After a really intense week I am only now getting around to reading this fascinating piece by Paco del Castillo on what he calls Spain’s hidden gem: Montilla Moriles. It follows on from an absolutely stratospheric tasting a week ago where the panel at elmundovino.com gave no fewer than three wines 19/20 and a further five 18.5/20 – and that in a tasting with no Don PX. 

For my part, I can only agree with the scores of the wines I have tried – the Toro Albala 1951 Amontillado in particular is an absolute delight and, while I only tried them on the fly, the 1955 Solera Cincuentenaria range by Perez Barquero and Abuelo Diego by Alvear also struck me as absolutely excellent. 

In general, I have a feeling that while not quite as expressive as young wines, these px tend to age even more gracefully than their palomino counterparts – maybe it is the higher glycerine content – and really benefit from a bit of additional time. The same applies to the finos even – the Capataz and the Gran Barquero en rama really gain from more solera. That glycerine also mitigates the extreme dryness and acidity that can be there in the real dinosaurs so they win every way up. 

So well done again Elmundovino.com – they may not be the only distinguished critics to pick this up (Don Luis was very keen earlier this year) and indeed none of the top wines in this tasting are being given away, but it is a timely recognition of another corner of excellent Spanish wines.