Viña Dulce Nombre is a “Vino Finito” made by González Byass, a wine of infinite age but with a finite life, almost deliberately ‘forgotten’, to be found again later, deliberately. As well as this new launch, the winery is also introducing Alfonso 2/6.
Alfonso 2/6 extends the category of “Vinos Finitos” from González Byass. It is made from the last Palomino Fino grapes vinified into sweet wine in the tanks at Viña Canariera, at the heart of Pago de Carrascal, and that have been brought back into production to make Pedro Ximénez. The Jerez-based winery is now starting to release this wine, which has been undergoing static ageing since 1986. It is so rare that it will be impossible to replicate in the future.
Dulce Nombre exudes the history of Jerez. It demonstrates the result of vinifying Palomino Fino into a sweet wine, which was very common in Jerez until the 1980s. Nowadays another grape variety, Reina del Marco, is associated with making fino and oloroso wines, which are conspicuously dry and a far remove from what was going on 40 years ago. Dulce Nombre is novel in that it draws on the past, bringing back into circulation wine made a long time ago that is unique, stands outside the usual categories and had been hidden away in the cellars.
This González Byass “Vino Finito” was made from the 1986 harvest and just two butts have been selected for release. Both have aged in the winery’s cellars for more than 30 years, oblivious to the passage of time. The result is a sheer elixir. Viña Dulce Nombre is ebony dark with hints of copper. Sweet and rich on the nose, it displays a thousand and one subtle aromas of fig, molasses and hints of hardwood, together with exotic spices. Powerful and light at the same time, the wine’s elegant sweetness makes it a genuine delight.
Alfonso 2/6
González Byass is also introducing Alfonso 2/6, a sublime Oloroso that has aged for more than 40 years and that, on this occasion, comes from the second of the six butts in the Oloroso Alfonso solera that had been forgotten about. This “Vino Finito” has retained the elegant aromas of wood, leather and spices that lend cult wines their grandeur and distinction. Alfonso Oloroso 2/6 is a classic wine that recaptures an unmistakable style of Dry Oloroso that, at the Home of Tío Pepe, is known as Oloroso Fino.
