Friday 2 May 2014

Fino en Rama 15%, Rey Fernando de Castilla

Appearance
Bright brassy gold with amber hints,light legs
Nose
Quite a lot going on. Full and quite soft with hints of dry, salted almonds and dry scrub from the flor, some more umami-like savoury touches, sour dough and just the slightest hints of wood, autolysis and oxidation. There is a trace of fruit still (quince), behind the dry exterior, and it all balances up to produce a Fino as it should be - interesting and rewarding.
Palate
Serious flavour - it just shows how tasty Finos can be. Bitterness from the flor melds with the fruit and savoury flavours to produce a complex, nuanced whole. This is a serious wine deserving of respect, bone dry but rounded and almost tasting older than it is. Delicious and with considerable length.
Comments
Bottled in spring and autumn, when the flor is thickest, this wine was bottled in October 2013 without filtration or clarification and just a very gentle cold stabilisation. The bodega owns no vineyard and so buys in wines which it matures in its own soleras. The wine in the Fino solera averages over 4 years of age, and so only a little over 20% can be removed from the solera at each saca. Some butts were taken from this solera some years ago and aged an extra 4 or more years to eventually form the 4-criadera Antique Fino solera, the wine from which is fortified to 17% before bottling - the old fashioned way. Wine from this solera then feeds the Antique Amontillado solera.
Price
About £9.00 per half bottle. UK importers Boutinot.


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