Sherry Week 2025: Raising a glass to Barbadillo’s Amontillado Príncipe
Bill Bolloten finds his Sherry Week inspiration in Barbadillo’s Amontillado Príncipe
Amontillado Príncipe (Bodegas Barbadillo)
DO: Jerez-Xérès-Sherry
ABV: 19.5%
Variety: Palomino Fino
€14.40 from Barbadillo (37.5 cl) / €15.25 from Decántalo (37.5 cl)
The 12th edition of Sherry Week takes place from 3 to 9 November 2025.
It brings together wine lovers from around the world to celebrate the unique wines of the Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda appellations. Thousands of events—from tastings and masterclasses to food pairings and sherry rutas—will once again showcase the remarkable diversity of these wines.
As for me, I didn’t chase events or even venture to a bar this year. Instead, I stayed home, poured myself a glass of Barbadillo’s Amontillado Príncipe, and let it unfold slowly as I wrote.
Uncorking it in my cellar, I was struck by its beautiful, bright amber hue—so luminous it seemed to hold a hidden energy, as if it generated its own light.
That radiance is all the more remarkable given the wine’s extraordinary ageing journey before it reaches the glass.
This Amontillado spent eight years of biological ageing under flor in the solera of Barbadillo’s renowned Solear Manzanilla, followed by two years as a Manzanilla Pasada. After a second fortification to 18°, it then underwent six to seven years of oxidative ageing. Though labeled as 12 Years Old, the true average age is closer to 15 years.
Barbadillo’s premium Amontillado is the culmination of this long evolution, shaped by time and the Atlantic influences of the Sanlúcar de Barrameda coastal terroir. The sea breezes and humidity nurture the flor and shape both phases of ageing, imparting a saline freshness and tension that could only emerge in this corner of Andalusia.
Where some Amontillados can lean toward density and power, the Príncipe stands apart for its finesse and composure. Notes of toasted almond, citrus and sea air weave together in a wine that feels weightless and ethereal.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: there are few wines that offer so much character, complexity and quality for such a modest price. Amontillado Príncipe is one of them—an ideal bottle to raise a glass to Sherry Week 2025, and to the enduring brilliance of Jerez.