Taste Guide: Palo Cortado Cask

Palo cortado (English: ‘broken stick’) is a style of sherry that usually arises by chance when a Fino sherry unintentionally develops into an Oloroso during ageing. This process causes the flor yeast to precipitate, exposing the wine to more intense oxidation. The result is a sherry that tastes, in sensory terms, like a cross between Amontillado and Oloroso. Its complex aroma is often reminiscent of nuts or almonds. Palo cortado is usually aged to be dry, with an alcohol content of between 18 and 22% ABV.

Palo Cortado is made from grapes and musts selected for Fino production. (= Palo). In the Sherry region, these are primarily first-press musts from the Palomino Fino grape; in the D.O. Montilla-Moriles, they are from the Pedro Ximenez grape. The Palomino musts are almost always fortified with spirit to 15–16% ABV; those from the Pedro Ximenez reach this alcohol content in good years without fortification. After fermentation in fermentation vats, fermentation tanks or earthenware jars (tinajas), the young wines are transferred to 600-litre sherry casks and mature using the solera-cradera method, just like other sherries, Manzanillas or wines from Montilla-Moriles. The plan is for reductive ageing beneath the layer of flor yeast that forms shortly after racking, which largely prevents contact with oxygen. For reasons not fully understood, some casks from a particular vintage sometimes develop differently from the others. In such cases, the winemaker may ‘cross out’ the Palo; it has become a cortado, a ‘crossed out’ or ‘struck through’ Palo.

If the winemaker recognises in good time that the wine is developing differently, it is fortified once more to 17–19% ABV, causing the remaining flor yeast to die off and allowing the wine to continue developing through oxidation.

Less commonly, Palo Cortados are produced from wines that were actually intended to mature into Olorosos. Even in this case, it is reportedly not known exactly why some casks in a solera behave differently from the rest. Originally, Palo Cortados appear to have been wines that developed spontaneously, rather than being produced according to a specific plan. However, the high demand for this type of sherry and the correspondingly large supply suggest that, at least in the major bodegas, Palo Cortados are deliberately produced from slightly fuller-bodied Fino base wines, which are aged reductively for several years and then mature oxidatively following a further fortification.
Although blending Amontillados with Olorosos is permitted, such wines may not be marketed as Palo Cortados.(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Compared to Oloroso, PX and Fino sherry casks, Palo Cortados are used rather rarely in the whisky industry. In recent years, however, their popularity has grown significantly.

Kilchoman has released a Palo Cortado bottling only once so far. In June 2024, the Dutch liquor chain  Gall & Gall released a Palo Cortado Single Cask Finish from Kilchoman.

The whisky was initially aged for more than four years in a fresh ex-bourbon barrel and was then finished for over 11 months in a Palo Cortado cask.

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Palo Cortado bottlings from Kilchoman:

ReleaseCask No.Cask FilledBottledMaturation
Palo Cortado Single Cask Finish for Gall & Gall877/201819.08.201808.04.2024Finish: 11 months

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