Oloroso El Corregidor 19%, Sandeman

Appearance
Beautiful light patinated mahogany fading through amber to trace of green at rim, copper gold glints.
Nose

Forthcoming, fragrant and super elegant. Some Oloroso can be a little hefty yet this is lighter and intensely aromatic, the result of a good many years of careful ageing. Notes of walnut and toasted almond, fine old oak - almost exotic woods, and a slightly balsamic volatile acidity are balanced by a suggestion of sweetness. Innumerable nuances have combined into a sumptuous bouquet.
Palate

Light, supremely elegant and bursting with flavour. It is super smooth with just enough glycerine to round it off and barely a hint of tannin yet it has grip. There are lots of nuts and the oxidation is elegant and not excessive, while the acidity is not at all aggressive. This wine is absolutely delicious, intense, refined and charming with terrific length, superb!
Comments

El Corregidor is the name of a 60 hectare vineyard in the Carrascal which dates back to at least 1414, though the large cortijo building is from the early XIX century. Sandeman used to own it having acquired it when they took over Pemartin in 1879. Thus all the Sandeman wine was originally Pemartin until they bought 800 butts of already old Oloroso from Antonio Bernaldo de Quiros in 1894. This consists of a solera of 14 scales, most unusual for Oloroso but full of possibilities, and this particular wine, El Corregidor, a dry Oloroso comes from the seventh criadera. Royal Corregidor VOS is a slightly sweetened version (using 10% PX from the Royal Ambrosante solera) while Imperial Corregidor is an older sweetened version, and very rarely bottled. El Corregidor dry Oloroso is no longer offered, and this bottle probably dates from the 1950's or 60s. Bodegas Luis Pérez bought the vineyard in 2013, from the sell-off of Nueva Rumasa which had owned it since 2004, and they are using it to produce grapes from its low yielding old vines for his Barajuela Sherries, having changed the vine training back to vara y pulgar. There are currently some 30 hectares of Palomino and the other 30 comprise a mix of Tintilla, Vijiriega, PX and Cañocazo.They are using the almijar for sunning the grapes to avoid the need to fortify. The bodega has 10 lagares or pressing troughs and they are considering building an underground bodega to press, ferment and store the Sherry wines. There is so much interesting stuff going on here.
Price

100 euros, Licores Corredera