Bodegas Yuste Conde de Aldama Palo Cortado

In the late 19th century the Aldama family was among the most prominent in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, with vast vineyards and stock holdings. In 1888 the phylloxera plague was advancing towards the Jerez region and the Conde de Aldama decided to seal his best botas in plaster to protect their value and to prevent their mixture with wines from new, grafted vines.

These botas, which were part of a solera started around 1750, remained sealed until their re-opening in 1927. At that time the Aldama heirs were facing bankrupcy as well as personal tragedy and started liquidating their stocks. Until the acquisition by Francisco Yuste in 2001, only the natural evaporation had been replaced, which means the wines were left untouched for almost 120 years.

There is an Amontillado ‘Conde de Aldama’ and a Palo Cortado. Both originated in the same solera but some casks saw a slightly different evolution with more traces of Oloroso, hence the classification as a Palo Cortado although they essentially share the same DNA. Their estimated average age is probably well over 100 years (making it one of the oldest available)! As this is much older than the VORS requirement of 30 years, the bodega doesn’t bother getting an official label