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Toro Albalá Albala Seleccion
Elaborated with 100% Pedro Ximénez raisined grape clusters. This wine proceeds from the old tradition which is still preserved today: to store at least one butt of the wine elaborated in special years, leaving it for a long, static ageing and waiting for the optimal bottling moment.
The bottling system is called “Convento Selección” in honour to the Cistercian monk system in which the wine is classified in their own series. The entire elaboration is handmade, following San Benito’s Recula Rule: “Living off the work of our hands.”
Older doesn't make it better. But when great age and great wine meet, there is little better in the wine world. This is a very sweet (500 g/l RS), very rare PX from Montilla. Whole bunches of PX were dried 8-10 days on mats, with 90 percent of the bunches flipped half way through. The bunches are pressed within pancakes of rusks to release their thick syrup. In the port-wine-style, distillate from the marc of the property is added to the fermenting must to bring it up to 18 degrees alcohol and killing off the remaining yeast, which rights the sugar levels as they are. The wine is left to settle in concrete for two years, after which it goes into 50-150 year old American oak barrels until just prior to bottling and release.
“If someone told you they kept a wine for 84 years in barrel before bottling, you'd think they are nuts, right? Well, that's what the folks at Toro Albalá in Aguilar de la Frontera - in the province of Cordoba, part of the Montilla Moriles appellation - did with their 1931 Don PX Convento Selección. This is part of what they call 'vinos olvidados,' which means 'forgotten wines.' The border is amber, with green tints that denote very old age. Such old age provides an array of unusual aromas and flavors, including iodine and salt that compensate the sweetness (403 grams) and even the alcohol (18%). It's terribly balsamic, with notes of dry herbs and spices, cigar ash, carob beans (algarrobas), incense and noble woods. The palate is very, very sweet and concentrated, unctuous, dense, with a chewy texture. This goes beyond a glass of wine, a drop of it is like having a piece of cake. I don't think this reaches the complexity and depth of the 1946, which remains the benchmark for these old sweet PX, but it's truly terrific! 9,650 bottles were filled in June 2015. Drink 2016-2040.” - 98 points, Luis Gutierrez, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Vintage: 1931
Bottle Size: 750 mL
Bottles per Case: 1
Price per Bottle: $495
Style: Fortified
Region: Andalusia
Appellation: DOP Montilla-Moriles
Country: Spain
Grape: Pedro Ximènez
Colour: Brown
Vegan: Yes
Organic: No
Biodynamic: No
Natural: No
Low Intervention: Yes
Toro Albalá Albala Seleccion
Elaborated with 100% Pedro Ximénez raisined grape clusters. This wine proceeds from the old tradition which is still preserved today: to store at least one butt of the wine elaborated in special years, leaving it for a long, static ageing and waiting for the optimal bottling moment.
The bottling system is called “Convento Selección” in honour to the Cistercian monk system in which the wine is classified in their own series. The entire elaboration is handmade, following San Benito’s Recula Rule: “Living off the work of our hands.”
Older doesn't make it better. But when great age and great wine meet, there is little better in the wine world. This is a very sweet (500 g/l RS), very rare PX from Montilla. Whole bunches of PX were dried 8-10 days on mats, with 90 percent of the bunches flipped half way through. The bunches are pressed within pancakes of rusks to release their thick syrup. In the port-wine-style, distillate from the marc of the property is added to the fermenting must to bring it up to 18 degrees alcohol and killing off the remaining yeast, which rights the sugar levels as they are. The wine is left to settle in concrete for two years, after which it goes into 50-150 year old American oak barrels until just prior to bottling and release.
“If someone told you they kept a wine for 84 years in barrel before bottling, you'd think they are nuts, right? Well, that's what the folks at Toro Albalá in Aguilar de la Frontera - in the province of Cordoba, part of the Montilla Moriles appellation - did with their 1931 Don PX Convento Selección. This is part of what they call 'vinos olvidados,' which means 'forgotten wines.' The border is amber, with green tints that denote very old age. Such old age provides an array of unusual aromas and flavors, including iodine and salt that compensate the sweetness (403 grams) and even the alcohol (18%). It's terribly balsamic, with notes of dry herbs and spices, cigar ash, carob beans (algarrobas), incense and noble woods. The palate is very, very sweet and concentrated, unctuous, dense, with a chewy texture. This goes beyond a glass of wine, a drop of it is like having a piece of cake. I don't think this reaches the complexity and depth of the 1946, which remains the benchmark for these old sweet PX, but it's truly terrific! 9,650 bottles were filled in June 2015. Drink 2016-2040.” - 98 points, Luis Gutierrez, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Vintage: 1931
Bottle Size: 750 mL
Bottles per Case: 1
Price per Bottle: $495
Style: Fortified
Region: Andalusia
Appellation: DOP Montilla-Moriles
Country: Spain
Grape: Pedro Ximènez
Colour: Brown
Vegan: Yes
Organic: No
Biodynamic: No
Natural: No
Low Intervention: Yes
Alexana Winery
Though named Terroir Series, this is a Willamette-wide blend of various soils and clones. The wine is a selection of barrels from the dry farmed younger blocks of the Revana vineyard in Dundee Hills, along with vineyards in Yamhill-Carlton, Eola-Amity, Chehalem Mountains, and McMinnville, and clones Pommard, 115, 777, Wadenswil, 667, La Tache, 943, 114, 828, Coury, and 113. Each lot is separately native fermented whole berry before aging 11 months in French oak (23% new). Forest, wild cherry, fresh moss, and pretty florals rule the silken palate, sided with fine, long tannins and finishing with a gently warming baking spice note. Quite polished and fresh, this medium bodied wine is drinking ideal now with any kind of mushroom / duck dishes.
