Fernando de Castilla Antique Fino Sherry 500 mL
(Jerez, Spain) - [WA 95] [DM 95]

About this Winery:
Widely recognized as one of the most exceptional of the small, independent sherry houses, Rey Fernando de Castilla was originally founded in 1837 by a family named Andrada-Vanderwilde; Fernando Andrada was the owner and the winery trademarked the name Rey Fernando de Castilla in 1969.

In 1999, the house was purchased by Jan Pettersen, a Norwegian with a passion for top quality sherry and 15 years experience at Osborne. After taking over the cellars of the sherry shipper José Bustamante, located next door to the main facilities of Fernando de Castilla, Jan quickly revitalized this winery, and today they are once again known as masters of the production and aging of fine, unblended, untreated sherries.

They produce two lines: the Classic range (roughly between 2 and 9 years old) and the premium Antique range (up to 30 years). The wines in the Classic line have lower alcohol, and are styled to be more, well, classic, meaning that these are wines that are textbook representations of their kind. However, this house’s reputation is based on the excellence of the Antiques, a series of intensely pure and complex single solera sherries that undergo extended aging in the cellar which results in sherries of great complexity and depth.

About this Wine:

BLEND | 100% Palomino Fino

 VINEYARDS | Grapes are grown on estate vineyard “Pago Balbaino” on white albariza soils containing 70-80% limestone.

 WINEMAKING | The Antique Oloroso averages over twenty years in age, which qualifies it as a VOS (Vinum Optimum Signatum or Very Old Sherry). Grapes are pressed and fermented in stainless steel and then headlined to 20 degrees and undergoes oxidative aging in the traditional solera and criaderas system.

 Ratings & Reviews:

95 Points - Decanter:
"Thanks to extended ageing in oak, this powerful fino is darker in hue than expected. There are signs of oxidation on the pungent, salty nose, while the intense palate has layers of flavours, with fantastic body and smoky, roasted almond notes."

93 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
"The NV Antique Fino is eight years of average age when bottled; it’s fragrant and perfumed, feminine and subtle, with dry flowers and a rare balance between old and young. The palate shows a much more serious wine, pungent, intense, saline, sharp and at the same time delicate, complex and long, most probably because it’s fortified to 17% at the time of bottling, something that was common in the past, but that almost nobody does anymore. A most unusual old-style Fino. Bravo! 4,000 bottles produced yearly."