TORO ALBALA 3 BOTTLES MIXED OWC SEALED : AMONTILLADO MARQUES DE POLEY SELECCION 1951 : TORO ALBALA DON PX CONVENTON SELECCION 1955 : TORO ALBALA DON PX CONVENTO SELECCION 1965
TORO ALBALA PX 1955 : 98 POINTS
One more single-harvest, old sweet wine, the 1955 Don PX Convento Selección was bottled in September 2014 and it had been aged slowly in very old American oak barrels and getting thick and concentrated through evaporation. It's 320 grams of sugar are (partially) compensated by 6.5 grams of acidity. It has a nose and palate of chocolate-covered candied orange, spices, molasses. I'd say the dominant aromas in the nose are dark chocolate. It's very dense, developing notes of very concentrated licorice and balsamic, mint, camphor and evolving notes of petrol with time. Complex, rare and unique. 8,400 bottles.
TORO ALBALA PX 1965 : 97 POINTS
Small lots of old vintages are released following no apparent logic, like this 1965 Don PX Selección, which is produced with white Pedro Ximénez grapes but it's black rather than white, bottled in June 2014 with 290 grams of residual sugar. It has a nose of pure curry, aromas of an Indian restaurant, very balanced, not as sweet as others, in fact it's more bittersweet than sweet, combining the spices with bitter chocolate and with very good acidity that makes it relatively easy to drink. 9,600 bottles were filled.
TORO ALBALA MARQUES DE POLEY 1951: 95 POINTS
My favorite of the two Amontillados is the 1951 Amontillado Selección a rare, single-vintage Amontillado produced with Pedro Ximénez grapes as is the norm in Montilla-Moriles. It's a bright mahogany color with an amber-green tint that reveals pharmaceutical notes and balsamic, with roasted, charred aromas and a sweetish palate that retains the sharpness expected in this kind of wine. It is lacking a bit in the mid-palate before ending with a slightly bitter, tarry finish. This is completely different to an Amontillado from Jerez. It was bottled in March 2011 into 4,650 bottles. It is unusual and is perhaps not for all palates.
ROBERT PARKER WINE ADVOCATE