Brandy Gran Duque de Alba Solera Gran Reserva 40%, Williams & Humbert

Appearance

Well patinated mahogany fading through amber with bright copper highlights.

Nose

Rich aromas of well matured brandy, the Oloroso, while obvious, is not dominant and balances well with the fruitiness of the spirit. There are notes of raisin, caramel, vanilla, oak and tobacco but on the whole they are well integrated into a very wholesome whole.

Palate

A touch of sweetness at the start helps acclimatise the palate to the 40 degrees of alcohol then it opens out nicely and very generously with all the above flavours. There will be a little sweetness from the Dry Sack 15 and I'm not certain if any more has been added (it is not uncommon), but it certainly makes for a very enjoyable brandy rounding it off nicely. Good length.
Comments

This is one of the best sellers of the Solera Gran Reservas. It was originally produced by Zoilo Ruiz Mateos which belonged to Rumasa and the solera passed through the bodegas of Diez Merito before finally ending up at Williams & Humbert, thanks to the sell-off of the various Rumasa firms. It comes from an 1889 solera, and the story goes that it is named in honour of Jacobo Fitz-James Stewart y Falcó, XVII Duke of Alba, a descendant of the Jacobites and father of the late Cayetana, Duchess of Alba. The Duke was a friend of the firm's Madrid agent and having been impressed by the brandy, kindly allowed his title to be used for its brand name. Since then W&H have added two other, older versions of the brandy; GDA XO and GDA Oro. They even have a cream liqueur using GDA as a base. It is made from Airén grapes with a little Palomino fermented at low temperature to conserve primary aromas. The wine is only lightly filtered leaving a little of the lees in suspension on arrival at the still. Distillation is carried out in alquitaras at a very slow rate to achieve the best possible estery holandas at 65%. The spirit is then racked into butts seasoned with Dry Sack Oloroso 15 Year Old and goes to the 10th criadera of the solera. Twelve years later it emerges as this delicious brandy.

Price
25 euros from the Corte Ingles