Andalusia
Andalusia, a region in southern Spain, is a captivating wine destination that offers a diverse range of fine wines. With its warm climate, unique terroir, and rich winemaking traditions, Andalusia is renowned for producing exceptional wines that reflect the region's cultural heritage and dedication to quality.
One of the most famous vineyards in Andalusia is Bodegas Tradición, a family-owned winery known for its exquisite Sherry wines. Their Sherries, including Fino, Amontillado, and Oloroso, showcase the region's mastery in producing these fortified wines with distinct flavors, aromas, and aging processes.
Andalusia is celebrated for its fortified wines, particularly the world-renowned Sherries from the Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda regions. Bodegas Lustau, González Byass, and Bodegas Tradición are among the notable producers that craft exceptional Sherries with a range of styles, from bone-dry to lusciously sweet.
The region is also known for its unique dessert wine, Pedro Ximénez (PX). Vineyards such as Alvear, Toro Albalá, and Bodegas Robles specialize in crafting luscious, intensely sweet PX wines that exhibit flavors of raisins, figs, caramel, and a velvety texture.
While Andalusia is famous for its fortified and dessert wines, it also produces notable table wines. The Montilla-Moriles region, known for its wine made from the Pedro Ximénez grape, offers dry white wines with crisp acidity and distinctive nutty flavors. Vineyards such as Pérez Barquero and Bodegas Alvear produce outstanding examples of these wines.
Andalusia's fine wines beautifully capture the region's rich history, vibrant culture, and exceptional winemaking traditions. Whether you're sipping a bone-dry Sherry, indulging in a luscious PX dessert wine, or enjoying a crisp Montilla-Moriles white, Andalusian wines promise a journey of flavors that reflect the region's unique terroir and winemaking expertise.
Andalusia
-
Wine Advocate (100)
Alvear’s 2011 Pedro Ximenez de Anada is the most amazing Pedro Ximenez I have ever tasted. It may also be one of the first to be vintage-dated. The grapes were hand-harvested in September, then allowed to dry in the sunshine until they began fermentation, which is ultimately arrested by the addition of spirits. The wine spent six months in large American oak prior to being bottled. It is an amazing effort that looks like molasses. Notes of macerated figs, chocolate and caramelized tropical fruits emerge from this full-bodied, unctuously-textured wine. While sweet, it has enough acidity to balance out its richness. This astonishing 2011 Pedro Ximenez will last as long as any reader of this newsletter.Inc. TAX€372.80 -
Wine Advocate (96)
The 2014 Pedro Ximenez de Anada is dark amber and sweet, with notes of honeyed figs, maple syrup, toffee and almond liqueur. It is rich and unctuous, very full-bodied and a serious decadent elixir. It should last for 20-30 years, or more.Inc. TAX€290.33 -
Wine Advocate (98)
The amazing, pedal to the metal/full throttle/balls to the wall, sweet 1910 Pedro Ximenez Solera is a dark amber-colored, full-bodied, unctuously-textured beauty that should be sipped and savored slowly and carefully at the end of a meal with a plate of cashews. It is remarkable stuff. The price is not high for what it represents.Inc. TAX€259.43 -
Wine Advocate (98)
The NV Pedro Ximenez Solera 1927 is non-vintage, but does have some 1927 material in it. This is totally dark brown/amber with notes of figs, toffee, caramel syrup, molasses and coffee. It is dense, super sweet, intense, rich and an amazingly, unctuously textured, thick beverage to consume slowly and introspectively after a meal. Drink now through 2050, or even longer.Inc. TAX€254.33 -
Wine Advocate (100)
The new bottling of the NV Reliquia Palo Cortado comes in a small bottle with a handmade and different label every year (so, each year the Palo Cortado is different in style and all the labels in that bottling are slightly different, as they are painted by hand by the artist, but in the same style). These are wines that, unless something very strange happens, are not going to show any differences, because the rotation of wine in the bottles is really small, as they all have their soleras and criaderas because of how the system is managed, especially in the case of the Palo Cortado, which is the more abundant of these Reliquia wines. In any case, these wines can get more concentrated and powerful, but they are already so concentrated and powerful that it is difficult to notice any differences. This wine will outlive us all. Only 80 half bottles are available yearly for the whole world.Inc. TAX€931.79 -
