Robert Parker
97/100
There is also a new NV Manzanilla Pasada Balbaína Alta to complete the Manzanilla range with an older wine with an intense golden color and a full nose with notes of esparto grass. It's a wine from a small producer that had a small vineyard in Balbaína Alta (that was pulled up) and had produced wine for them. They bought the remaining wine, and from the casks they selected the five that had more "pasada" character and have kept the rest to make an Amontillado. So, this wine is a one-off, a Manzanilla they estimate between 15 and 18 years of age, really extreme, with the creaminess of the age and the velvety soft palate with incredible elegance and the mid-palate with a bitter sensation from the "cabezuela" dead yeasts. It has no acetaldehyde and is extremely elegant, with a tastiness that makes you salivate and remains at the front of the palate. It's a shame this is a one-off, because I have not tried that many Manzanilla Pasada of this quality level. Only 2,500 bottles were produced, and it will never be made again.
