U.S. Debut:
The Pinnacle of Fino
Bodegas Tradición Fino
Tradición is one of the greatest Bodegas in all of Sherry country. But until last spring, they never released a Fino.
It's no surprise that Tradición's Fino immediately became one of a handful of the best fino's in all of sherry.
Like everything at this quality-obsessed bodegas, Tradición's fino is produced in tiny qualities. The first spring release was 1,500 bottles, none of which made it to the U.S. The fall release is the same amount and the U.S. will see just a fraction of that. The fall release sold out at the bodegas almost immediately. What's on offer today is all that we'll see.
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Bodegas Tradición is one of our favorite bodegas in all of sherry. They are unyielding in their approach, and it shows in their sherries. Few bodegas, if any, in sherry have a line-up of wines on this level. Each and every wine is a superlative example of its category.
Their fino is a testimony to this. At twelve years of average age, it's a very old fino and shows an incredible amount of depth and complexity. To put this in context, the majority of finos average three years of age.
This is fino sherry towards the end of its life span before the flor dies and it turns into Amontillado. For me, old finos are some of the most compelling and captivating wines the region has to offer. There's layered complexity and umami of age married to energetic saline minerality of young fino.
The tension of this juxtaposition makes it one of the unique experiences. This is a bold example of how sherry can compete with the best wines around.
The fall edition of the fino was bottled when the flor was slightly weaker than the spring bottling and the resulting wine shows more of the richness and depth of oxidative aging.
Bodegas Tradición is an anomaly in many ways: two of the most obvious are that it's a new bodega, founded in 1998 and that its focus has been exclusively on old wine. Until the fino was released, their youngest wine was twenty-two years of average age with many of their bottlings clocking in at over forty years.
This helps give you a sense of the spare no expense, let's show the best that sherry has to offer philosophy that Tradición operates under. The bodega was founded by Joaquín Rivero Valcarce, who treated the bodegas to lavish funding to pay tribute to the heights that sherry can reach. With the help of sherry insiders, Tradición amassed a collection of choice barrels of old sherry and put them in a historic bodega.
For sherry fans, this is something not to miss. This is one of the great examples of fino from one of the top producers of the region.
To order, please email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits