NV Pedro Ximenez Antique

Annual production is 5-6,000 litres – more sold than all the other Antiques put together. More green highlights in this dark brown colour. It is like the Classic but more so in the fresh fruit on the nose. On the palate, super-sweet raisins but also coffee and a smoky char note. Long and unspittable. (JH)

Best Sweet Fortified, Spanish Wine Awards 2013. Brilliantly sweet and caramelised of course – incredible power. What remarkable stuff! (RH)

The NV Antique Pedro Ximenez is produced from dehydrated Pedro Ximenez grapes in a solera system, and represents half of the production of the range. Mahogany-colored, it reveals plenty of notes of marinated balsamic herbs (somehow an old vermouth comes to mind), licorice and a fresh touch of candied apricots. The palate is fresh, sweet, with echoes of the raisins, showing medium age which makes it easier to drink. It might not be a terribly complex Pedro Ximenez but its freshness makes it very approachable. 14,000 bottles produced yearly. Drink 2013-2015. Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla were created in 1972, but had a history going back to 1837. In 1999 the company was sold to a group of investors lead by Norwegian Jan Pettersen, who had worked previously at Osborne for 16 years. In the end Pettersen took control of the company, enlarging the business and taking the quality of its wines to the very top. This is a small- to medium-sized bodega (1,000 botas, capacity for 200,000 liters and selling 250,000 bottles per year), clearly focused on quality. The Antique range that I have tasted here, sold in half-liter bottles, represents their top of the range, and even if it has no official age certification, the wines are certainly old. All wines, regardless of style or category follow a clear line; they are all on the elegant side, balanced, clean and easy-to-understand wines. Imported by David Bowler; www.bowlerwine.com