Pedro Ximenez

[ulterior epicure]

P.X. sherry tastes like raisins, figs or dates depending on how concentrated it is.

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and depending on how old it is, I'd add.

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The older the... ???

u.e.

[podolski]

The older the...  ??? 

u.e.

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I don't understand your ??? sorry .... Figs & raisins are supposed to be found in young P.X. like Toro Albalá or a Pedro Ximenez de Añada both from Denominacion de Origen Montilla-Moriles...p.e... In older P.X. you can find prescriptors like chocolate, coffee, smoke,.... My answer was related with PX age: the older P.X. you have the more complex prescriptors you may have.... Old Sherry & Montilla-Moriles PX are among the best wines in the world....

[podolski]

I'm organizing a very important dinner to fête a very special occasion.  I'm looking for a sweet dessert wine to accompany my dessert - and yes, I'm in    with P.X.  I'd love for recommendations on a particularly good sweet P.X. - preferably one with caramel-y, prune-y, figgy, raisin-y flavors - deep and dark... 

No dry.  SWEET!! 

Thanks!

u.e.

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Were are you based now?

[podolski]

Why is this post in Fine Spirits and not in the wine section?

[bacchant036]

we pair a PX at work with icecream, the strong flav tends to get a bit to much if you add it to other rich desserts.

i love px and have started using it in cocktails of late, works great in a sidecar vs the cointreau, or as a sweetner to a old fashioned vs the sugar.

[ulterior epicure]

Thank podolski for your posts. To address your questions:

1. Thank - you answered my question. I just wanted to know what flavors come out with age. It sounds like I would like younger P.X. from your description - the prune-y/figgy flavors. While I love chocolate and coffee (immensely), I'm not sure I like "smokey" - but then again, I've never tried an older P.X. other than a 1971 P.X. I had incorporated into food.

2. Where am I based? Wouldn't you like you know? Seriously, I travel all around, but I'm most reliably in the Midwest. In the upcoming few weeks, I'll be in Michigan, Illinois, California, Missouri and Kansas.

Why is this post in Fine Spirits and not in the wine section?

3. This is posted in the Fine Spirits forum because I was too ignorant to post it elsewhere...

bacchant036: Thanks a million for the idea. P.X.-spiked ice cream sounds devine. I'm a sucker for iced treats so adding a touch of P.X. would just be unbelievably great!

[ulterior epicure]

Resurrecting this thread with a question.

I have a bottle of the Alvear Solera PX. I want to pair it with a dessert. Can anyone suggest a good recipe - I'm thinking pumpkin bread pudding or something winter-spice-y... maybe involving pecans... figs?

Would love ideas!

[Kerry Beal]

Resurrecting this thread with a question.

I have a bottle of the Alvear Solera PX.  I want to pair it with a dessert.  Can anyone suggest a good recipe - I'm thinking pumpkin bread pudding or something winter-spice-y... maybe involving pecans... figs? 

Would love ideas!

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I've followed this thread with interest, but have yet to find myself a bottle of the PX. Judging from the description however I would suggest a good dessert would be Sticky Toffee Pudding. Got your figs, got your nice warm caramelized sauce.

So can I come for dinner, I'll bring the dessert.

[ulterior epicure]

Resurrecting this thread with a question.

I have a bottle of the Alvear Solera PX.  I want to pair it with a dessert.  Can anyone suggest a good recipe - I'm thinking pumpkin bread pudding or something winter-spice-y... maybe involving pecans... figs? 

Would love ideas!

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I've followed this thread with interest, but have yet to find myself a bottle of the PX. Judging from the description however I would suggest a good dessert would be Sticky Toffee Pudding. Got your figs, got your nice warm caramelized sauce.

So can I come for dinner, I'll bring the dessert.

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So, I made a pumpkin bread pudding and paired it with a Alvear Solera 1927 Pedro Ximenes. Spectacular... that's all I have to say.

Sticky toffee pudding will be my next conquest! I think that would be wonderful as well!

[jessejesse]

If anyone wants to try a strange adaptation of the PX grape, a small producer in Giaquinta out of Argentina. It's a crazy still and very dry white wine (!) that smelled mostly like ripe apples and tropical fruits. Slightly creamy on the but nothing like a Sherry at all!

