Tuesday 21 August 2018

Pedro Ximénex 2017 12.5%, Bodegas Faustino González

Appearance
Bright strawy gold with golden reflections.
Nose
Quite a striking nose; full and characterful with vibrant fruit such as quince, yellow plum, ripe apricot and white peach backed up by a hint of blond tobacco. There are only gentle hints of the yeasty flor bitterness or of lees, but they do add something to the wine's complexity along with a  clean natural impression of a wine made without need of all the artifice available to a modern bodega.
Palate
There is a certain intensity which is highlighted by a refreshing and balancing acidity which carries the clean, ripe fruity flavour across. The wine has some weight and presence and there are noticeable hints of flor and a chalky texture which dry out the sweetness of the fruit. There is a lot going on here and it is quite unlike the PX one usually sees which shows just what a versatile grape it is. This is a very good wine with character and length. 
Comments
The excellent family Bodega Faustino González decided to experiment with table wine, and since they grow not only Palomino but also PX in their El Carmen vineyard in the pago Montealegre, they decided to make two. This PX is interesting because very few in Jerez grow PX, and nobody as far as I know makes a dry table wine from it. The bodega works in a very artisan way and the grapes were hand harvested on 30th August and the must was fermented with natural yeast in just two butts, and there it remained ageing on its lees and under flor for 6 months before bottling on 16 May 2018. So one would expect a very interesting wine, and it certainly is. Palomino works best on the purest albariza, but PX is less fussy being perfectly happy on the browner albariza parda in a different part of the vineyard which has a little more iron and a slightly higher organic content. The wine is quite delicious; it has real character and is very much an individual. The only problem is availability as they only produced 1,200 bottles.
Price
9.20 Licores Corredera



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