Over 85% of the 2012 Fino en Rama comes from the 2012 harvest, a warm and low-yielding vintage that delivered healthy grapes. The wine matured under a veil of flor yeasts without being fortified until it was bottled. There are two bottlings of this wine, one in spring and this second one in October 2018, when 10,000 bottles were produced. The wines from Montilla are not usually fortified because Pedro Ximénez, the grape grown there, achieves higher ripeness than Palomino (the grape from Jerez) and the wines achieve 15% natural alcohol. I tasted this powerful and nuanced wine in a Burgundy glass, which I believe does it better than a small wine glass. It was pungent with aromas of wet chalk, esparto grass, hay and straw, and it had a crisp and dry palate. It felt quite young, as the single-harvest biological wines tend to develop at a faster pace.

Brazil and pine nut aromas and flavors are carried by a waxy edge, ending with dried chamomile, lemon peel and salted butter notes. Drink now. 1,000 cases made, 300 cases imported.??–JM??Region: Spain / Montilla-Moriles Select to Add