NV Gonzalez Byass - Tio Pepe Fino En Rama

Salty and lemony – so intense and powerful. Long, elegant, profound flavours. A big, beautiful beast. (RH)

Fourteenth edition of this groundbreaking wine. Unfiltered and unclarified. Quite a bit of sediment from my pour (from the bottom of a stoppered half-bottle). Nose of damp plaster and some nuttiness. Much more body than the first few editions of this wine. Long and satisfying. Bone dry and briny. (JR)

The unfiltered and unfined 2021 bottling of the NV Tío Pepe Fino en Rama has a red label with roses and green letters. I had the chance to taste it next to the 2022 bottling and see the evolution and what and one year of difference makes in the wine. Despite popular belief, wines like this, with all its character and pedigree and not stripped naked by brutal filtration, gain depth, complexity and weight in bottle, and this bottle shows textbook aromas of esparto grass, dry hay and wet chalk. This was selected from 82 botas for their finesse and delicate character, and the wine shows a tasty palate, very dry, intense and sapid, with pungent flavors. It should go on for a few more years in bottle.