Tried these just after Christmas:
1. JuanGonzales Sillero Bodegas Almocaden Almocaden PedroXiminez (18%; http://www.BodegasAlmocaden.com; http://www.VinIberian) NV: Black/brown color; stains the glass brown; very intense raisened/prumey/grapey some alcoholic classic PX/old plum pudding complex nose; much simpler & more alcoholic nose; very thick very sweet intense raisened/pruney some hot/alcoholic simpler flavor; very long intense raisened/prune/prune juice very sweet alcoholic finish; more raisened/pruney/grapey & far less complex. $80.00
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2. Osborne y Ca. Rare Sherry PedroXimenez Viejo (17%; #85) NV: Black/brown color; stains the glass brown; beautiful cedary/pencilly old PX/pruney/raisened smokey/peaty very complex/aromatic nose; huge very rich very sweet cedary/smokey/peaty raisened/pruney smoother/less hot alcoholic very complex flavor; very long/lingering raisened/pruney smooth cedary/peaty/smokey very complex very intense/sweet/syrupy finish; an incredible/complex PX. $47.00
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And a bit of a BloodyPulpit:
1. Dave & Gena Yates were in town for the Holidays; Susan's son and daughter-in-law from NYC, and Larry&Laura; so I thought this would be a good time to haul out another one of my fruitcakes. About 20 yrs ago, I made a bunch of Christmas fruitcakes. Over the intervening 20 yrs, I'd pull them out of the fridge, soak 'em down w/ rum/bourbon/orange liquer, port..whatever I happened to have that was alcoholic. So they, like I, were well preserved. Over the yrs, I've offered one to Laura for her dinner parties; but she's always chortled, spurned my offer, ridiculed my manhood, totally humilated me. So this was my chance to make her eat crow.
I made an orange cream anglais to top it with. And I figured these old PXs I'd been saving would pair wonderfully with a 20 yr old fruitcake. I was, of course, correct. The fruitcake was black as the ace of spades, rather soft and mooshy, but had a wonderful/complex flavor. Dave brought a fresh-off-the-boat Costco fruitcake. Though it showed much more fruit & sweetness & youth, it just didn't measure.
These two PX sherries were absolutely amazing. There is obviously a lot of old stuff in both of them. I'd first had the Osborne back in the late '70's from Darrell. He'd been visiting at Osborne, incountered this stash of 1827 (vintage, not solera) PX and convinced them to btl up a few cases for him, labeling it 1827 PX. He sold it at the ridiculous price of $28/btl. I went thru several btls of the stuff thru the '70's-'80's. This was a more recent bottling of that same PX, w/o the vintage 1827 on the label. When I had the Almocaden by itself several months ago, it blew me away; so I ordered a btl. But, when served beside the Osborne, it paled in comparison.
One more fruitcake left for a special occasion, maybe when it reaches 30 yrs of age. Eat your heart out, Laura.
Tom