Toro Albalá should need little introduction as the most significant producer of Pedro Ximénez in the world today. Under the (some would say eccentric) guidance of Antonio Sánchez Romero, in 1970, Toro Albalá was the first Montilla producer to commercialise bottled, dessert-styled Pedro Ximénez. We believe the Bodega also remains the world’s only specialist in 100% vintage Pedro Ximénez. Toro Albalá works with the finest vineyard holdings in Montilla and today houses the oldest and most legendary stocks in the region.

Founded in 1844, Toro Albalá is based in Aguilar de la Frontera, right in the bullseye of DO Montilla-Moriles, the hilly Andalucían hinterland that forms ‘P.X. country’. The DO surrounds the two towns of Montilla in the north and Moriles in the south, both in the Province of Cordoba. In 1922 José Maria Toro Albalá purchased the Estate and made his mark by moving the whole Bodega into a former electrical plant. It was here that José Maria began to write the blueprint for the modern incarnation of Toro Albalá.

The vintage-dated Pedro Ximénez wines represent the most profound and concentrated expressions of PX from the Toro Albalá stable. These wines are incredibly intense, black as pitch and infinitely complex.

Toro Albalá’s old, bush-vine Pedro Ximénez is planted on the bleach-white, chalky albariza soils of the region. This soil type is not unique to Montilla-Moriles—Sherry’s other capitals of Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Jerez de la Frontera share the spoils. However, the combination of these light soils with altitude and the hot, dry climate—one that can sufficiently ripen Pedro Ximénez—set Montilla apart from its maritime-influenced sister regions.

This producer’s reputation lies in the balance of extraordinary sun-ripened richness and depth of old vine P.X., combined with a bright, savoury quality, which never allows the wines to veer into the cloying end of the spectrum. This is managed through strict quality control, from the old vines and great soils, all the way through their very long aging process.

The Bodega’s mindboggling vintage wines are black as pitch, indescribably complex and represent the most profound expressions of P.X. from Andalucía. But Toro Albalá’s offering isn’t limited to their P.X. nectar. Back in the 19th century, when Toro Albalá’s forefather Antonio Sánchez Prieto first started to produce and age wines in the village of La Noria, his emphasis was mainly on Fino wines. This is a tradition kept bang up to date by Toro Albalá’s famous unfortified savoury wines—the Fino en Rama Eléctrico and a stunning thirty-year-old Amontillado.