Fino Cruz del Mar 15%, Bodegas César Florido

Appearance

Bright strawy gold with silvery-gold highlights, legs.

Nose

Fresh and zippy with hints of of dried flowers, chamomile perhaps, and plenty of flor, hints of salinity and minerality. Very maritime with traces of brine and bread dough. There is a certain depth and complexity for a wine of only three years of average age, and a noticeable resemblance to good Manzanilla which comes from nearby.

Palate

Clean and fresh with a crisp lively acidity and bitterness from the flor, this is delicious and perfect for local seafood. It has considerable length and charm.

Comments

Made from grapes grown on old vines in the firm's own albariza vineyards in the upper part of Pago Miraflores and Balbaina and aged for three years in a 62 butt solera only 50 metres from the Atlantic. This not only gives the wine some of its saline freshness, but also helps the flor grow all through the year. This is not DO Sherry but is every bit as good. On a small viewpoint at the beach, at the end of the street stands the Cruz del Mar, a stainless steel cross atop a lamppost, which looks out to sea over ancient fishing corrals consisting of long low curved walls made of oyster stone where the tide strands fish. Chipiona is a very interesting place. The firm also has a tiny 9 butt solera referred-to in the bodega as "Manzanilla" as the grapes came from Miraflores and it has certain such characteristics, but being from Chipiona (production but not ageing zone) it must be called "Fino". It is not bottled or commercially available but quite delicious.

Price

About 6 euros

6.3.16 Possible Buyer for Garvey?

After one Filipino businessman bought Beam, it seems that another might be interested in Garvey. Lucio Tan (not related to Andrew) is also in the distilling business, among others, and has his eyes on Garvey Complejo Bellavista and Zoilo Ruiz Mateos, both ex Nueva Rumasa and both in administration for the last five years. Any purchase would be extremely difficult since the bodegas have been run down over recent years and there are many complicated legal loose ends. One bodega interested in buying is said to have dropped the whole idea on learning of them while another very low offer was refused.

The main stumbling blocks are the brands, the mortgage and the workforce which numbers about 60. The Ruiz Mateos family transferred title of all the brands to henchmen in companies based in fiscal paradises. Without the brands the bodegas lose most of their appeal, not to mention value. The land and the buildings belong to Promontoria Holding, and any buyer would almost certainly have to pay off as many as 40 staff. When the bodegas went into administration their debt was 216 million euros. It will need a miracle to resuscitate them, so let’s hope this is it.

5.3.16 Espinosa Family Buys Díez Mérito; BIB Handbag

The Espinosa family of Jerez has bought the Díez Mérito bodegas from the heirs of Marcos Eguizábal for an undisclosed price. Long connected with vinegrowing in Jerez and with connections to the cooperative Nuestra Señora de las Angustias, they have bought the bodegas Bertemati and El Cuadro between the Calle Diego Fernández Herrera and Calle Porvenir as well as the production centre on the Morabita road. The company will now be known as Viñas y Bodegas Díez Mérito and the 16 members of the workforce will be retained.

The patio of the Bertemati Bodega

According to Salvador Espinosa, family spokesman, they have bought 1 million litres of wine and 0.8 million litres of brandy along with some high quality vinegar. This historic old company had been languishing despite having famous and top quality Sherry brands like Fino Imperial, Victoria Regina, Bertola and Pemartín and Conde de los Andes Brandy. The deal includes the brand Otaola which is a range of Pacharán and herb liqueurs. The Espinosas want to put the brands back in the market position they deserve to be. Diez Hermanos was established in 1876 and in 1979 took over Marqués del Mérito who owned the beautiful Bertemati bodega. Díez Mérito was in turn taken over by Rumasa and after its collapse the Riojan businessman Marcos Eguizábal bought the firm along with Bertola and Paternina in 1985.

A new up-market bag-in-box aimed at women has been launched. The Vernissage BIB is disguised as a designer handbag and holds one and a half litres of French wine – but there’s no room for anything else unfortunately. It comes in three designs and costs a rather expensive £30 from online retailer Firebox who will be hoping to cash in on Mother’s Day. Don’t tell the Sanlúcar rebels!

4.3.16 Manzanilla Rebels Seek Public Support

The Association of Artisan Bodegas of Sanlúcar held their BIB information day on Wednesday at the Castillo de Santiago in Sanlúcar. Free Manzanilla meant there was always going to be a good turnout which would inevitably be rather partisan; the small Sanlúcar producers versus the might of the big ones, David and Goliath. The mayor of Sanlúcar was present along with representatives of the makers of the BIB, Conotainer.

