~ The Sherry ~

Its origins

The ‘Versos’ Amontillado is exceptional and unique as it comes from the single cask belonging to Manuel Barbadillo since 1891 and was already then described as a very old Amontillado. This and the four other casks belonging to his brothers were referred to as ‘Los Niños’ (the children’s casks). In 1988, Don Manuel’s son, Toto Barbadillo, mentions these casks in his book ‘Historia de las Bodegas Barbadillo’.

The ‘No of the children’ which today are kept in the Sevilla street cellars, were five butts, one for each brother, from which they drank. The ‘No’ on any cask implies that it cannot be used commercially. In the early part of the 20th century the replenishment was made using an old Amontillado, described at the time as ‘pre -phylloxera’, and named after a bull fighting breed ‘Miura’, owing to it’s full, powerful flavour.

~ The Casks ~

The history of this wine implies that the origins of its grapes are not at all clear since, before the phylloxera plagues of the late 19th century that wiped out vineyards in Europe, Sherries used a number of different grape varieties.

A few years after Don Manuel’s death in 1986, the casks were moved to their current location in the secure Sacristia bodega under Barbadillo’ offices. Don Manuel’s name is written on the cask together with his wife Aurora.

~ The Bottle ~

The bottle is made from one of the purest types of crystal glass in the world, melted at 1100ºC and fashioned by artisans at Atlantis Crystal in Portugal. All the details in the bottle have been individually carved by precision sandblasting.

The word ‘Versos’ is also painted with liquid gold, whilst the bottle neck and the cork is hand painted with platinum. The inner neck has been smoothed out using a diamond bit. Since every bottle is unique, a unique cork has to be hand prepared for each of the 100 bottles of Versos.

~ The Presentation case ~

The presentation case was handmade in Ubrique, a small white village nearby in the Sierra of Cádiz, where there is a centuries-old tradition for the finest leatherwork. Today the artisans there are renowned for producing the highest quality goods for the world’s leading luxury brands.

Only the finest Spanish calf leather has been used in this exquisite interpretation of our triangular logo established in 1821 a work of art that is both beautiful and functional.

~ Authenticity Guaranteed ~

Each bottle of Versos will have an NFC OpenSense tag incorporated into the bottle that can distinguish between the product’s “factory sealed” and “opened” states.

Using Thinfilm’s custom app and cloud-based platform, the tag can wirelessly transmit authentication data to consumers with the tap of an NFC-enabled smartphone. In addition, each tag is uniquely identifiable and trackable, and cannot be cloned.

~ Preserving the Character ~

Versos has been bottled directly from the cask to maintain its full character. Very old , unfiltered wines have a tendency to show some cloudiness or sediment with changes in light, temperature, and oxidation over time.

This does not affect quality but shows the care taken to preserve this wine in all its complexity and authenticity.