Waitrose Nº1 Torre del Oro Palo Cortado

Mahogany in colours, with aromas of hazelnuts and spices on the nose. Full bodied and nutty on the palate, with a long aftertaste. Serve at 13ºC with "tapas", artichokes, game and spicy food.

The vines are widely planted and cordon trained in north-south orientation, averaging 25 years old. Pruning is done in the traditional vara y pulgar (stick & thumb) method to maintain a control over yield for the very productive palomino variety

grapes are destemmed and then crushed using a press, a further pressing then occurs to release further juice which is graded according to the style required. the must is then racked from the solid material and transferred to stainless steel tanks for fermentation. Following the completion of fermentation the base wines are graded and then fortified to 15% and the initial layer of flor starts to form. these base wines then enter into the solera system during the spring following harvest.

The young base wine ( sobretablas) enters the solera system and passes from one criadera to the next under a veil of flor over the course of around 4 years, after this time the butts with weaker flor are taken out of the solera and allowed to age oxidatively and so the sherry becomes classified as Palo Cortado. Following a further 8 years ageing in the solera the sherry is bottled and released.