Valdespino Pedro Ximénez El Candado 375mL NV

Valdespino Pedro Ximénez El Candado is a sweet sherry from Jerez, sold with the small padlock on the neck that gives it its name.

Pedro Ximénez is made by laying the picked grapes out in the sun until they shrivel, concentrating the sugar to a point at which fermentation can barely begin; the must is fortified early and then aged in a solera, where wine passes through a series of casks over many years and the oldest scale is never fully emptied. The result is among the sweetest wines made anywhere, carrying several times the sugar of a conventional dessert wine. Valdespino is one of the oldest bodegas in Jerez, with a history traditionally traced to the fifteenth century, and has stayed with long cask ageing rather than the shortcuts available to a modern producer.

Serve cool, at around 13°C, in a small glass with chocolate, blue cheese or dried fruit, or poured over vanilla ice cream; the sugar preserves an opened bottle for months.