Virtuoso Life - November/December 2008 - (Page 66)

TASTING NOTES was established in 1894, exhibits racy acidity and dry flavors with rancio, toasted fruit, and complex notes of varnish, spice, and flesh. The complex and lovely Gonzalez Byass Del Duque Amontillado Muy Viejo ($45) shows gobs of tangy fruit. Stewed compote flavors make the Domecq Medium Dry Amontillado ($14) an excellent value. When a wine destined to become an amontillado fails to develop an adequate covering of flor, the result is called a palo cortado. Named for the “slashed stick” symbol that the winemaker uses to mark these special barrels, rare palo cortados have both refinement and power. The nutty Emilio Lustau Palo Cortado “Peninsula” ($24) would make a fantastic match for cured meats or fine cheeses. The Osborne Palo Cortado Solera P∆P ($120) is an exquisite 30-year-old sherry from one of the most respected firms in Jerez. Sweetness and Light: Cream and PX Pedro Ximénez and moscatel – which, aside from palomino, are the region’s other permitted grape varieties – are used to make sweet wines that can be blended with drier fino or oloroso to produce cream sherries such as the almond-tinged Harvey’s Reserve ($14) or the Hidalgo-La Gitana Alameda Cream ($19). Unlike cream liqueurs, cream sherries do not contain dairy products but are so named because they have the consistency of cream. When dried and made into an ultrasweet wine, Pedro Ximénez is called by its varietal name or referred to simply as PX; these sherries are perfect matched with dessert. The unctuous Romate Very Rare Pedro Ximénez ($45) is delicious drizzled over vanilla ice cream. The dark brown Bodegas Dios Baco Pedro Ximénez Oxford 1970 ($15) is Though aged bottles can be costly, most sherries featured in this story are under $20. DOING IT » Want to sip sherry at the source? Valesa Cultural Services offers a guided day trip from Seville to Jerez, famed for horses, brandy, and, of course, sherry. Take in an equestrian ballet at the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, then a private sherry tasting and lunch. Later, you’ll visit a sherry bodega, where you’ll learn how the wine is made and sample even more before returning to Seville. From $716 per person. thick and creamy with intense prune, raisin, date, chocolate, and molasses tones – a dessert in itself. Onward to Jerez Undoubtedly, the best way to discover sherry is to make the trek to charming Jerez de la Frontera itself, where you can sample the region’s vinous offerings in the midst of one of Spain’s most impressively beauti- ful landscapes. The historic, sun-drenched town, with its whitewashed walls, wroughtiron balconies, and brightly blooming geraniums, is friendly and eminently walkable, and most of the sherry houses welcome visitors with open arms. When you’re sipping a fine old oloroso in the cool darkness of a bodega, the whole story of sherry, with all its complexity and nuance, suddenly starts to make sense. 66 V I RT U O S O L I F E

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Virtuoso Life - November/December 2008

Virtuoso Life - November/December Contents Editor’s Note Contributors Luxe Report Bon Voyage City to Go Suite Talk Vanity Case Design Tour Tasting Notes Global Gourmet Quick Escapes All the World’s Treasures Fèstive Revival Jet, Set, Go Breaking the Ice Statements of Style Expert's Picks Wild West Island Time Well Traveled Travel Trends Great Outdoors Shopping Guide Big Shot

Virtuoso Life - November/December 2008

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