Oloroso 15 Years Old 19%, Bodegas Maestro Sierra

Appearance

Deep antique mahogany with copper highlights fading to amber, legs.

Nose

Savoury with a trace of Marmite, lots of walnut, hints of old fashioned raisin-packed fruit cake, cinnamon, old oak barrels, fallen leaves, tobacco, traces perhaps of orange peel, gravy and a certain dankness from the well sited bodega. This is complex, and characterful.

Palate

Full bodied and intensely flavoured, the glycerine is balanced by a decent level of acidity, much of it volatile, making it well rounded on the palate, even with a trace of tannin. The glycerine, and perhaps the raisin and cinnamon notes, give an impression of sweetness, but it is dry with a very long, clean finish. Excellent Oloroso.

Comments

This is the youngest Oloroso commercialised by this outstanding bodega, and older than many out there; their others are 50 and 80 years old respectively. It may be the youngest but it lacks nothing in complexity; every time you take a sniff it reveals something more. Of course this solera feeds the older ones, so you can see why they are so good.

Price

9.50 per half bottle, Licores Corredera

Oloroso VORS 1/14 22%, Bodegas Maestro Sierra

Appearance
Deep amber fading to yellow with a hint of green at the rim, looks really old, legs.
Nose
Full, pungent and nutty. There is a great complexity here with  slightly bitter hints of walnut but also lots of toasted almond and hazelnut and a touch of old wood with slight varnishy traces. Then there are hints of raisin giving a suspicion of roundness, but not enough to make the wine any less dry. I think it just might have been teaspooned, which is all to the good as these very old wines can be a little astringent otherwise.
Palate
Big and powerful with a noticeable tang of acidity which keeps it fresh, and a trace of sweetness confirming that it may have been teaspooned. Acidity, trace sweetness and also a hint of walnutty woody bitterness give an almost bitter-sweet effect compounded by good grip and terrific length. A superb old oloroso with real character and vivacity.
Comments
This Fantastic wine comes from a small solera of just 14 butts, through which it has taken over 50 years (according to the bodega website) or 60 years (according to Peter Liem) or 70 years (according to what I was told by bodega staff at Vinoble) to arrive. Suffice to say it is very old - and they have another (the Extra Viejo 1/7) which is even older. Sold in very limited quantities of some 400 hand filled and labelled bottles a year, this is hard to get hold of, but well worth the effort.
Price
Somewhere around £150 per bottle - there may be halves - from UK agents Indigo Wine

(Foto Migue Zayas/Maestro Sierra)