[JohnL]

okay... so it's completely funny that a teetotaler is posting in this forum... excuse any serious faux pas in the following:

1. what, exactly is pedro ximenes?  i know it's a sherry... and very sweet (?) - usually served as an after dinner accompinament to sweets (?)

2. is pedro ximenes a grape?  or is it a name brand?

3. who makes it?  that is, how many labels or producers are their.

4. i've smelled it and even had it in minute quantities in desserts.  to my best knowledge and description, it tastes like prunes - or armanac?

5. alcohol content?

6. does p.x. necessarily benefit with age?

7. i had a course at a restaurant that included p.x. from 1971 - is that possible?  i don't doubt the restaurant's/server's integrity or honestly... i'm just doubting my ears and/or memory...

u.e.

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1. Pedro Ximenez is both a grape varietal and a type of sweet sherry.

2. See #1, or this entry on Wikipedia.

3. Many Sherry producers in Jerez make P.X.

4. It tastes raisiny, in my opinion.

5. It varies but about the same as your average Port or other fortified wine.

6. Most definitely but like anything else it depends on the vintage and the producer.

7. Definitely possible.

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Couple of small corrections:

PX is usually a sweet style of sherry. However, there is a dry fino made from PX by Alvear. I have a few bottles and am anxious to try it.

PX like all sherries is a wine created via a solera system-- it will usually not benefit from aging once bottled.

The Spaniards use a solera system which allows for the use of blending older wines with younger wines. The date on a bottle usually indicates that some of the sherry in the bottle will be from that vintage. (this is often a tiny amount of the oldest wine)

Edited November 15, 2006 by JohnL (log)

[doviakw]

PX like all sherries is fortified-- it will not benefit from aging once bottled.

A teaching opporunity ...

Would you mind expanding on the above quote with respect to sherries? Why would PX sherry not benefit from bottle aging where vintage and similar port, also a fortified wine, certainly does? I have some notions but would rather hear from a more experienced source, which I certainly am not, first.

[JohnL]

PX like all sherries is fortified-- it will not benefit from aging once bottled.

A teaching opporunity ...

Would you mind expanding on the above quote with respect to sherries? Why would PX sherry not benefit from bottle aging where vintage and similar port, also a fortified wine, certainly does? I have some notions but would rather hear from a more experienced source, which I certainly am not, first.

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The whole idea of sherry is that it is a blended wine comprised of wines of different ages--via the solera system. The goal is to produce a wine with a character the blender has deemed ready to drink when released in bottle. The aging has been done for the consumer.

Tawny Ports are --similar to sherry in that a blender has "created" a wine with the character of a certain age--20 year old to forty year old etc.-they are ready to be drunk when released. The wines have been aged in wood prior to bottling.

Vintage port is released when it is young--there is very little aging done by the house or blender. The wines spend two years in cask and are then bottled. They can benefit (most do) from additional bottle age, maturing much like unfortified still wines.

Thanks for pointing up the flaw in my post--I have edited it to clarify.

Actually Craig Camp who posts here is much more capable in explaining sherry etc. I recommend his website--some good info there. (you can google him or find his site address here at egullet).

Edited November 15, 2006 by JohnL (log)

[Brian Murdock]

Some very interesting comments made throughout this thread, but I thought I would add some further clarifications about sherry, PX, etc.

First of all, sherry is generally not a blend of different grapes but, as JohnL just mentioned, a blend of different aged wine. In the D.O. Jerez-Xeres-Sherry-Manzanilla de Sanlucar de Barrameda (an appellation whose name does not hold up to modern marketing standards!!), uses mainly the Palomino grape, which makes some pretty uninteresting basic white wine, but excellent sherry. PX is also available in these parts, but one basic difference is that whereas sherry (fino, manzanilla, oloroso, amontillado) has alcohol added to the base wne before the aging process, sweet Pedro Ximénez naturally reaches 15% because of the high sugar content. So, no alcohol is added.

Part of the confusion may come from the fact that cream sherries are quite popular outside of Spain and they are in fact blends of Palomino Olorosos and Pedro Ximénez.

To make matters even more confusing, in D.O. Montilla-Moriles (in the Andalusian province of Córboda), sherry-style wines are made. Some are dry while others are sweet, but almost all use the Pedro Ximénez grape.

The whole subject is fascinating but equally baffling at times. But the wine is good, that's for sure.