Est. 2001. Importer & Distributor of Fine Wine, Craft Spirits, and Ginjo Sake
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Item Number: 7296
UPC: 8423360040011
Country: Spain
Region: Andalusia
Appellation/AVA: Jerez DO
Estate Grown Wine: Yes
Vineyard Designation: Pago Balbaino
Grape(s): 100% Palomino
Type: Wine - Fortified
Bottle Size: 500ml Pack: 6
Closure: T Top
Alc by Vol(%): 17
Soil Type: Albariza
Grapes are from older vines on the estate vineyard Pago Balbaino estate vineyard. 'Antique' Fino is a wine of four criaderas that originates from a selection of barrels from the 'Classic' Fino solera that were set aside and left untouched for five years. The 'Antique' line consists of the house's very old sherries of limited production and exceptional quality. In contrast to highly filtered, fairly young modern Finos that have been fortified only once, this wine boasts a formidable average of eight years in age at bottling, sees minimal filtration and a second fortification (the old fashioned way).
Fino is the driest and palest style of sherry. Finos (and manzanillas) avoid oxidation by the spontaneous appearance of a veil of yeasts (called flor) on the surface of the wine which consumes the alcohol. Aging takes place in American oak butts, filled only five-sixths full to leave a chamber for air (the height of two fists), allowing the flor to do its work. The butts are stacked in three levels, and in groups, called the criaderas and soleras. This system is a dynamic process which involves moving the wines from different vintages through the various levels of butts to allow the young wines to acquire the qualities of the older ones. Fernando de Castilla 'Antique' Fino has a golden color. The aromas and flavors are very developed because of longer than usual aging in oak.
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Fernando de Castilla (500 ml) 'Antique' Fino, Jerez DO
Rating: 93
The NV Antique Fino is eight years of average age when bottled; it’s fragrant and perfumed, feminine and subtle, with dry flowers and a rare balance between old and young. The palate shows a much more serious wine, pungent, intense, saline, sharp and at the same time delicate, complex and long, most probably because it’s fortified to 17% at the time of bottling, something that was common in the past, but that almost nobody does anymore. A most unusual old-style Fino. Bravo! 4,000 bottles produced yearly. Drink 2013-2018.
- The Wine Advocate (8/1/2013)
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