Pérez Barquero Solera Fundacional 1905 Oloroso

"The NV 1905 Oloroso Solera Fundacional, produced from Pedro Ximenez grapes aged oxidatively in a solera started in 1905, averages an old age close to 80 years of age, which for some is the limit of drinkability for an Oloroso, as they get so aggressively concentrated that often makes them too much. Having said that, this wine feels surprisingly gentle, dark amber with green edges, it has a sweet nose of dried apricots, roasted nuts, lively acidity, and great length. An Oloroso with the soul of a Palo Cortado. Drink 2013-2030.

Perez Barquero was established in 1905 and still have some soleras from that time, the foundational soleras, from which very small quantities of extremely old and concentrated wines are withdrawn and bottled from time to time. In 1985 it was purchased by Rafael Cordoba who owns other three wineries in Montilla, Bodegas Gracia (from which I tasted one wine here), Vinicola del Sur and Tomas Garcia, and the four make up the Perez Barquero Group. They own 100 hectares of vineyards in some of the best locations in the appellation, in Sierra de Montilla and in Moriles Alto, planted with a majority of Pedro Ximenez, and control a further 400 hectares of vineyards belonging to other grape growers. With this they produce an impressive array of both dry and sweet wines (plus brandy and vinegar), whose main characteristic is balance, elegance and finesse. They stock 10,000 500- to 600-liter American oak barrels, the famous botas where they age their wines following the soleras and criaderas system. They produce an average of three million bottles of wine per year. Perez Barquero represents the quality summit of Montilla-Moriles. Their Finos usually have a lot number, whose first two digits seem to be the bottling year. All the Finos tasted had a lot starting with 13. The oldest wines, the ones labeled 1905, which is the year their soleras were created, were only bottled once in 2002, around 1,000 bottles of each, so the bottles should be decanted in advance to give the wines the chance to breath."