October 18, 2020 - Three day birthday celebration; great wines.: Ted's bottle, hand carried from Madrid. Dry, dense, salty and intense. Nutty, with burnt caramel and brown spice. This was served late. It would have paired better with nuts and cheese. Really good though.
February 25, 2019 - Palo cortado que procede originariamente de la bodega Gaspar Florido y que venían reposando más recientemente en las bodegas Pedro Romero. Su vejes puede oscilar entre los 50 y los 80 años. De color caoba de media capa, muestra una nariz perfumada, con carácter, con marcados acetaldehidos, toques de avellana tostada, matices de especias exóticas, algo de duelas envinadas, azúcar quemado y brisa marina. En boca tiene buen ataque, seco, afilado, con cierta salinidad, muy buenos amargos, algunas sensaciones picantes, largo y evocador.
August 30, 2017 - A Medlar Dinner: Rich, dense, concentrated and hugely long. It's all here, until one tastes the Bota 47 alongside and then the previously painful intensity of the 48 seems more manageable. Fascinating and a super match with Medlar's Old Gouda. ****
June 30, 2017 - Burgundy WIMPS, Le Figaro table (La Trompette, London): You could sniff this for hours without losing interest. So deep and intense. Rich and full on the attack, and then fantastic acidity that cuts through everything. Painfully intense and very complex. *****
April 3, 2017 - From memory over several days. This wine seems to have mellowed a bit, which is fine as it is still quite intense. Bursting with desserty flavors but totally dry, delicious on its own and also great with difficult foods like charcuterie. Noticeably more friendly than the #47.
March 13, 2017 - Gorgeous, gorgeous, sherry. Not sure if I'd pay full retail (I got it at the Zachy's Cyber Monday sale) but one can't argue with this being a world class wine. Huge, rich and complex, bigger that most other La Bota PCs but the whole is in a magnificent balance. Wish I'd bought more than the one bottle. This had been open in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks after pouring off 2 small glasses previously and I think it benefitted from it.
June 5, 2016 - Outstanding. Much better than the 47 which had a very sour end. This goes on forever. Most interesting sherry I've had
January 28, 2016 - A private lunch (Restaurant Punto MX *, Madrid, Spain): An end butt from Gaspar Florido's solera GF-30, with an estimated age between 50 and 80 years. Rich amber colour, green rim denotes great age; pure and intense nose, toasted nuts and cocoa, flowers and soured butter, apricot, lots of wood, very deep; extremely concentrated palate, dry and salty, rich yet austere, bursting with dry extract, just the required amount of glycerin to retain its balance; almost neverending finish. Magnificent.
November 28, 2015 - Christmas BYO: Very difficult to rate and even taste such a beast of a wine. Extreme in every way packed with complexity and intensity.
To me, this was almost painful to drink due to the insane salt flavors. Not sure of if I would try this again. Very extreme.
July 5, 2015 - Burnt caramel and vegetal nose of super old oak, old wine, concentration and oxidation of many years (50-80 at least). On the palate, intensely bitter and tart, rich, but shot through with brightness, and there's an incredible delineation of flavor. Maybe not as long as one would expect, but otherwise an awesome thing to taste.