El Maestro Sierra Pedro Ximinez 35.5cl Sherry 2024

Tasting: Appearance, dark brown to amber color with mahogany highlights;nose,exotic spices and hints of red fruits combine with classic caramel notes. Dried dates, raisins, subtly nutty plums, orange zest, and spice. Fragrances of Valencia orange peel and English toffee with roasted figs;palate, despite its richness, the wine has great acidity that makes it light on its feet and almost refreshing. Sweet yet soft and silky in texture with sun-dried raisins, almonds, sweet nuttiness, and caramel. Fine texture with delicate orange confit, elegant and balanced with well-integrated fruit and a mineral salty underlay.

Serving: Best served slightly chilled or at room temperature. Excellent with vegan tofu chocolate desserts, vegan cheese, or poured over vanilla ice cream.

Once opened this El Maestro Sierra PX will stay fresh for 2-3 months due to high sugar content.

Critic tasting note: - Falstaff - "Bright amber colour. Hints of prune, candied orange, cherry and nougat, underlaid with sweet spice. Juicy and elegant, notes of orange marmalade, substantial, with a pleasant chocolate aftertaste." 

Bodega Maestro Sierra maintains traditional methods, moving wines manually with traditional tools rather than pumps and aged in American oak casks. This wine is produced following the Solera System. PX production steps are found at the end of this descripiton if required.

Grape: 100% Pedro Ximénez

Alc fortified to 15%

This incredible PX sherry wine speaks to to sherry lover with stunning aromas and a quality palate.

Bodega history and background:

El Maestro Sierra was founded in 1830 by José Antonio Sierra, a master cooper who had originally operated a barrel-building business when sherry production was still dominated by wealthy aristocratic families. José Antonio Sierra overcame significant obstacles, and succeeded in establishing his winery and eventually becoming one of the most respected almacenistas (stockholders) of high-quality sherry in Jerez.

From 1976 until 2020, the bodega was protected by Doña Pilar Pla Pechovierto, who inherited the business after her husband's early death, resulting in her becoming one of the first women to run a Sherry house. Bodega Maestro Sierra obtained its first bottling permit for an almacenista house. Her decendents continue the tradition to this day.

Bodega Maestro have been buying their grapes from the same suppliers for many decades and these growers are known as having the best and oldest parcels within Jerez Superior.

Because the business moved slowly for decades, the stocks at El Maestro Sierra are among the oldest and most undisturbed in Jerez.

Bodega Maestro Sierra maintains exceptionally old soleras and traditional production methods.From the back of their building Bodega Maestro hasa clear view of the Atlantic Ocean at El Puerto de Santa María, a unique location in Jerez that allows the flor at the winery to be present all year round, giving their wines a unique quality.

The wines are all made in super old barrels, moved using manual siphoning, settled by time, bottled unfiltered and unsulphured. The labels feature a fox being chased by a hunt, which the bodega said represents Maestro Sierra who have been pursued by the larger sherry houses. Some of their practices (and the resulting wines) sit outside the normal rules for sherry, but the Consejo Regulador recognises the unique nature of the wines and grants them exceptions.Genuine treasures of the wine world. Available also in half bottles/35cl of the classic range of Fino and  Amontillado;whilst the Amoroso is available in 75cl bottle size.

Maestro Sierra Pedro Ximinez production:

Pedro Ximénez Sherry Production

1. Grape Harvest

The Pedro Ximénez (PX) grapes are harvested when fully ripe, typically in early September in the Jerez region of southern Spain.

2. Sun-Drying (Soleo)

This is the key step that makes PX unique: the grapes are laid out on esparto grass mats in the sun for 1-3 weeks. This concentrates the sugars as the grapes shrivel into raisins, dramatically increasing sweetness.

3. Pressing

The dried, raisin-like grapes are pressed to extract a thick, intensely sweet must (grape juice) with very high sugar content.

4. Fermentation

The must begins fermenting, but due to the extremely high sugar levels, fermentation is difficult and often incomplete. The natural yeasts struggle to convert all that sugar to alcohol.

5. Fortification

Grape spirit (alcohol) is added to stop fermentation, typically bringing the wine to around 15-17% alcohol. Maestro Sierra PZ is 15%. This leaves substantial residual sugar, creating the characteristic sweetness.

6. Solera Aging

The fortified wine enters the solera system - a unique fractional blending method:

• Wines are stored in stacked rows of oak barrels (butts)
• The oldest wine sits in the bottom row (solera)
• Younger wines age in rows above (criaderas)
• When bottling, only a portion is drawn from the solera
• This is replenished from the row above, which is replenished from the row above that, and so on
• This creates consistency and blends young and old wines together

7. Aging Period

PX sherries age for many years - El Maestro Sierra's ranges from 5 to 15+ years in their solera system.

8. Bottling

The finished sherry is drawn from the solera and bottled, retaining its dark color, intense sweetness, and complex flavors of raisins, figs, dates, and caramel.

The result is one of the world's sweetest and most concentrated wines, with a luscious, syrupy texture and dark, almost black color.