"I tasted the 2021 bottling of the NV Fondillón Luis XIV Edad Superior a 50 Años - Tonel Luna (over 50 years old), which was taken from a barrel called Luna (it's written on the back label). It has the profile of a very old wine, with volatile notes, hints of iodine and low tide, coconut, antique furniture and bitter chocolate, coming through as bittersweet and at times even salty. It has sweetness, acidity and depth, and it's pungent, intense and very long; take in small sips, as a drop goes a long way, such is the concentration by evaporation. It has 16.25% alcohol with a pH of 3.35 and 6.6 grams of acidity and 65 grams of sugar. This is sweeter than the previous bottling but also with more iodine and salt, so comes through as balanced and very long. It should last forever. They filled 320 half-liter bottles from a tonel cask recovered in 2018 from the Bodegas Luna in the village of Beneixama. They took 161 liters, and the 700-liter barrel was refilled with 300 liters of wine that was at least 25 years old. They do not expect to take wine from this barrel in the next 10 years. - Luis GUTIERREZ"
- Wine Advocate (Issue #260, April 2022), 96 pts
"The NV Fondillón Luis XIV has the subtitle Edad Superior a 50 años (over 50 years old), and it's a dark mahogany, bottled from a single barrel that has the specific profile of a very old wine greatly concentrated by age, which tends to make it similar to other very old and concentrated wines, be it a Mediterranean rancio or a very old Moscatel. It has notes of bitter chocolate, coconut and iodine, carob beans (algarroba) and some bittersweet sensations. It's dense and concentrated, and the palate is pungent, with very intense flavors and a bitter twist in the finish. This has 16.3% alcohol, 6.45 grams of acidity and 34 grams of sugar, but it comes through as very dry. The wine is long and extraordinary, but it just doesn't have any Fondillón character after decades of concentration by evaporation. The price is ludicrous. Only 435 half-liter bottles were filled in December 2019. - Luis GUTIERREZ
