addition to some quality insights, a Magnum of his excellent 2004 Finca Sandoval.

And finally, a word on the food, which was absolutely delicious – the pisto, the rabbit, the pigeon, really out of this world.  Yet another enormous thankyou to the crew at Taberna Verdejo for their outstanding hospitality.