Corti Brothers Newsletter for Fall 2004   Page 1 

Please note!   Many of our past newsletter items came from a very limited stock and are no longer available.  Please check our products page or contact us for availability.

To Our Customers:                                                                                                 Page 1  >>  2   3   4 

 Fine and Rare Sherry from Garvey: 
  VOS and VORS and Sacristia Wines 

The old sherry firm of Garvey, with Irish roots, is famous for its fino called San Patricio (Saint Patrick.) Like most old sherry firms, they also hold stocks of old and very old wines which rarely, if ever, see the light of day. Corti Brothers, has always been a sherry specialist, offering special old sherries and, at one time in 1978, we offered 39 different wines without duplicating a style. Sadly, those days are over. But now, we are pleased to offer some exceptional wines from Garvey and other firms that are very fine, rare, and some that are very rare.

The Consejo Regulador, the sherry regulating council, has decided to give old sherry the importance it merits. Sherry has languished on the wine scene for some time. To this end, it decided to begin to accept old wines based on controlled stock inventories and tasting quality, allowing these wines to state a minimum age on their label. Thus, in July 2000, the Consejo Regulador began to officially recognize “age dated” sherry much like the age dated tawny wines of Porto. These first wines, with ages of at least 20 or 30 years–often much older– have been given acronyms like VOS and VORS (Vinum Optimum Signatum–selected old wine and Vinum Optimum Rare Signatum – selected rare old wine.) Ten year and 15 year old designations will also be added.

The VOS and VORS wines are controlled by not allowing more than one twentieth or one thirtieth of the stock of these wines to be sold in any year. In some instances, this means that only a few hundred bottles will be for sale at any given time. These exceptional quality wines have flavors which are striking; some strikingly intense dry, others mellow, harmonious and even silky in sweetness. The serious control now applied to these old wines, sometimes called “Muy Viejo” or “Viejísimo” (very old or very, very old) now gives the consumer the guarantee of both actual aged quality and intrinsic tasting quality since the wines must go through a very rigorous panel tasting. (Just as a reminder, not all old or very old wine is actually fine wine!)

From the Garvey bodega I selected some very fine wines both VOS and VORS and then from the very traditional selection of “Sacristía” wines, wines that for special reasons were singled out for their very high quality and age and kept in small quantity in a special cellar (sacristía,) as the best wine the bodega produces. A lot of Sacristía wines were wines which Corti Brothers bought in the old days and if we didn’t buy them, they were seldom sold. It is a treat to offer such a selection from this famous house.

Normally, these wines are full bodied dry or sweetish to sweet styles of sherry, since it is precisely these wines that take the great age in cask necessary for their high quality. They are also wines that do not “go off” once opened and can be kept. They are very handy in the kitchen where a tablespoon or so in a dish works wonders. In this respect they are the most useful wines I know of.

Some of our customers remember fondly the old sherry Corti Brothers has offered. Here is your chance to taste equally fine wines of extremely high quality, the VOS, VORS, and SACRISTÍA range from a fine old firm which we never offered before. The younger wines from Garvey we offer also are not to be missed since they represent just younger wines, having the same high quality as the venerable wines but a “younger” price. One of the benefits of youth is that they can be drunk more often!

Osborne Fino Amontillado Solera La Hond Sherries $32.99 750ml
Almond like pungent flor nose, persistent dry flavor, tangy finish. A fino on its way to amontillado due to age. 

Osborne Oloroso Solera India Sherries $86.99 750ml
Dense, dark color, caramelized pungency, round sweetness, great acidity and firm, almost dry finish. 

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