95 By Robert Parker
I guess the market pressure (there's even a documentary film called El Misterio del Palo Cortado) made them release the first Palo Cortado I've seen from Pérez Barquero, the NV 1955 Palo Cortado Solera Cincuentenario. The back label explains that the wine started its life as a Fino with a biological phase under flor, so that might be the explanation for a saltier palate than the Oloroso from the same range. These wines are not from 1955 and in fact, they are not vintage wines, they are a multi-vintage blend aged in a solera that hypothetically would have been started around 50 years after the winery was created in 1905, hence the brand name 1955. This is quite similar to the Oloroso, in fact I would have had problems pronouncing it a Palo Cortado, and it would be difficult to say more than that it is a great old oxidative wine with great elegance, concentration and power. The initial bottling is 200 bottles and they plan to do more batches of the same size, always clearly identified on the front label.<br/>I finally visited Pérez Barquero and some of their vineyards in Moriles Alto and the Sierra de Montilla mountains, where they own some 100 hectares of vineyards. We had an (almost running) tour of some of their vineyards, bodegas and soleras; in the end I decided their old wines deserved more time and attention, so I tasted them at home over the course of various days. My visit was very pertinent and just in time, as they are releasing their limited production Solera Fundacional some ten years after the first bottling, and also a new bottling of four old wines. This traditional house produces superb wines that usually represent very good value, too, and tend to fly under the radar, perhaps because of their old style image of bottles and labels. The older wines seem even better balanced and more elegant than the original release (which is differentiated by just a B on the left bottom corner of the labels, as the original release was named A). Pérez Barquero is one of the greatest and most consistent wineries in the whole of Andalucía and they deserve a much higher recognition for their great wines.
I guess the market pressure (there's even a documentary film called El Misterio del Palo Cortado) made them release the first Palo Cortado I've seen from Pérez Barquero, the NV 1955 Palo Cortado Solera Cincuentenario. The back label explains that the wine started its life as a Fino with a biological phase under flor, so that might be the explanation for a saltier palate than the Oloroso from the same range. These wines are not from 1955 and in fact, they are not vintage wines, they are a multi-vintage blend aged in a solera that hypothetically would have been started around 50 years after the winery was created in 1905, hence the brand name 1955. This is quite similar to the Oloroso, in fact I would have had problems pronouncing it a Palo Cortado, and it would be difficult to say more than that it is a great old oxidative wine with great elegance, concentration and power. The initial bottling is 200 bottles and they plan to do more batches of the same size, always clearly identified on the front label.<br/>I finally visited Pérez Barquero and some of their vineyards in Moriles Alto and the Sierra de Montilla mountains, where they own some 100 hectares of vineyards. We had an (almost running) tour of some of their vineyards, bodegas and soleras; in the end I decided their old wines deserved more time and attention, so I tasted them at home over the course of various days. My visit was very pertinent and just in time, as they are releasing their limited production Solera Fundacional some ten years after the first bottling, and also a new bottling of four old wines. This traditional house produces superb wines that usually represent very good value, too, and tend to fly under the radar, perhaps because of their old style image of bottles and labels. The older wines seem even better balanced and more elegant than the original release (which is differentiated by just a B on the left bottom corner of the labels, as the original release was named A). Pérez Barquero is one of the greatest and most consistent wineries in the whole of Andalucía and they deserve a much higher recognition for their great wines.