“Vivacious and expressive, with sleek raspberry and cherry flavors laced with rose petal, orange peel and hints of forest floor as this sails on the long, supple finish. Drink now through 2030. 6,490 cases made.” - 93 points, Tim Fish, Wine Spectator
Read more about Alexana Winery here.
Vintage: 2021
Bottle Size: 750 mL
Bottles per Case: 6
Price per Bottle: $65
Style: Still
Region: Oregon
Appellation: Willamette Valley AVA
Country: USA
Grape: Pinot Noir
Colour: Red
Vegan: No
Organic: No
Biodynamic: No
Natural: No
Low Intervention: No
Minimus
Minimus
Chardonnay Dijon Free
No Dijon clones were harmed in the making of this wine. Though Dijon clones are prevalent throughout the Willamette, they wanted to create a wine using only heirloom clones. This used Calera, Old Wenté, Musqué, Mt. Eden, Mendoza, and spent 16 months in 30% new French oak. Showing beautiful evolution, but still shining, with shimmery lemon and a buzzy undercurrent livening yellow and green apple, pear skin, subtle toast on a layered palate. Polished and impressive, reflective of the striking potential for Willamette Chardonnay.
"Beautiful chardonnay, as rich, sumptuous and unctuous as one could want from the Willamette, but also this stony and flinty subtlety running through the wine's interior like a hidden treasure of a message. So graceful and gracious, clearly exulting a sense of vineyard pace and place coaxed graciously by the people who work to make this fruit so real and proper. Excellence incarnate for a "Dijon-free" clonal iteration of the standard variety, opted for and exulted instead by that which is truly local. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023.” - 94 points, Michael Godel, WineAlign.com
"The first chardonnay I have seen promoted as Dijon-free, a reference to the invasion of French Dijon clones in recent years. It uses more 'native' clonal stock instead - Calera, Wente, Musque and others - and signals a reversion to American chardonnay of old. Indeed the very ripe banana, floral and buttery/custardy notes, complete with oodles of clove/nutmeg barrel spice - does recall the 80s. It is full bodied, off-dry warm and very rich. The texture is quite silky and the heat is on, yet the acidity holds. All kinds of complexity and power here, with excellent to outstanding length. The name of the wine is given a signal to the style but it is oblique. Tasted November 2023" - 93 points, David Lawrason, WineAlign.com
"Work past the creepy front label, and the tongue-in-cheek "Dijon free" mention on the back label (a reference to the proliferation of the so-called Dijon clones of chardonnay, whose arrival and spread in the early 1990s signalled the beginning of serious quality chardonnay in Oregon), and get on to the serious wine contained within, one with marked barrel influence and rancid butter flavours in a classical style. The palate is fullish and intensely flavoured, with resinous oak notes and lemon curd, creme brulée flavours. One can't argue with the flavour intensity and concentration - off-the-charts high, and the superb length, bold, dense and powerful. Similar quality from Napa would command a far higher price. Drink or hold short term - I'd capture with the remaining fruit intact, even though it's anything but a fruity wine. Tasted November 2023.” - 93 points, John Szabo, MS, WineAlign.com
"Cheekily labelled as a "Dijon Free Chardonnay", this assemblage is made from only heirloom clones such as Calera, Old Wenté, Musqué, Mt. Eden and Mendoza that have matured for 16 months in 30% new French oak. Despite the fact that the oak is quite prevalent on the palate, the wine is not heavy and exhibits a great deal of lift from acidity. Aging gracefully, there is very little oxidation noted and the fruit is still generous on the palate. A pleasant degree of nuttiness has surfaced adding to the overall complexity. Showing a notable stamp of place and a low-intervention cleanliness. The label is a bit dark and enigmatic in contrast with the wine. Best now to 2027. Tasted November 2023." - 93 points, Sarah d'Amato, WineAlign.com
Vintage: 2017
Bottle Size: 750 mL
Bottles per Case: 12
Price per Bottle: $55
Style: Still
Region: Oregon
Appellation: Willamette Valley AVA
Country: USA
Grape: Chardonnay
Colour: White
Vegan: No
Organic: No
Biodynamic: No
Natural: No
Low Intervention: Yes