Alvear Pedro Ximénez Solera 1830 50cl

Experts · Alvear Pedro Ximénez Solera 1830 50cl

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  Robert Parker: 97/100 (Alvear Pedro Ximénez Solera 1830 50cl -165216)

  The NV Solera 1830 Pedro Ximenez is the oldest and most concentrated sweet wine from Alvear. It comes from a solera created in 1830 blended with other very old PXs and released in very small quantities (1,200 bottles every two years). The color is black and dense like melted chocolate with a bright amber edge. It has a nose of extreme concentration and age, noble woods, espresso coffee (make that a ristretto!), vanilla and coconut that I also find in the oldest sweet wines like Toneles from Valdespino or the 1946 PX from Toro Albala. Extraordinarily complex, velvety and fine. As the wine is so dense, during the concentration through age it actually loses alcohol, and it’s bottled at 11.5%. This wine could last forever. Drink 2013-2030. Alvear is a family winery created as long ago as 1729 in Montilla (Cordoba), in the appellation of Montilla-Moriles by Diego Alvear, which makes it the oldest working winery in the region. Today the company is still run and owned by the eight generation of the Alvear family. They own 150 hectares of Pedro Ximenez grapes, control a further 200 hectares of vineyards from long-term suppliers, and purchase grapes and wine from local growers. They own 6,000 oak casks of 500- and 600-liter capacity where they age a total three million liters of wine and have enough capacity in vats for over eight million liters. When the Pedro Ximenez grapes ripen properly they reach 14 to 16% alcohol and can produce non-fortified Fino. Even though they use the dynamic soleras and criaderas production method, they also pioneered the production of single-vintage Fino and sweet Pedro Ximenez some 15 years ago. These wines are offered young, mainly the Fino, as it’s difficult to keep the flor alive without refreshing the barrels with younger wine.