The Alvear Solera 1927 is 16% abv. and comes in a 375 ml. bottle for around $20-2$5. It is a dark reddish brown in color with a heavy body. The aroma is of dates, figs, prunes, and raisins. It is bit deeper and more complex than its cousin the vintage Alvear Pedro Ximénez De Anada 2003 because of being made in an old solera. The taste is also quite complex with dark caramel, maple syrup, dates, prunes, and hints of coffee and dark chocolate. It is an exquisite and warming sweet wine that goes great with dessert, sharp and complex blue cheese, and as an aperitif over ice. It will stay in great shape over several weeks or months once opened if kept sealed in the fridge.

The Alvear Solera 1927 is made from Pedro Ximénez grapes which are dried on straw mats in the sun and turned carefully by hand every day until they lose much of their moisture. When they are pressed they give off an amazingly thick and sweet brown must (juice) containing at least 300 grams of sugar per liter, creating the basis for a raisin wine.

Then the must is fortified with neutral spirits to nine percent alcohol. This young wine is called vino tierno (tender wine.) As the fermentation progresses the alcohol level is eventually increased to16-18 percent, partially through the use of more neutral spirits. Then the wine is matured using the slow solera (steps) and criadera (nursery) system.

It is made in a solera that was started in 1927. The Solera (steps) and Criadera (nursery) system is where wine is put up in a series of very large casks, set up in levels/stairs. As the oldest/lowest cask matures and has part of the wine removed to bottle, then wine is added to the oldest cask from the next oldest, and so on up the levels, so that over the years new wine is added to older wine, being added to even older wine. Usually there are 12-14 steps in a criadera with the bottom one containing the oldest wine called the solera, and the one up called the first criadera, then the second criadera, and so on up the stairs. The wines in the solera tend to end up with many similarities from the intermingling of the various vintages over the years, and in this case every bottle still has an infinitesimal amount of the original wine from 1927.

Located in the town of Montilla, in the province of Cordoba, in Andalucia, Alvear S.A. was built by Diego de Alvear in 1729, and has remained under control of the Alvear family ever since. This is the oldest winery in the area and its fino wine is one of the top three in Spain. The vineyards are located at an elevation of 1,050 ft. and are formed of the famous chalky soil called Albariza with 40-year-old vines.