BIB v Bottle in Sanlucar (foto:diariojerez)

The rebels find themselves in a temporary limbo as a final judgement on BIB legality is awaited while the Junta amends the regulation as proposed and approved by a plenary at the Consejo to forbid it and considers legalising it for horeca. The majority consider that BIB harms the image of Sherry, and that its supposedly superior convenience and hygienic properties are irrelevant, while the Junta feels that the current rules are open to confusion and is thus busy rewriting them. Until the new regulation is published, the rebels feel they are free to use BIB legally and have asked the Consejo for DO labels which the latter has refused to do until the matter is concluded.

Fino Barajuela 2013 Saca 2016 15.3%, Luís Pérez

Appearance

Mid depth strawy gold, legs.

Nose

There is a fresh and lively wine with depth and an attractive mix of flor with hints of crystallised fruit, melon, apple, a trace of minerality and a gentle nutty note of oxidation, all perfectly homogenised and with a sophisticated air.

Palate

Full of flavour, there is lots of flor bitterness balanced by glycerine not yet consumed by yeast as the wine is only about 2 1/2 years old. There is a fair amount of texture, fruit and nuttiness and a decent level of acidity which helps keep things fresh and gives excellent length.

Comments

This seriously interesting wine is the work of Guillermo (Willy) Pérez, son of Luis. The project was to make an unfortified Fino made from grapes from the El Corregidor vineyard (once owned by Sandeman) in the Pago Carrascal at the family bodega Finca Vistahermosa. Since Sherry grapes are normally harvested nowadays with a potential alcohol of about 12ᴼ and the wines must have a minimum of 15ᴼ (both for practical and legal reasons) they need to be fortified. In the old days, however, the grapes were subjected to brief sunning to bring them up to strength. What Willy Pérez has done is use careful pruning and later harvesting and sunned the grapes for 3-4 days. The result is excellent. The name of the wine derives from a thin laminated feature of the soil which looks a bit like looking at the side of a pack of cards (baraja). Unfortunately there is not much of this available...

Price

Around 30 euros

2.3.26 The “Emperor “of Brandy Takes Possession of Domecq

The old Domecq installations are facing the dawn of a new era. Andrew Tan arrived in Jerez yesterday with the contract and took possession of his new purchase from Beam Suntory. Grupo Emperador is the world’s biggest brandy producer with sales of some 33 million cases. It has bought the old Domecq bodegas, the Viña el Majuelo with its tower in the Pago Macharnudo, the brands Fundador, Tres Cepas, Harveys and Terry as well as the distillery in Tomelloso.

The Emperor, Andrew L Tan (foto:diariojerez)

The Filipino magnate wants to bring back the glory, success and positioning of Fundador and make it into a globally recognised brand. He will call the company Bodegas Fundador, but will not be overlooking the other brands such as world leader Harveys Bristol Cream, Terry Centenario, the leading brandy in Spain and Tres Cepas which has potential in emerging markets. He said he wants to make the product even better which will need investment but he is committed to this and also to look at ways to revive the fortunes of Sherry. “I believe in the future of Sherry and Brandy de Jerez”.

Vino en rama Monge 15%, Bodegas RF Cárdenas

Appearance

Some depth of colour, bright straw with golden tints, very light legs.

Nose

Big fresh and soft, flor noticeable but fairly muted, fresh bread dough, a trace of salinity and a slight hint of wax reminded me slightly of Montilla, but actually it is a really good Sherry.

Palate

Full forthcoming and dry, some breadth, low acid but some bitterness from the flor sorts out the balance, very tasty with traces of straw, almond and bread dough, long clean finish.

Comments

Launched at the end of October 2015 this is an extremely creditable wine and the only one sold in bottle by this family bodegón in El Puerto. Grapes come from family owned vineyard. Although it is made by the standard system of criaderas and soleras within the zona de crianza, they felt that given the limited quantities available it was not worth while, at least at this stage, to join the DO. Because of that they sell it as "Vino" en rama. Sealed with a standard "T" cork and wax with an Andalusian flag tassel in a sand blasted bottle. I really recommend this wine.

Price

About 7 euros, but only available locally unfortunately.