Palo Cortado, a traditional and fully natural style of sherry based on a fluke of nature. This is a wine that was originally pre-selected to become a fino or, later, an Amontillado, i.e. a wine of greater finesse than those pre-selected to become olorosos, which are aged in oxidative fashion from the start. Yet some examples of these more delicate wines never develop the protective veil of flor yeast they need to become an Amontillado and end up ageing in oloroso fashion. As a result, such wines have an intermediate style—the elegance of the Amontillado with the power and body of the Oloroso. This is the rarest category of sherry, yet some of the greatest dry sherries are Palos Cortados. For more details, see sherry.
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