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White - Sweet/Dessert

1971 Bodegas Toro Albala Montilla-Moriles Don PX Gran Reserva

Pedro Ximénez

  • Spain
  • Andalucía
  • Montilla-Moriles

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Community Tasting Note

  • Ombibulous wrote:

    June 11, 2015 - Friends, what do you think the end of the drinking window would be for the half bottle? Perhaps I should drink it now. The average drinking window of all vintages (1971 through 1985 have drinking windows specified) is 35 years, which would put it at 2006. The last time I drank this, also from the half bottle, was 2008. Your thoughts would be welcome. Thanks!

    2 people found this helpful 10,425 views

10 Comments

  • andtheodor commented:

    6/11/15, 8:40 PM - Indefinite. If any wine is close to immortality, it's this. I haven't had one for several years but it's far from being "old" in any sense. Drink one now or forget about it for several years - it doesn't matter.

  • KML3 commented:

    6/12/15, 7:09 AM - It will last forever. The drinking windows are not reliable.

  • Ombibulous commented:

    6/12/15, 4:17 PM - Thank you both for your thoughts. KML3, I respectfully disagree. I am of the opinion that drinking windows can be useful. I have had wines go bad on me, and I think that was, at least in some instances, preventible. I like to try to avoid that when possible. I have a lot of bottles in my bodega and I like to be able to determine, at a glance (to the tags I put on the necks) what might be drunk now and what can be left for later. Drinking windows are not totally unpredictable imo. For example, I think half bottles and splits mature more quickly than full bottles. I am doubtful that my half bottle will last forever.

  • andtheodor commented:

    6/12/15, 4:34 PM - These wines are enormously concentrated plus they spend literally decades in barrel prior to release so they're pretty timeless. On the other hand, they don't really gain much from further cellaring so there isn't a lot of reason to keep them either, but you don't need to worry about them suddenly falling apart. Per Parker, "Putting a drinking window to these wines feels a bit silly. You should drink it whenever you have the occasion. "

  • Ombibulous commented:

    6/12/15, 4:44 PM - Thanks! I put tags on my bottles before I put them in my collection, and sometimes I review them later (because the drinking windows change). Then when I go into my bodega to choose a bottle to drink, I can, relatively quickly, decide which wines I should drink now and which can wait without going bad. Wines do go bad. And imo it's avoidable. I want to avoid it. I do not have the money to buy wine and then let it go bad. I can only drink so much wine as time goes by. So I need to prioritize. What should be drunk soon and what can be left for later? That is why drinking windows are useful for me, at least sometimes. I'd prefer to be on the safe side, although I also like to taste how a wine tastes when it's been aged. Thanks for your thoughts! I find the expertise of other cellartracker users like you useful and helpful.

  • KML3 commented:

    6/12/15, 9:05 PM - I meant that the drinking windows for this and other PX are unreliable. Virtually all PX, these included, will outlive all of us. I say this having about 75 bottles of PX in my cellar -- they will not go bad.

  • Ombibulous commented:

    6/17/15, 10:41 PM - Thanks for your thoughts. The drinking windows are definitely unreliable sometimes. I agree with you on that. That's why I ask for comments. There are degrees of reliability imo. Better more information than less. This wine is from 1971 so I'm hesitant to trust the notion that it will never go bad. I've been aging it for seven years so I don't want my investment and effort to go for naught. These drinking windows are estimates; they are not intended to be 100% certain and I don't take them as such. I'd simply prefer to be on the safe side and ask for others' thoughts and estimates. Better to drink it too early than too late, ¿no? Also, I have the half bottle, and don't half bottles mature more quickly? Are any of your bottles of PX half bottles? How many of this particular wine and vintage have you drunk? What's the longest you've aged a bottle of PX? Thanks for your comments!

  • andtheodor commented:

    6/18/15, 5:35 PM - Almost of the old PX I've had has been half bottles and I've tasted the '71 from 375 a couple of times, and a variety of older ones as well. Like I mentioned before, if you're worried about this wine getting too old just drink it. There's not any reason to keep it for longer as it was nearly totally mature on release and probably hasn't changed much since you bought it. FWIW, I have one bottle of this left in 375 and I might drink it next week or in ten years. I don't believe that time frame will have much of a difference provided sound storage.

  • Ombibulous commented:

    6/20/15, 5:27 PM - Thank you! That is very helpful. I am now as knowledgeable on this. I assumed it would continue to mature in the bottle. But I know it was oak aged for decades before bottling. Cheers.

  • Wineteacher commented:

    5/8/17, 7:26 PM - PX is a very sturdy wine. It us added to dryer sherry to make cream sherry. As to drinking window, while nothing is eternal, PX comes pretty close. This wine hasn't shown any sign of age since the day it was bottled. Rich, sweet, dense and complex, this wine isn't likely going stale any time soon. It isn't eternal but could easily be held for another decade without issues. Not eternal but decades.

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