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Oloroso or PX? Auction Prices for the Two Big Sherry Casks
Oloroso and PX cask whisky sell for almost the same at auction, age for age. Where the small gaps come from, from 52,823 sold lots.
Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez are the sherries whisky labels name most: at Scotch Whisky Auctions, 43,655 sold lots name oloroso in the cask and 21,812 name PX, against 3,217 for fino, the next. Oloroso is a dry sherry and its casks tend to bring dried fruit, nuts and spice; PX is very sweet, and its casks are often used for a final period of maturation, a finish, rather than for the whole time. Our sherry cask guide covers how both kinds of cask are made. This one asks what bottles from each sell for at auction.
The figures come from sold lots at Scotch Whisky Auctions, the only one of the three houses we follow that records the cask for each lot, from 2011 to 2026. A lot counts as oloroso when its cask description says oloroso and not PX, and as PX the other way round; lots matured in both are left out. Hammer prices exclude buyer’s commission, VAT and delivery.
All ages
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| Oloroso | Pedro Ximénez | |
|---|---|---|
| Lots sold | 37,333 | 15,490 |
| Median hammer | £110 | £120 |
| Average hammer | £218 | £200 |
| Median age | 15 years | 15 years |
| Named as a finish | 6% | 19% |
| From an independent bottler | 19% | 20% |
The typical PX lot sold for £10 more, but the average oloroso lot for about £18 more: oloroso has more of the very old, very expensive lots. Both groups are the same age on the median and come from independent bottlers in the same share, so neither difference comes from age or bottler.
At the same age
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| Age | Oloroso median | PX median |
|---|---|---|
| 8 to 9 years | £60 | £70 |
| 10 to 12 years | £85 | £85 |
| 13 to 14 years | £85 | £90 |
| 15 to 18 years | £110 | £120 |
| 19 to 20 years | £180 | £185 |
| 21 to 25 years | £230 | £210 |
| 26 to 30 years | £420 | £340 |
| 31 to 40 years | £700 | £580 |
Up to 20 years old, PX lots sold for the same or slightly more; from 21 years, oloroso lots sold for more. Weighting each age by the number of lots, the oloroso median is 0.96 times the PX median (0.92 times leaving out Macallan). Compare the same distillery at the same age and it is 1.03 times. Either way the gap is a few per cent, smaller than the difference between two neighbouring age bands.
Who fills the casks
GlenDronach is the largest name among all sold lots that name either sherry in the cask: 11% of the 43,655 that name oloroso and 24% of the 21,812 that name PX, most of the PX ones single casks from PX puncheons. Bowmore and Springbank follow on oloroso, Lagavulin and Bowmore on PX. Lagavulin’s PX lots are mostly its Distillers Editions, which are finished in PX casks, and its 2020 Fèis Ìle 20 Year Old. Bottlings like the Distillers Edition are part of why PX is so often a finish: the cask rounds off a whisky matured in something else.
What it means if you are buying
At auction, the name of the sherry on the label makes almost no difference to the price. Choose oloroso or PX for the style you want, and compare bottles on age, distillery and bottler, which move the price far more. The bigger gap is between sherry and bourbon casks; the sherry cask premium sets that out, and first fill or refill shows what the fill and size of a sherry cask add.
For bottles in shops now, see oloroso cask whisky and PX cask whisky, which also show what each sold for at auction.