Christmas Sherry: Palo Cortado
….. the rarest of all styles …..
The evolution, perhaps the fluke of nature, whereby a Sherry originally designated as a Fino or Manzanilla in style with its protective layer of flor that is formed on the wine when in barrel, is then transformed into a Palo Cortado, is often difficult to explain. A hybrid is created that encompasses the crispness and elegance of an Amontillado with the power, body and rich texture of an Oloroso.
Palo Cortados account for around 1% of all the Sherry produced. For my palate, this is the finest example of wines from this region, and I am always amazed by the enticing vibrance of these mahogany coloured wines that are opulently exotic on the nose, with a length and purity on the palate that encompasses the flavours of nuts, salinity, dried fruits, and seaweed.
Also, they need food. They give you an appetite and planning ahead to have a collection of morsels to hand as you pour the first glass is an essential component in the enjoyment of these superbly crafted wines.
The three wines below are available from many retailers and merchants. The prices quoted and links take you to the Waitrose site, where there is a generous discount of 25% available until the end of play on Monday 03-Dec-24.
To have a bottle, or two, in the fridge over the festive season is a quintessential element to help deal with the preponderance of frosty mornings, bitter winds, and early darkening afternoons that are now part of daily life.
There is a feel of winter about these wines that sit comfortably as the obvious drink for this season.
1 - Cayetano del Pino Palo Cortado
£11.99 37.5cl - Waitrose when buying 6 or more - offer ends 03-Dec-24
Cayetano del Pino is a Palo Cortado specialist They do it exceptionally well. In a small side street within Jerez, you would never know the bodega was there, tasting a selection of their wines on a Sunday morning a couple of years ago was a real treat. The nose has remarkable depth. The palate, delivers a complex and lavish array of flavours that wakens the taste buds and slightly stuns the senses with the first sip as the layer upon layer of nuances unfolds. Delicious, and one glass is never enough.
2 - Williams & Humbert Dos Cortados 20-Year-Old Palo Cortado
£18.74 50cl - Waitrose when buying 6 or more - offer ends 03-Dec-24
Slightly paler in colour - but only slightly - than the Cayetano, lighter on the nose and palate. There is still intensity here, but in a more refined and approachable package. As exquisite, and simply a marginally fresher variant, even though it is at leat 20 years old. This works with charcuterie, anchovies, gruyere, roasted nuts and stuffed olives. Apparently, they only release around 1,000 bottles per year of this luxurious brew.
3 - Gonzalez Byass Apostoles Palo Cortado Viejo
£18.74 37.5cl - Waitrose when buying 6 or more - offer ends 03-Dec-24
Is this the perfect wine to accompany cheese at the end of lunch? Almost certainly. Leave the Tawny Port for supper, and offer guests this alongside Shropshire Blue, richly oozing camembert, crisp parmesan, and mature Tunworth. This is a hybrid of a hybrid. It has around 10% Pedro Ximenez - the grape use for creating Cream Sherries - that gives it an interestingly approachable polish that reveals dried figs and raisins sitting amongst notes of vanilla and roasted hazelnuts. Concentration with lots of beautifully crafted length: it sits on the palate for a long time. Tricky not to have several glasses.
