Amontillado Colección Roberto Amillo

This is an exceptional NV Amontillado sourced from a very old solera from La Gitana in Sanlúcar. It is from only two botas, a 600-liter and a 1,000-liter tonel that have been mostly untouched for almost 40 years. The nose had some reductive notes, akin to phosphorous, struck matchstick, low tide and rusty iron. This is possibly a combination of the soils where the vines grow and the time in bottle, so it might welcome decanting or time in the glass. It feels a little hard in the nose. The palate is very saline and vertical, tremendously sapid, a wine that was sharpened by time under flor and which might seem a little extreme to some. Austere, mineral, enigmatic. 1,000 half-liter bottles were filled in 2011.

Also in a square, clear-glass, 50 cl bottle. More fudge, toffee cake on the nose than the Palo Cortado. Seems sweeter and yet more fiery in flavour (although the alcohol is lower). Lemon citrus and pronounced bitterness and astringency, walnuts with some of their shell still left in the bite. But still there is that dried-apricot syrup, plus peach kernel and so much texture. Practically tannic!