Amontillado Selección DB 1951 75cl

My favorite of the two Amontillados is the 1951 Amontillado Selección a rare, single-vintage Amontillado produced with Pedro Ximénez grapes as is the norm in Montilla-Moriles. It's a bright mahogany color with an amber-green tint that reveals pharmaceutical notes and balsamic, with roasted, charred aromas and a sweetish palate that retains the sharpness expected in this kind of wine. It is lacking a bit in the mid-palate before ending with a slightly bitter, tarry finish. This is completely different to an Amontillado from Jerez. It was bottled in March 2011 into 4,650 bottles. It is unusual and is perhaps not for all palates.<br/><br/>Toro Albalá from Montilla-Moriles keeps releasing small lots of very old vintage-dated sweet Pedro Ximénez and this time I also tasted a couple of dry, old, vintage-dated Amontillados of mindboggling quality. Some of the wines reviewed here the last time are also released from new lots, with different lot numbers so the wines might vary slightly as each barrel is different. It looks like the current bottlings were all done at once. With such older wines the vintage date has to be taken with a pinch of salt, as there is little documentation about them and what happened during all these years.<br/>