Toro Albalá Don PX Pedro Ximénez Gran Reserva 1994 375ml

17% ABV. Toro Albalá put aside select lots of their best vintage wines for later release under this label. These rich and complex Pedro Ximénez wines are destined for very long ageing in oak barrels. After filling and sealing, these barrels are left for decades in their single-vintage state. It's during this slow maturation that the wines undertake their delicious, savoury transformation (through controlled exposure to oxygen) which brings the nutty, iodine, rancio characters that infinitely complexes the sweet, fruit cakey wine and also somehow gives a greater impression of freshness.

Naturally, as the wines age, they concentrate in flavour and texture, the colour darkens and the mouthfeel thickens and yet at the same time something more vibrant emerges as the levels of acidity also rise. With close to 30 years in barrel, the 1994 is absolutely singing. The perfume is lifted and reminds not only of raisins and liquorice but also of geranium and fresh grape seeds. The palate is thick and sweet yet so complex, with crushed raisin, ground coffee, bitter chocolate and roasted almond rancio notes. It perfumes the mouth from minutes after swallowing. 387 grams of residual. Keeps forever once opened. Stunning value.

"So much toffee and burnt sugar. Oyster and iodine. Like bitter liqueur. It's full-bodied and sweet, but not overpowering. Wonderful, sweet finish. Drink now." 93 points, Jamessuckling.com

Country: Spain
Producer: Toro Albala
Region: Montilla Moriles