Alvear NV Solera Cream

This wine is called Solera Cream, and is made with Oloroso Asuncion and 100% Pedro Ximenez grapes, as it is a fortified wine. The place of origin is the Montilla-Morales denomination of the southern part of Cordoba, Spain. There is not a single vintage year for this wine, but on the back label it specifies the Oloroso is aged in the solera of the winery for 20 years on average and then blended and aged together with Pedro Ximenez for an additional 5 years. The cost usually $28 but because it was featured at a tasting at Vintage Cellar, it was on sale for $9.95.

Vintage Cellar had this to say about the wine: "From the producer that makes the popular 1927 solera, the NV Solera Cream is an old Oloroso mixed with sweet Pedro Ximenez and aged for a further three years. It's bottled at 18% alcohol and has 119 grams of residual sugar, which means it's quite sweet. It's a serious and old sweet wine, with notes of caramelized nuts and nougat. It has a round palate with sweetness, but it doesn't feel cloying".

Unfortunately, Wine Folly does not feature Pedro Ximenez grapes and the region of Spain where the grapes originate from is not mentioned in the "Wines to Explore" section (pg. 274) either. So I will take this space to quote what Wine Folly says about Spain in general. "Spanish wines feature a dichotomy between bold fruit and dusty minerality that makes them fall between old- and new-world styles. The country boasts the highest vineyard acreage in the world, but yields are relatively low given the wide vine spacing and limited water use". (272)

I did not have this wine with any food, as I tried it at a tasting at Vintage Cellar. This wine smells like a wonderful bakery of caramel, butterscotch and vanilla. It tastes very sugary on the tip of the tongue in a pleasant way, almost like the flavor and sweetness of original flavor bubble tea (maybe because it has a similar flavor to brown sugar, which tapioca are soaked in). It was slightly bitter and had delicious notes of vanilla and butterscotch.

In conclusion, this wine was wonderful and like no wine I've ever had before, I give it a 9/10 for its uniqueness and deliciousness. The only reason I didn't buy it is because my fridge is already full of wines!