Toro Albalá reserve select lots of their best vintage wines for later release under the Gran Reserva label. These rich and complex Pedro Ximénez wines are destined for a very long ageing in oak barrels. After filling and sealing, these barrels are left for decades in their single-vintage state. It's during this slow maturation that the wines undertake their delicious, savoury, rancio transformation (through controlled exposure to oxygen) which brings a kind of nutty, iodine character that infinitely complexes the sweet, fruit cakey wine but also gives it added freshness. Naturally, as the wines concentrate in flavour and texture, the colour darkens and the mouth-feel thickens. Vintages are selected for release after a minimum of 25 years in barrel and only when they have attained these classic hallmarks of aged PX. With 380 grams of residual and 17% alcohol this is a terrific vintage for this wine as the note below makes clear.
"This showcases the classical aromas and palate of an old PX from Montilla, strong notes of dark chocolate, dried figs and plums, raisins and sweet spices; the dense, thick and persistent palate where the 380 grams of unfermented sugar are not noticeable, as they are balanced by good acidity that also gets concentrated by age. This is probably the densest of all the wines I tasted today, and there is a distinct, perfumed, almost floral note here (is it violet pastille?), which makes it extremely attractive. It's also the most drinkable of all these old vintages, very balanced within its sweet profile, with marked flavors (also licorice and black olives) that stay in your mouth for one minute. Exotic and exuberant. This is incredibly young and lively, and very good value for the age and quality it delivers." 94 points, Luis Gutierrez, Robert Parker Wine Advocate# 224
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