Bodegas Tradicion Amontillado VORS

“The NV Tradicion Amontillado VORS, certainly has the more complex and subtle nose of all these VORS and is on average 45 years old. It has a very clean nose, with elegance and complexity, powerful but subtle notes of hazelnuts, honey and even some dates. The medium-bodied palate shows a sharp wine with strong salinity, it has the power and the lightness, in a very difficult combination. 96 points

Bodegas Tradicion, despite its name, is one of the youngest wineries in Jerez, it was created in 1998, something not so common, as most of the houses have been in operation for generations. It’s also unusual for a winery to sell exclusively old wines, even more so when it’s a young operation. But this is what Bodegas Tradicion is about. They purchased wines (botas and soleras) from everybody, Osborne, Bobadilla, Croft, Domecq, Sandeman? In the beginning they had maybe 200 botas, and now they own around 1,000. The market at the time when they started was extremely hard for Sherry, and trying to sell a new name, and exclusively old wines, was almost impossible. In 2003 they sold a grand total of 600 bottles, whereas nowadays they sell 18,000-20,0000 bottles per year. They kind of started the other way round, selling only VORS (and one VOS), and working their way towards younger wines to feed their soleras. They have now even released a Fino (a very old Fino, but a Fino after all), and they explained that even though they started buying very old soleras, they are now in need of younger wines, and they do not rule out the need to even purchase their own vineyards in the future. A Benjamin Button kind of winery! The wines are in charge of Jose Maria Quiros, who was winemaker at Agustin Blazquez and later at Domecq and has been a consultant for Alvear in Montilla-Moriles for 15 years. His aim is to preserve traditions and keep the wines as pure and true to their style as possible, and they come through as clean, elegant, precise, well-defined, focused, true to their type and indeed traditional. All wines have a hand-written lot number and year on the label.”

Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate (208)