Brandy Gran Duque D'Alba Solera Gran Reserva

Brandy Gran Duque de Alba is a wine spirit. Its raw material product of the distillation of good, well-balanced wines and its ageing process the same as used to produce Sherry: a complex “dynamic” system known as "criaderas" and "soleras" which is exclusive to the Region. This system basically involves the storage of casks distributed in separate rows one placed on top of the other, each of which is made up of approximately the same number of casks (known as “butts” in Jerez). The bottom row of casks is named the solera and contains the oldest Gran Duque de Alba, then following up the rows in order of age comes the first criadara and above this the second criadera and so on. When brandy is to be bottled it is taken from the bottom solera row – the same quantity taken from each butt and never more than a third of the total content – in an operation known as the “saca”. The quantity of brandy taken from the solera is then replenished with the same quantity taken from the first criadera above, and this in turn with brandy from the second criadera and so on. This process is known as the "rocio" and is what enables us to ensure that the consumer always enjoys a Gran Duque de Alba brandy of the same taste, aroma, colour and identical quality. All of this consequence of the perfect homogenization achieved by this system, as opposed to the “static” system of vintages in which wines of the same brand vary in terms of quality according to the vintage year.