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Bodegas Tradición fino review

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Bodegas Tradición fino review

Henry Jeffreys – Wine expert

Published: November 24, 2020 at 9:50 AM

5.0

A star rating of 5.0 out of 5.

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Very old and very revered, this long and rich sherry is worth paying that bit more for. Expect beautiful aromas of roast almonds with baked apples.

Bodegas Tradición fino in a nutshell

A very old rich fino, from one of the most revered names in sherry.

Full review

Tradición is a new name with a very old lineage. The family behind it, the Riveros, have been in the sherry business since the 1650s. At one point they supplied the Spanish and the Portuguese royal families, but like many old firms, they sold up in the 1990s. The sherry business was in a terrible state at the time with companies holding too much stock with too little demand.

One family member, however, saw an opportunity. Joaquín Rivero Valcarce began buying up stocks of fine old wine for a song. Most firms were looking to improve their cash flow. The sherry industry is, to this day, still over-stocked, part of the reason why supermarket sherries are of such good quality. There’s a lot of old wine about. Rivero bided his time, building up stocks and in 2003 began selling wine under the Tradición name, a statement of intent. These are long-aged wines made in the traditional style.

At a time when the old names of sherry are still struggling to get a good price for their wines, Tradición found a ready market for its premium products such was the quality on offer, it even supplies Fortnum & Mason with its own-label sherry. Sherry expert Ben Howkins described the firm as ‘quite simply, the finest bodega in Jerez’. And with this fino, you can see why. Most such wines are around five years old, this is closer to 12. It’s about as old as a fino can get before the protective flor dies and the wine begins to turn into an amontillado.

The result is a golden yellow colour. The nose smells of roast almonds with baked apples. On the palate it’s long and rich with muscovado sugar mingling with the taste of salted almonds. Yes, it’s expensive, but compare it with the finest white burgundies and it doesn’t look bad value at all.

How to drink

Great to use where you might use a decent chardonnay or vintage champagne – think turbot, Dover sole or roast chicken with lots of butter.

Best sherry recipes

Roast pear & sherry ice cream
Sherry negroni
Sherry cobbler
Sherry, almond & orange pandoro
Torrijas with sherry

This review was last updated in November 2020. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.