El Maestro Sierra’s 12 Años Amontillado bridges the biological and oxidative worlds with characteristic directness. The wine spends approximately six years under flor as a Fino before being fortified to eighteen degrees and transferred to an oxidative programme in the old butts of the Jerez cellar. The result is an Amontillado of around twelve years total age.
The colour is a warm, clear amber. The nose shows the biological origins clearly: a clean, saline freshness underpinning the emerging nutty, oxidative character. Almonds, light caramel, a hint of dried herbs. The palate is dry, well-structured and precise, with good natural acidity and a long, slightly nutty finish. A wine that repays careful attention and improves considerably with time in the glass and time in an open bottle.