When fortification takes place early and as a result no flor is allowed to develop the result is an Oloroso – a dry sherry but one without the fresh saline cut of those aged under yeast. Here the emphasis is on nutty, deep dark complexity, notes of raisin, smoked mushrooms, blond tobacco and fine wood flow from the glass, while caramel, cocoa and roasted coffee flavours linger long on the impressively endowed, intense and concentrated palate. While the average age is 42 years, the oldest wines in the solera date back to the 1860s. Meditative, intense, rich and full, a wine to partner fatty dishes, stews, and potently flavoured game. The bodega have full faith that once opened a bottle should last for up to a year if kept upright with the cork put back in - so there’s no need to rush through the bottle, would that restraint so easily be counted upon!
Bodegas Tradición is the unique Jerez bodega to only bottle consistently genre-defining, very fully aged wines capable of pleasurably filling the senses. The wines receive no caramel, cooked-wine, fining, chill-filtration, cold stabilization, sulphites in the dry wines during maturation and bottling, nor blending between styles (with the Tradicion Cream being the only exception)... And like all the great wines, they are as splendid alone as they are with the right dishes, with food pairing potential way beyond a midwinter aperitif.
Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia. Produced in a variety of styles, Sherry is primarily made from the Palomino grape. It ranges from light versions similar to white table wines, such as Manzanilla and Fino, to darker and heavier versions that have been oxidised and aged in barrel, such as Amontillado and Oloroso. Sweet dessert wines are also made from Pedro Ximenez (a.k.a. PX) or Moscatel grapes, and are sometimes blended with Palomino-based Sherries.
Palomino is a white grape widely grown in Spain and South Africa, and best known for its inclusion in the blending of sherries. In Spain, the grape is split into three sub-varieties - Palomino Fino, Palomino Basto, and Palomino de Jerez, of which Palomino Fino is by far the most important, being the principal grape used in the manufacture of sherry.