The 1946 Toro Albalá Don PX Convento Selección is an extraordinary piece of Spanish wine history, now approaching 80 years from harvest and representing the pinnacle of this legendary Montilla-Moriles producer. Made entirely from Pedro Ximénez grapes dried in the sun to concentrate their sugars, the wine then matured for generations in old Amontillado butts, slowly developing an almost unbelievable level of concentration and complexity. Toro Albalá reserves the Convento Selección designation for only its most exceptional old barrels, waiting until the winery believes each wine has reached the ideal moment for bottling. The 1946 is particularly historic, having received 100 points from Wine Advocate and becoming the first sweet wine to receive that distinction. Nearly eight decades of evolution have produced an incredibly deep, mahogany-colored wine with layers of dates, dried figs, raisins, candied orange, cinnamon, clove, anise, and roasted complexity. Despite its tremendous sweetness and density, it has enough acidity and gentle bitterness to keep the wine remarkably balanced, with an extraordinarily long finish. This is far beyond a conventional dessert wine it is a rare chance to drink a beautifully preserved 1946 vintage and one of the most celebrated old Pedro Ximénez bottlings ever produced.
Wine Advocate (Luis Gutiérrez) 100 points! "The 1946 Don PX Convento Seleccion produced with Pedro Ximenez grapes dehydrated under the sun at the time of the Second World War, was only bottled in September 2011. This is an extreme wine, my first descriptor was ultra-mega-super concentrated. It is unbelievably powerful, both in the nose and the palate, full of umami, with sweet cinnamon, Christmas cake, camphor, petrol, lemongrass, Belgian chocolate and butter. Incredibly complex and rich, sweet, balanced and smooth in the palate, it is both very sweet and somehow salty, and with time it develops a black olive note. It combines the texture of the 1962 and the elegance of the 1949. It is as decadent as it gets. 825 bottles were produced. This wine will survive all of us. These wines are kept for generations and offered in very small quantities, but it’s amazing that you can still buy and drink something so old, and I’m even tempted to say that it might represent good value for what it is. A real tour de force sweet wine. Drink it if you ever have the privilege to do so from 2013-2060."
1946 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Convento Seleccion
1946 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Convento Seleccion
The 1946 Toro Albalá Don PX Convento Selección is an extraordinary piece of Spanish wine history, now approaching 80 years from harvest and representing the pinnacle of this legendary Montilla-Moriles producer. Made entirely from Pedro Ximénez grapes dried in the sun to concentrate their sugars, the wine then matured for generations in old Amontillado butts, slowly developing an almost unbelievable level of concentration and complexity. Toro Albalá reserves the Convento Selección designation for only its most exceptional old barrels, waiting until the winery believes each wine has reached the ideal moment for bottling. The 1946 is particularly historic, having received 100 points from Wine Advocate and becoming the first sweet wine to receive that distinction. Nearly eight decades of evolution have produced an incredibly deep, mahogany-colored wine with layers of dates, dried figs, raisins, candied orange, cinnamon, clove, anise, and roasted complexity. Despite its tremendous sweetness and density, it has enough acidity and gentle bitterness to keep the wine remarkably balanced, with an extraordinarily long finish. This is far beyond a conventional dessert wine it is a rare chance to drink a beautifully preserved 1946 vintage and one of the most celebrated old Pedro Ximénez bottlings ever produced.
Wine Advocate (Luis Gutiérrez) 100 points! "The 1946 Don PX Convento Seleccion produced with Pedro Ximenez grapes dehydrated under the sun at the time of the Second World War, was only bottled in September 2011. This is an extreme wine, my first descriptor was ultra-mega-super concentrated. It is unbelievably powerful, both in the nose and the palate, full of umami, with sweet cinnamon, Christmas cake, camphor, petrol, lemongrass, Belgian chocolate and butter. Incredibly complex and rich, sweet, balanced and smooth in the palate, it is both very sweet and somehow salty, and with time it develops a black olive note. It combines the texture of the 1962 and the elegance of the 1949. It is as decadent as it gets. 825 bottles were produced. This wine will survive all of us. These wines are kept for generations and offered in very small quantities, but it’s amazing that you can still buy and drink something so old, and I’m even tempted to say that it might represent good value for what it is. A real tour de force sweet wine. Drink it if you ever have the privilege to do so from 2013-2060."
