Williams & Humbert As You Like It Medium Amontillado

Amber-mahogany in colour, clean and bright with an intense nose dried fruits, noble woods and a hint of vanilla. Surprisingly sweet and velvety on the palate. This wine is elegant, with an intense and persistent aftertaste. A peculiar Sherry, tremendously expressive, with a typical Amontillado nose yet with a surprising agreeable sweetness.

Production pruning must be carried out once the vine reaches maturity (as from its fourth year) in order to control yield. Pruning, which is carried out each year while the vine is at rest during the winter, consists in making certain incisions in the vine shoots and woody parts of the plant, ensuring that a number of buds, shoots and branches remain with a view to giving it shape. One of the tasks carried out on the albariza hillside during the winter in order to retain water is known as "aserpia" or "alumbra" and is specific to the region. It takes place after the harvest and involves building up ridges of earth between the vine rows to create a series of rectangular pits that serve to catch and store rainwater during the autumn and winter months, preventing it from running off and being lost down the hillside slope. Towards the end of August, beginning of September the green leaves of the vine begin to darken and the grape is said to "surrender"; that is, it becomes soft and sweet. There is no set date to signal the start of the grape harvest given that it all depends upon the ripeness of the grape, which should be at least 10.5º Baumé (potential alcohol).

The grapes are pressed on arrival at the winery. Skin contact is avoided as phenolic compounds can restrict the growth of flor. The must is clarified before fermentation, which takes place at around 22-26°C in American oak barrels for a fuller body. The first phase of fermentation lasts around seven days, followed by the slow phase of fermentation during which the last of the sugar is fermented, which takes a couple of weeks. Malolactic conversion is avoided by chilling the must. After fermentation each batch of base wine will be tasted and sent for analysis, known as the First Classification. As the wine is destined for biological ageing, it will be fortified to 15-15.5% abv. After fortification the wines are now in a stage called sobretablas where they are stored before joining the solera system. The wine will then be tasted and analysed in the Second Classification and is marked as an Amontillado. The wine then enters the solera systems.

The traditional, genuine system used for ageing sherry wines is known as the Criaderas and Solera System. This is a dynamic system by which wines from different stages of the ageing process are blended together in order to perpetuate specific characteristics in the wine which is finally sold on the market, which is a result of combining all the different vintages. As You Like It” is a blend of a very old sweet amontillado (30 years old)