Decanter (98)
A new-wave Sherry by winemakers Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Perez makes its debut on the Place de Bordeaux this September. 100% Palomino Fino grapes come from the 3.35-hectare San Cayetano vineyard in Macharnudo, planted in 1988. Beautifully fragranced nose, really perfumed and floral, scented with wildflowers. The wine sees one year of flor ageing but it's distinctly dry and round on the palate. There's a thickness to the texture, like thick honey but with salted, softly spiced edges and a core of bright lemon, peach and pear that gives tang, energy and excitement to the expression. Poised and refined, this has a lovely ease about it, beautifully textured and fully flavoured with mouthwatering acidity and bursts of bright citrus zest that counter the saltiness - close your eyes and you could be by the beach! Interesting and captivating, long and lingering, crying out to be eaten with nuts. lovely sea salt spray, close your eyes and you're at the beach! limestone. Small production of only 6,000 bottles.Inc. TAX€663.22 -
Wine Advocate (100)
The 1946 Don PX Convento Seleccion produced with Pedro Ximenez grapes dehydrated under the sun at the time of the Second World War, was only bottled in September 2011. This is an extreme wine, my first descriptor was ultra-mega-super concentrated. It is unbelievably powerful, both in the nose and the palate, full of umami, with sweet cinnamon, Christmas cake, camphor, petrol, lemongrass, Belgian chocolate and butter. Incredibly complex and rich, sweet, balanced and smooth in the palate, it is both very sweet and somehow salty, and with time it develops a black olive note. It combines the texture of the 1962 and the elegance of the 1949. It is as decadent as it gets. 825 bottles were produced. This wine will survive all of us. These wines are kept for generations and offered in very small quantities, but it’s amazing that you can still buy and drink something so old, and I’m even tempted to say that it might represent good value for what it is. A real tour de force sweet wine. Drink it if you ever have the privilege to do so from 2013-2060.Inc. TAX€1,818.44 -
Wine Advocate (97-98)
The oldest of the sweet wines I tried this time was the 1958 Don PX Convento Selección, a very complex and nuanced wine with notes of charred wood, tar, coal, bitter dark chocolate, licorice, roasted coffee beans and aromatic herbs. The palate is compact with no fissures and a bitterness that compensates the sweetness (it has 350 grams of sugar, so it's not a surprise that it doesn't feel as sweet as others). It's relatively dense, complex, rare and unique. They expect to produce 14,200 bottles of this elixir.Inc. TAX€543.73 -
Inc. TAX€263.17
-
Wine Advocate (100)
Alvear’s 2011 Pedro Ximenez de Anada is the most amazing Pedro Ximenez I have ever tasted. It may also be one of the first to be vintage-dated. The grapes were hand-harvested in September, then allowed to dry in the sunshine until they began fermentation, which is ultimately arrested by the addition of spirits. The wine spent six months in large American oak prior to being bottled. It is an amazing effort that looks like molasses. Notes of macerated figs, chocolate and caramelized tropical fruits emerge from this full-bodied, unctuously-textured wine. While sweet, it has enough acidity to balance out its richness. This astonishing 2011 Pedro Ximenez will last as long as any reader of this newsletter.In Bond€307.00 -
Wine Advocate (96)
The 2014 Pedro Ximenez de Anada is dark amber and sweet, with notes of honeyed figs, maple syrup, toffee and almond liqueur. It is rich and unctuous, very full-bodied and a serious decadent elixir. It should last for 20-30 years, or more.In Bond€230.00 -
Wine Advocate (98)
