From Steve M: “Bodega Toro Albala’s Vintage PX offers complexity impossible to achieve in solera, as less than 1% of the original wine transforms to their super rich nectar via an ultra-traditional reduction and caramelization process.

During a visit among the shadows and cobwebs of the barrel cellar in December 2013 we kept our eyes open for a worthy successor to the magnificent 1946, recipient of 100pts from the Wine Advocate. Upon viewing a solitary bota marked ‘1934’ we made immediate inquiry. Regarded as an anomaly by Toro Albala, the butt had become known to cellar hands as ‘L. Opimio’, after the famed 121 BC vintage Falernum produced during the rule of Consul Lucius Opimus and served decades later at a banquet for Julius Caesar.

Reduced from its original quantity through eight decades of volume loss, the final remaining small cask – bota viuda - ”widowed cask” - had been left without peer for topping. After 80 years the final ullage had left 33.5 arrobas – 16.2 liters of a most precious and impossible to duplicate nature. At this point, it could no longer be topped up with its own wine to preserve vintage integrity. It was therefore decided that 80 years would be the perfect, indeed essential, moment for bottling. That moment was on Tuesday of this week, October 21st, 2014.

The story of the ullage:

The 1934 ‘L. Opimio’, a small butt was produced by the best barrel maker of the day and has especially thick and unusual staves for preserving PX undisturbed over many decades. Such casks have not been made for 50 years (or more) as the time, cost and craftsmanship have been lost or thought to be “unnecessary”. Due to natural evaporation, the 1934 now must be bottled or moved to a smaller, less satisfactory barrel which Toro Albala would never do. If we work the ullage formula backwards, original quantity of 1934 was somewhere around 6000L...we now have less than 10% of that and even less that can be bottled free of sediment and what has settled to the bottom of the barrel.

The unexpected additional concentration of the bota viuda is noteworthy in the wine (even to Toro Albala, they are in utter awe as to what has occurred with the 1934) – supple roasted fig, fresh cigar bouquet and an ethereal silken texture and endless length, layer upon layer upon layer of pillow-like massively concentrated softness that coats, covers and penetrates the palate across all sides. Of all the wines I have ever tasted (in the tens of thousands) this may be the most haunting and certainly the most rare. I do love a fine Bordeaux, glass of Yquem or 19th century Madeira but this wine goes beyond the finest known examples of sweet or fortified wine. It is an experience that leaves the room without discussion as none could live up to what had been tasted.

Pre-bottling analysis included carbon-14 testing to certify era of production. Wine in the bottle is exactly as in the bota, without any treatment of any kind - gently moved to each glass bottle and sealed in its pristine state. We have tasted nothing like the 1934 since the great 1939 Don PX Convento ‘Bacchus’ released in the late 1990’s – also a great legend of texture and ethereal length...but the 1934 goes beyond...it is richer but even more weightless – how do I describe it! Both vintages have similarly low alcohol for a PX (13-15%) but the 1934 is even more viscous. Of greater importance, the 1939 and 1934 do not display the aggressive “burnt” note of the darker vintages such as 1946 and 1961 (a difference that separates the very greatest vintages from the next in line). That means the 1939 and 1934 are “younger” and will age for even longer than the aggressive vintages. As it stands, directly from the bota, the 1934 has a deep mahogany color, just short of ebony and it will gain definition and even greater heights as it sits in the bottle (greater heights – how!)”

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