Tuesday 12 February 2019

Fino El Aljibe Saca 1/18 15%, Bodegas Poniente

Appearance
Slightly brass tinged gold with golden highlights.
Nose
Very Jerez, fairly full, ripe and round, and complex with nicely homogenised mature yet fresh and relaxed notes of almond, straw or perhaps esparto, traces of dry herbs, and sour bread dough while the flor is fairly muted and there is the very faintest note of oxidation. Very attractive.
Palate
Fresh, clean and quite serious with some almondy acetaldehyde and a hint of flor bitterness up front and full bodied then it opens and rounds out. It has a classic chalky albariza texture making it feel good and dry while the flavour lingers on and on. Beautiful balance and very sophisticated.
Comments
This lovely Fino comes from the first release (also Amontillado VORS and Oloroso VORS), bottled in May, from a new bodega: Bodegas Poniente. It is the brainchild of oenologist Alberto Orte who is a partner in Compañia de Vinos del Atlantico which makes wine all over Spain, including Cádiz, and the US importer Olé Imports. He began by buying carefully selected old wines to establish small soleras and feeds the Fino solera with mosto from his three small parcels of vines in the pago Añina: El Aljibe, San Cristobal and San José. The wine has an average age of eight years and comes in a heavy Jerezana bottle embossed with the bodega name. In case you are wondering, an aljibe is a form of well.
Price
37.15, Licores Corredera

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