Drinks advice

Pan-fried duck breast with González Byass Apostoles Palo Cortado V.O.R.S. 30Y

On the plate are diagonal slices of duck breast with a layer of fat that has been fried crisp in the pan, with al dente broccoli alongside. The Apostoles sets a palo cortado of an average of thirty years against it, with the aroma of an amontillado and the weight of an oloroso.

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Duck breast with cherry sauce
Photo: CharmaineZoe's Marvelous Melange, CC BY 2.0

From the shelf

The bottle

Apostoles comes from González Byass in Jerez de la Frontera and is a palo cortado with the designation V.O.R.S., for an average age of at least thirty years in botas of American oak. The blend consists of 87 percent Palomino and 13 percent Pedro Ximenez, so the wine is not bone dry but has a narrow sweet edge. According to the Consejo Regulador a palo cortado arises when a cask turns out after the sobretabla to have the bouquet of an amontillado but a body like an oloroso: the wine is then fortified above 17 percent, the flor dies off and the ageing continues with air contact. The bottle stands at 20 percent alcohol and comes in 37 centilitres with us.

González Byass Apostoles Palo Cortado V.O.R.S. 30Y

The combination

Why this works together

Duck breast is dark meat with a thick layer of fat, and that is why a light wine will not do here: the fat lays a film on the tongue that has to be removed. A thirty-year-old palo cortado does that with its 20 percent alcohol and with the strength that came from evaporation through the cask wall. At the same time this style is no brute; the Consejo Regulador describes it precisely as a wine that unites the fine bouquet of an amontillado with the body of an oloroso, and that fine side goes along with the iron-like, almost liver-like quality of pink-roasted duck. The 13 percent Pedro Ximénez in the blend gives just enough sweetness to catch the caramelised side of the seared fat layer without turning the dish into a dessert. González Byass mentions red meat and mature cheese for this bottle; duck sits right between the two.

At the table

The dish

  • For 4 people
  • Ready in 30 minutes
  • Type main course

What you need

  • 4 duck breasts of about 180 g each
  • coarse sea salt
  • black pepper
  • 500 g broccoli, in florets

How to make it

  1. Score the fat layer of the duck breasts in a crisscross pattern with a sharp knife, without cutting into the meat.
  2. Sprinkle the fat generously with coarse sea salt and leave the breasts to stand for fifteen minutes. Then pat them dry with kitchen paper.
  3. Place the breasts fat side down in a cold frying pan. Then set the heat to medium-high and leave them for three to five minutes without moving them. Press them down now and then so that the fat renders evenly.
  4. Turn the breasts and fry them for another three to four minutes. For pink meat, aim for a core temperature of 57 degrees.
  5. Take the breasts out of the pan, sprinkle them with pepper and let them rest for five minutes under aluminium foil.
  6. Steam the broccoli al dente in those five minutes. Cut the duck breasts into slanting slices and serve them.

In the glass

Serving

Serve this palo cortado between 12 and 14 degrees; for V.O.R.S. wines the Consejo Regulador uses about 15 degrees, so a little warmer is fine. Use a white wine glass or a catavinos of about 200 millilitres, filled by a third, so that the wine gets air without you pouring too much. After opening a V.O.R.S. stays good for about three months, stored closed and cool, so from this half bottle you can safely keep some for a second evening.

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