This was not the first sherry I ever had but it was the first to make me sit up and really take notice. I am spoiling myself after a few days of rustic holiday with the family, during which sherry was notable by its absence. Besides, I see from the blog that I last opened a bottle way back in February!

This wonderful palo cortado was released back in February 2012 and you will struggle to find any nowadays (I reimported a half case from the UK last year) although you can find wines from the same solera if you know where to look (there are clues on this blog).  It was sourced by Equipo Navazos from selected botas in a solera held by the almacenista Garcia Jarana and then finished in their instalation in Bodegas Fernando de Castilla before bottling. Since then it has had four and a half years in the bottle and half my excuse for opening it was to see what difference that time might have made. 

The colour is as lovely as I remember, and it has a fantastic nose of sweet brandy and nuts – maybe not quite as explosive a nose as I remember. Then a nice cool entry, zing and burn of salinity with nutty toffee and then some slightly more bitter,  tobacco and woody notes and that long, mouth watering finish. 

Maybe, maybe a touch less explosiveness and sweetness, a touch more tobacco, but a lovely wine in the prime of its life – terrific.