Valdespino "El Candado" Pedro Ximénez Sherry

£15.45
Tasting notes
Liquid raisins; ideal for intensely rich desserts such as sticky toffee pudding or strong blue cheeses such as stilton.

Why we recommend this wine
The bottle has the cutest little padlock sealing the cork (and it is a really excellent PX!).

This wine
El Candado (the Spanish translation for "The Padlock") is made only with Pedro Ximénez grapes which, after harvested, are left out in the sun to dry for at least two weeks. This concentrates the sugars by evaporation, turning them to raisins. A very sweet must is obtained through pressing; fermentation is stopped by fortifying with grape spirit yielding an ABV around 17%. The wine is aged in a Solera system made up of three ‘criadera‘ of American oak casks. The wine is fractionally blended obtaining an average age of ten years.

The wine estate
Jose Estevez S.A, a family run business, bought Valdespino one of the oldest Sherry Houses in Jerez in September 1999. The origins of the Bodega Valdespino date back to 1264 A.D. The first member of the Valdespino family to cultivate and age Sherry wines was Don Alfonso Valdespino, one of 24 Christian Knights who fought for King Alonso to re-conquer the City of Jerez from the Moors.
grupoestevez.es

Food and wine
The intense raisin flavours mean that it will complement any chocolate dish but also fruit mince pies and it makes a great summer dessert by pouring a tot over vanilla ice-cream. The sweet and sour combination of PX and a strong blue cheese also works well. Also see our guide to pairing food and wine here.

Did you know?
Pedro Ximenez is a white wine grape unsuited to table wine production due to its very low acidity. It shines as a single-variety wine known as PX.