The Fickle Palate
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1910 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Gines Liebana
12/26/2019 - The Fickle Palate Likes this wine:
Toro Albalá are well known for their extensive stocks of old Pedro Ximénez but as far as I’m aware, this is the oldest released to date. Named in honour of Spanish artist Ginés Liébana Velasco, these Pedro Ximénez grapes were dried in the Sun to concentrate the sweetness, then matured in American oak for 96 years before finally bottled in August 2006. With only 1490 bottles filled, it’s probably one of the rarest and oldest single-vintage bottlings of PX commercially available.
Black as blackstrap molasses and virtually opaque, it’s deeply concentrated, rich and powerful but retaining plenty of nuance between the sweetness up-front (caramel, candied fruit, Christmas pudding, balsamic), the lip-smacking umami on the mid-palate (lashings of dark soy) and complex bitter character on the finish (dark chocolate, filter coffee, herbal balsam and quinine). Despite all the power and complexity, it finishes smooth and very long. This is a true meditation PX. *****
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1988 Hine Grande Champagne Cognac Early Landed
9/4/2019 - The Fickle Palate wrote:
*****
This Thomas Hine 1988 Grande Champagne is an early-landed Cognac, matured in their cellars in Gloucestershire for the now defunct Howells of Bristol since 1990, before being bottled in 2004.
A spirit of real subtlety here; a delicate balance of floral/herbal notes, creaminess, gentle rancio and the more typical woody characters. The lightness of touch on the palate is truly remarkable, really showcasing the finesse than can be achieved with the early-landed style. Soft, yet enveloping, this is in a class of its own.
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1982 Delamain Grande Champagne Cognac
8/24/2019 - The Fickle Palate wrote:
****1/2
Early-landed in the UK in 1984, this vintage-dated Cognac from Delamain, a Cognac house closely associated with British aristocracy, remained in barrel at Howells of Bristol until bottling in 2003.
Despite its age, this Cognac is fresh, floral and fruit-driven, there’s plenty of apricot and peach bursting out of the glass but given time, that brooding smokiness lurking beneath the surface starts to reveal itself. A faint lick of rancio adds to the complexity. Soft but persistent, woody caramel notes round off the finish. This is serious Cognac that needs meditating over.
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