S. Roberto Palo Cortado 1/1 (Barbadillo)
Another sherry wine that deserves 100 Parker points
San Roberto is an old bodega in Barbadillo’s premises in the centre of Sanlucar. It is tucked away and out of sight from the regular visitors. San Roberto is home to the fifth criadera of Solear, about 800 butts in total. This intermediate stage in the solera carries on through La Arboledilla before reaching maturity for bottling. It is there that Barbadillo uncovered three butts that were left detached from their respective soleras: one Palo Cortado and two Amontillados. This must have happened many years ago (in any case further back than the bodega has records) and went by unnoticed. Estimates place their age somewhere between 45 and perhaps well over 80 years.
The Palo Cortado is now known as a Bota Única 1/1, a single butt – once empty, it can never be repeated. For the company’s bicentennial in 2021, Barbadillo released it as 1100 small bottles. More background information can be found in the article I wrote when the wine received a 100/100 Parker score.
In all honesty, they discovered more casks in San Roberto, but these are set aside for another day. Or maybe a next generation.
Palo Cortado S. Roberto – Bota Única 1/1 (20,5%, Barbadillo 2021, 37,5 cl, 1100 btl.)
Nose: glorious! We get Superbly elegant, with tobacco leaves, hints of toffee, polished furniture and subtle chocolate. Also red berries and dried apricots. Dates, pecan nuts and orange peels in the background. Light ashy notes and worn leather too. The freshness and vibrancy is quite spectacular – it’s not one of these tough and demanding old wines that sometimes come out of the sherry region. It evokes old attics but also has a very energetic tension.
Mouth: a little more serious perhaps, but still very generously drinkable after so many years. More tobacco and leather, with a nice lemony acidity and just enough toffee and caramel notes to keep the right balance. Still echoes of red fruits. Then hints of coffee, wood, a pinch of black pepper and plenty of roasted nuts. The zesty notes mixed with walnuts towards the end.
Availability: after the Wine Advocate score this rapidly gained interest. Some bottles are still available, but with a seriously inflated pricing up to almost € 600.
Summary: A wonderful Palo Cortado, no doubt. We've had older expressions but this may well be the perfect age: high complexity and depth but also high drinkability and lots of elegance. Always be on the lookout for these half bottles from Barbadillo with white labels.
5
Just perfect
About the Author
Ruben is a Certified Sherry Educator who fell in love with sherry some 25 years ago, but switched to a higher gear in 2013 and started writing about it. Lived in Madrid for a couple of years, now back in Belgium. I also run a whisky blog over at www.whiskynotes.be
Related Posts
Acidity and chemistry in ageing Oloroso →
Amontillado En Rama – Criadera Selection (Barbadillo) →
Palo Cortado – Señorio de Callao (León Domecq) →
