A very expensive but thrilling wine

Bodegas Tradición Palo Cortado Vors

19.5%

€84.99

A tasting earlier this week with the Celtic Whiskey shop and Eduardo Davis, export manager of Bodegas Tradición was one of the highlights of the year so far. I had tasted the wines before, and visited the bodega, but now they are available in Ireland for the first time.

A very expensive wine, but this is worth smashing open the piggy bank for, or sharing the cost with a few other sherry-loving friends. It is a quite amazing wine. Palo Cortado is a mystery sherry; nobody is quite sure how it is made – or makes itself in fact. It is best described as a Fino/Oloroso hybrid, with the intense grilled nut flavours of Oloroso combined with the freshness of a Fino. Sounds weird but they taste great, this one in particular.

Utterly amazing elegant complex nose with toasted almonds, furniture polish and old wood; sounds terrible but it is fantastic. You could sniff it all day or dab it behind your ears. The palate has more toasted almonds, a funky, earthy note, and a saline touch. Finishes bone dry and lasts forever.

Available from Wines on the Green and the Black Pig, Donnybrook.