NV Reliquia Palo Cortado
Buying options
Tasting notes
The new bottling of the NV Reliquia Palo Cortado comes in a small bottle with a handmade and different label every year (so, each year the Palo Cortado is different in style and all the labels in that bottling are slightly different, as they are painted by hand by the artist, but in the same style). These are wines that, unless something very strange happens, are not going to show any differences, because the rotation of wine in the bottles is really small, as they all have their soleras and criaderas because of how the system is managed, especially in the case of the Palo Cortado, which is the more abundant of these Reliquia wines. In any case, these wines can get more concentrated and powerful, but they are already so concentrated and powerful that it is difficult to notice any differences. This wine will outlive us all. Only 80 half bottles are available yearly for the whole world.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Barbadillo winemaker, Montse Molina tells us that this is the Reliquia they have the most of – nine casks, but also a second very old solera with another nine casks. She says that this is really an oloroso because of its oxidative ageing, but 'a very fine, delicate oloroso'. TA 12 g/l. At least 100 years old, probably much more. Pale golden-reddish amber. Smells a little bit of rose-scented acetone. Dark-roasted pecans with a touch of grill burn. White pepper and dry-roasted cumin and old, old, dusty, mahogany-panelled rooms in African colonial mansions where the smell of wood-beetle dust competes with the scent of hot, crushed jacaranda and drought and petrichor. Parchment. And then, when I dared to put it in my mouth... (<unprintable word>!) This is so umami that it's soy reduction with added salt mixed with sea brine and seaweed and so blindingly intense that I almost went cross-eyed. Distilled essence of Palo Cortado. Oranges. Bitterness. Layers and layers. Hay and the smell of cutting into an old oak beam. Smells like an ancient hay barn. Searching the drop in my mouth, I find it has a tiny, tiny, tiny bit more sweetness tucked into that fierce iodine saltiness than the Amontillado. Stunning, overwhelming, stupefying. Explosive acidity that seems to spear my chest to the wall behind me. Tannic. Almost jamón Ibérico, almost roast chestnuts, almost oranges – but none of that. This wine is a war cry to the gods. (TC)
Lifted and aromatic – lively, fresh, rich, profound and lengthy. Dry and brisk on the finish. Excellent. (RH)