Valdespino Amontillado Contrabandista Medium Dry
£23.45
The wine
The label was inspired by the painting Venta del Gato, depicting a contrabandista, a smuggler of the early nineteenth century. Smugglers travelled the road between Jerez and Sanlúcar, and the inn is still standing.
A medium dry amontillado, which begins life as a fino under a veil of flor and finishes in contact with air once the veil dies away. The Palomino is fermented to dryness in 600-litre American oak butts and fortified to 15%, the barrels left only partly filled so the flor can form on the surface.
The producer
Valdespino
View all Valdespino winesValdespino is one of the oldest and most revered names in Jerez, a sherry house whose roots reach back centuries. It is celebrated above all for its single-vineyard bottlings and its refusal to compromise, making sherries of a purity and depth that connoisseurs treasure.
The jewel is the great albariza vineyard of Macharnudo Alto, source of the Inocente Fino, one of the last Finos still fermented in cask. Elsewhere the house draws on ancient soleras for Amontillados, Palo Cortados and Olorosos of extraordinary age, alongside a decadently sweet Pedro Ximénez.
From the bone-dry, saline Inocente and sea-fresh Manzanilla Deliciosa to the profound VOS bottlings and the sherry-based Herencia vermouth and quina, the range is a masterclass in the diversity of Jerez.
Historic, uncompromising and endlessly rewarding, Valdespino is sherry at its most serious. Discover a true benchmark of the region.
