Shop/Dessert & Fortified/Valdespino 'Contrabandista' Amontillado Sherry
Jerez DO, Spain
Valdespino 'Contrabandista' Amontillado Sherry
Valdespino
Classic amontillado from one of the oldest sherry houses.
$55.00
750mlVintage may change. If it does, we’ll notify you of any price adjustment before dispatch.
About
Valdespino's 'Contrabandista' Amontillado — dry, nutty, complex. The classic amontillado profile: starts as fino under flor, then loses the flor and ages oxidatively, picking up toasted-almond, hazelnut, salinity and gentle wood character. Real Jerez tradition.
This blend runs to roughly eighteen years old on average. It is drawn from soleras that have already gone through the classic amontillado shift from biological to oxidative ageing. Valdespino finishes it with a small addition of Pedro Ximénez, around five percent, leaving about 30 grams of residual sugar. That is what pulls the wine from a bone-dry Amontillado like the house's own Tío Diego into this rounder, off-dry style.
The Estévez family, who run several old Jerez bodegas, bought Valdespino outright in 1999. They kept the barrels and soleras running as they were, some of them started generations before the sale.
Serve it cool rather than fridge-cold, closer to cellar temperature than a Fino. It sits naturally with cured meats and hard cheese, or a mushroom dish where the wine's nutty, oxidative side meets something earthy on the plate.
Producer note
Valdespino is one of the oldest and most respected sherry houses in Jerez, dating to 1264.
Structure
Pairs with
Picked on Stef's structure profile.
