Toro Albala Pedro Ximenez Convento Seleccion 1931 (200ML)

98 WA / 95 JS / 18.5 JR

If someone told you they kept a wine for 84 years in barrel before bottling, you'd think they are nuts, right? Well, that's what the folks at Toro Albalá in Aguilar de la Frontera - in the province of Cordoba, part of the Montilla Moriles appellation - did with their 1931 Don PX Convento Selección. This is part of what they call 'vinos olvidados,' which means 'forgotten wines.' The border is amber, with green tints that denote very old age. Such old age provides an array of unusual aromas and flavors, including iodine and salt that compensate the sweetness (403 grams) and even the alcohol (18%). It's terribly balsamic, with notes of dry herbs and spices, cigar ash, carob beans (algarrobas), incense and noble woods. The palate is very, very sweet and concentrated, unctuous, dense, with a chewy texture. This goes beyond a glass of wine, a drop of it is like having a piece of cake. I don't think this reaches the complexity and depth of the 1946, which remains the benchmark for these old sweet PX, but it's truly terrific! 9,650 bottles were filled in June 2015. 2016-2040. - Luiz Gutierrez, Wine Advocate

This is a crazy sweet wine with incredible aromas of toffee, brown sugar, maple syrup, and burnt orange. Black colored with green tint around the edge. Full body, with an incredible viscous and dense texture. So very sweet with dried raisins, sultanas and toffee. Unique experience. Bottled in 2014. Drink forever. - James Suckling

Roasted coffee, there is a nail-varnish impression and it smells of great age, nobility, chocolate and raisins. Super-sharp! It is very old, but well crafted. Very sweet too but iodised and concentrated in acidity at the same time, so it achieves great balance. Drinkable, deep, exciting, a never-ending wine. Ashes in the aftertaste and very long finish! It is like drinking archaeology. - Jancis Robinson