Alvear "1927" Pedro Ximenez Solera Montilla-Moriles (375ml)

I’ll admit I am a little biased but this could be one of the best dessert wines that we have for sale, especially for the money. We have sold these wines for years, they are great. But like all things wines, we tend to look for all things new, so we end up forgetting. Then we meet them again, with a few more miles (who am I kidding many more miles) down the road. This wine was a revelation. It smells like dessert. Not the bright fresh fruit of other dessert wines. This is holiday bake sale kind of dessert. Molasses and fudge and spices with toffee and caramel. Rum cakes, sticky toffee pudding with concentrated dates and fig thing too. The kid in me is totally satisfied. Then comes savory intrigue. This is not all sweetness. There is tobacco and dried leaves (it makes me think of jumping in piles of leaves, dried leaves). Just enough to layer all of the goodness that came before it. And that is just the nose! Too many words, I know, stay with me, or skip to the end, there is a twist. On the palate it is sweet, its PX, but surprisingly (not the twist) is that it is not cloying. The aromas make you think that your tongue will be coated in syrupy goodness. It isn’t there is a freshness to this, the acid focuses all those great aromas/flavors across your tongue and leaves your mouth watering for more. Classically drunk by itself after dinner or on top of vanilla ice cream, but I want chocolate pecan pie, a la mode. The twist, here it is, is that what this wine made me think of when tasting it was Amaro liqueurs. This is kind of like a non-bitter Amaro. The complexity and the sweetness balanced with savory tones and the higher alcohol it is not too far of a reach. This has tons of cocktail applications. Being oxidized and fortified sealed the deal for me. This is a dessert wine that you do not have to rush to finish. A little is all that you need and it will not fall apart after you open it. Like I said, this could be the best dessert win in the store.

One whiff of the nose on this wine, and I’ve got butterflies in my stomach. You can call it what you want: golden raisins, molasses, candied fruit--but that’s not what’s important. It’s that moment where you tip the glass and just hold on tight. Man, this wine is so good. There’s a purity to this that I don’t often see, along with tons of complex moments: everything from tobacco leaf, to truffle, and concentrated honey. There’s a surprising lightness and agility here that only serve to enhance the pleasure of this. It’s rare that I find a fortified wine, much less a dessert wine, that I could drink through dinner well until the early hours of the next morning--but there you have it.

I have to admit I generally am not a fan of Pedro Ximenez the molasses like syrupy nature is just not for me, yet I was incredibly surprised by this wine, it is sensational. The nose if full of hazelnuts and honey it shows extraordinarily well balanced just from that. On the palate the wine has real weight but it’s not like a couple of 40lb. dumbbells on your tongue it’s got focus a center that is wrapped in a luscious texture, this isn’t a “lean” wine it is bold and rich. The flavors for me are what really separate this wine instead of the prune like molasses character I’ve been used to this is toasted hazelnuts, so perfectly balanced with the sweetness I can’t stop wanting to drink this wine. Give this a try, it is a really great dessert wine.