The amazing, pedal to the metal/full throttle/balls to the wall, sweet 1910 Pedro Ximenez Solera is a dark amber-colored, full-bodied, unctuously-textured beauty that should be sipped and savored slowly and carefully at the end of a meal with a plate of cashews. It is remarkable stuff. The price is not high for what it represents.In Bond€205.00 -
Wine Advocate (98)
The NV Pedro Ximenez Solera 1927 is non-vintage, but does have some 1927 material in it. This is totally dark brown/amber with notes of figs, toffee, caramel syrup, molasses and coffee. It is dense, super sweet, intense, rich and an amazingly, unctuously textured, thick beverage to consume slowly and introspectively after a meal. Drink now through 2050, or even longer.In Bond€200.00 -
Wine Advocate (100)
The new bottling of the NV Reliquia Palo Cortado comes in a small bottle with a handmade and different label every year (so, each year the Palo Cortado is different in style and all the labels in that bottling are slightly different, as they are painted by hand by the artist, but in the same style). These are wines that, unless something very strange happens, are not going to show any differences, because the rotation of wine in the bottles is really small, as they all have their soleras and criaderas because of how the system is managed, especially in the case of the Palo Cortado, which is the more abundant of these Reliquia wines. In any case, these wines can get more concentrated and powerful, but they are already so concentrated and powerful that it is difficult to notice any differences. This wine will outlive us all. Only 80 half bottles are available yearly for the whole world.In Bond€771.00 -
Decanter (98)
A new-wave Sherry by winemakers Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Perez makes its debut on the Place de Bordeaux this September. 100% Palomino Fino grapes come from the 3.35-hectare San Cayetano vineyard in Macharnudo, planted in 1988. Beautifully fragranced nose, really perfumed and floral, scented with wildflowers. The wine sees one year of flor ageing but it's distinctly dry and round on the palate. There's a thickness to the texture, like thick honey but with salted, softly spiced edges and a core of bright lemon, peach and pear that gives tang, energy and excitement to the expression. Poised and refined, this has a lovely ease about it, beautifully textured and fully flavoured with mouthwatering acidity and bursts of bright citrus zest that counter the saltiness - close your eyes and you could be by the beach! Interesting and captivating, long and lingering, crying out to be eaten with nuts. lovely sea salt spray, close your eyes and you're at the beach! limestone. Small production of only 6,000 bottles.In Bond€534.00 -
Wine Advocate (100)
The 1946 Don PX Convento Seleccion produced with Pedro Ximenez grapes dehydrated under the sun at the time of the Second World War, was only bottled in September 2011. This is an extreme wine, my first descriptor was ultra-mega-super concentrated. It is unbelievably powerful, both in the nose and the palate, full of umami, with sweet cinnamon, Christmas cake, camphor, petrol, lemongrass, Belgian chocolate and butter. Incredibly complex and rich, sweet, balanced and smooth in the palate, it is both very sweet and somehow salty, and with time it develops a black olive note. It combines the texture of the 1962 and the elegance of the 1949. It is as decadent as it gets. 825 bottles were produced. This wine will survive all of us. These wines are kept for generations and offered in very small quantities, but it’s amazing that you can still buy and drink something so old, and I’m even tempted to say that it might represent good value for what it is. A real tour de force sweet wine. Drink it if you ever have the privilege to do so from 2013-2060.In Bond€1,490.00 -
Wine Advocate (97-98)
The oldest of the sweet wines I tried this time was the 1958 Don PX Convento Selección, a very complex and nuanced wine with notes of charred wood, tar, coal, bitter dark chocolate, licorice, roasted coffee beans and aromatic herbs. The palate is compact with no fissures and a bitterness that compensates the sweetness (it has 350 grams of sugar, so it's not a surprise that it doesn't feel as sweet as others). It's relatively dense, complex, rare and unique. They expect to produce 14,200 bottles of this elixir.In Bond€449.00 -
In Bond€207.00