Palo Cortado

Last night I sipped a couple of glasses of Gonzalez Byass ‘Leonor’ Palo Cortado sherry. It was my first taste of this style of sherry, which is reputedly “a wine with some of the richness of Oloroso and some of the crispness of Amontillado”. While marked Seco (‘dry’) it wasn’t without sweetness – or some illusion of it – with hints of dried & candied fruit among its flavours. Compared to the old Amontillado I tried earlier in the year, this is a less intense, easier-going drink, nearer the middle of the road (in a good way) with the mellowness of age not having altogether effaced the freshness of a younger wine.