NV Valdespino - Jerez Inocente Fino Sherry (750ml)

Valdespino's history in Jerez stretches back to 1264, when the knight Alonso Valdespino was granted vineyard land for his role in retaking the city from Moorish rule, and the estate has stayed in traditionalist hands ever since, passing to the Estévez family in 1999. The house is unusual among Sherry producers in owning hundreds of hectares of its own vineyards, giving it close control over fruit quality, and it remains one of the very few bodegas still making single-vineyard Sherries in an era when most houses blend grapes from many sources.

Inocente is the clearest expression of that philosophy: it is the only Fino made exclusively from grapes grown in a single vineyard, the Pago Macharnudo, whose pure albariza soil sits at one of the higher points in the Jerez region. Unlike nearly every other Fino on the market, which today ferments in stainless steel, Inocente still ferments in 600-liter American oak butts before moving through an unusually long ten-criadera solera system, roughly three times the number most Finos pass through. The wine ages under flor throughout, reaching an average age of about ten years before bottling.

This Fino pours a pale straw yellow and offers a savory nose of bread dough, almonds, olives, and dried apple, with a faint saline edge. The palate is dry, mineral, and layered, finishing long and clean. Serve it well chilled with salted almonds, olives, seafood, or a plate of tapas.