From £22.59, 44.60 Swiss francs for 50 cl
This is the time of year when it makes perfect sense (to me anyway) to have at least one example of each of the great fortified wines on the go over the festive season – and at least two in the case of sherry. You surely need a pale, dry, light Fino or Manzanilla to stimulate a flagging appetite as only these miracles from Andalucía can. And then, especially if you are in the middle of a northern-hemisphere winter, I would strongly recommend a dark, dry, nutty sherry such as Harveys Palo Cortado 30 Year Old VORS Sherry.
I wrote about this range of treasures from ancient soleras last September in Whatever happened to Harveys?, which happened to be one of the most-read Financial Times articles I have ever written – perhaps because it involves so many dynasties and half-remembered history. My tasting notes on all four of these Harveys VORS sherries are in London’s great sherry tasting and, as I observed, these prices for half-litres of wines that are at least 30 years old strike me as completely ridiculous.
Palo Cortado is the wine style that seems most often favoured by sherry aficionados. Purple Pages members can read about its somewhat complex and unusual background in Julia's tasting article about a range of them and my previous wine of the week article.
This Harveys example is sweeter than most – not a sweet sherry by any means but it’s not bone dry like the nerviest, sometimes almost austere, Palo Cortados; it has a modest residual sugar level of 10 g/l. The traditional Palomino Fino used for dry sherries is supplemented by 20% Pedro Ximénez, the wine traditionally associated with the darkest, stickiest (though not strongest) fortified wines of Andalucía. The Palomino fruit, grown on the classic chalk-white albariza soils of Jerez, was fermented in stainless steel and fortified initially, as usual for Fino and Manzanilla, to 15% alcohol. It was then aged reductively for 6-18 months in a solera, protected from oxygen by a layer of flor. Various butts, or casks, were specially selected from this solera as suitable for Palo Cortado and fortified again to 17% alcohol. The raisiny Pedro Ximénez meanwhile was fortified to 15%.
The two ingredients were aged in their own separate solera systems in the usual old American oak barrels and matured for at least a further 30 years before being blended. Over this long oxidative ageing, the wines have concentrated so that the resulting alcoholic strength is 19.5% and the blend is now a most attractive pale orange colour. It’s a bit like liquid treacle toffee with none of the exaggeration you can sometimes find in very old sherry. There's no shortage of beguiling fruit on the mid palate and there's a hint of bergamot on the finish – all in all a real reviver and a wine you could serve at any time of day. In fact, you could serve this with cheese, ham or a meaty first course such as a pâté or terrine. Or, if you really wanted a retro combo, with consommé – another palate reviver. Batten down the gastronomic hatches!
I’m afraid that, Harveys being originally a quintessentially English wine company (though was subsequently bought by an American bourbon distiller and is now owned by a Filipino brandy specialist), so far the wine is available only in the UK and Switzerland although I believe there are plans to export it more widely. It should be available at £22.59 in 164 branches of Waitrose and from the online Waitrose Cellar and the associated Daily Telegraph Wines. It is also listed on wine-searcher.com at TheDrinkShop.com in Kent.
The packaging may not win any prizes but at least it could not be accused of being vulgar. Enjoy this bargain while ye may – and please do not overlook sherry, one of the world’s great wines. We will be celebrating this fact with a special Sherry Night in London on Sunday 23 April next year – a night sandwiched between the birthdays of our gracious Queen and William Shakespeare.
