Saturday 23 June 2018

Oloroso Añada 1998 20.5%, Bodegas Lustau

Appearance
Quite viscous with a beautiful deep amber to chestnut colour and coppery gold glints.
Nose
It smells sweet with a sensation of super ripe grapes and aromas of raisining, stewed apple, caramel, toffee, traces of honey and orange blossom. There is also a gentle Oloroso nuttiness. It is much less intense than a PX , and there is an air of fresh, refined elegance along with some real complexity.
Palate
Sweet, yes, but there is an attractive balancing tangy acidity and a lovely grapeskin texture which give it balance and class. It is  complex and intensely flavoured, luscious, fruity and caramelly with more exotic honeyed blossom notes. While it is sweet it really doesn't cloy and it has terrific length.
Comments
This is one of those very rare sweet wines made from Palomino rather than PX or Moscatel, and it works really well. Lustau began this project in 1989. It is only made in certain years where perfect over-ripeness of the grapes can be achieved. Once the grapes are late-harvested, around two weeks after the normal harvest, they are pressed and the must undergoes a partial fermentation which means stopping it by the addition of alcohol before too much sugar has been fermented out, leaving a residual natural sugar level of around 160 g/l. The wine is then aged statically in Oloroso seasoned butts sealed by the Consejo Regulador, gradually growing more concentrated over its 19 years of ageing. It scored 93 Parker points. The 2000 vintage has been released recently and the 1997 is still around, so what about a little comparative tasting?
Price
19.95 per 50cl Licores Corredera


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