Valdespino Pedro Ximénez El Candado (37.5cl)
£13.45
The wine
Dark mahogany, pronounced on the nose with complex dried fruits, raisins, toffee, dark chocolate, coffee and spice. Full and luscious on the palate.
Pedro Ximénez grapes are laid out in the sun to raisin before pressing, concentrating the sugar so far that the yeasts can barely work and fermentation stops almost at once. El Candado means the padlock, and the bottle is still sold wearing one. The result is among the sweetest wines made anywhere, dense enough to pour over ice cream. This is the half bottle.
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.
