Bodegas Gutierrez Colosia Jerez-Xeres-Sherry Pedro Ximenez 375ml

SPAIN : JEREZ-XÉRÈS-SHERRY : EL PUERTO DE SANTA MARÍA

Pedro Ximénez

FULL-BODIED, DATES & RAISINS, DRIED FIG, MOLASSES, WALNUT CAKE

Gutiérrez Colosía has occupied the same quayside building on the Río Guadalete since 1838 — the bodega sits closer to the Atlantic than any other in the DO, directly on the river mouth. The Gutiérrez family has run it since the 1920s; Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Colosía made the decision to bottle under their own label in 1997, and it's now one of the last family-owned bodegas in the region.

The Pedro Ximénez is the richest in the range. Grapes harvested over-ripe, then sun-dried on esparto mats — the traditional soleo — concentrating sugar to 450–500 g/L in the must, around 350 g/L in the bottle. Aged an average of four years through the solera. Dense and sweet, but Peter Liem puts it well: "vibrant and suave under its dense flavors." Falstaff 91.

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