Vino Blanco Mirabrás 2017 15%, Barbadillo

Appearance

Slightly brassy strawy gold with golden highlights.

Nose

Lovely fresh herbaceous nose with plenty of seaside character and just a little flor allowing some notes of appley Palomino fruit through. There are all sorts of background subtleties like traces of candied fruit, tarte tatin and camomile which give it a delightful zesty youthfulness and a gentle richness as well, with a faint saline trace at the back. Subtle and classy.

Palate

Beautifully balanced and smooth with fairly low acidity letting the perfectly ripe fruit shine through. The 15% alcohol seems to bring out more depth of flavour without making it feel any stronger, and it certainly feels rounder. Needless to say there is a slight chalky texture and a hint of salinity but over all it is fruity, and with a lovely twist of flor at the end.

Comments

Mirabrás is a wonderfully interesting project, run by Montse Molina and Armando Guerra, which runs the gauntlet between classic Sanlúcar vino blanco and Manzanilla. There are only six toneles of wine yet every release is different. For example the 2016 was 13.5% and this 2017 is 15%, and in between there was a tiny release of 2012 Manzanilla Mirabrás (qv). They are really having fun, but also coming up with delicious and seriously interesting wines. Surprisingly this release has 15%, probably due to some sunning, but at only a year and a half or so of crianza, mostly in toneles filled to the top , it cannot officially be a Manzanilla. 5322 bottles.

Price
14 euros, Licores Corredera

9. 7.19 International Wine & Spirit Competition Results

Sherry has won 63 medals in the Internatiomal Wine & Spirit Competition, 13 of them gold, meaning they scored 85 points or more. At 50 years old the IWSC is the leading wine competition with around 400 international judges consisting of Masters of Wine, wine buyers, sommeliers and specialist journalists. The winners are once again the usual suspects. It would be good to see some others featuring in the medal tally, but you need good distributin for it to be worth while. And it costs quite a lot to enter: you have to submit 4 samples of each wine at ₤139 (+VAT) each plus cost of postage, and rolls of bottle stickers if you win anything. The Trophy and Gold winners were:

Trophy Best Sherry González Byass Amontillado Cuatro Palmas
 
Trophy Best Fortified Winemaker Sergio Martínez, Lustau

González Byass Amontillado del Duque VORS

Harveys PX VORS

Harveys Very Old Amontillado VORS

Harveys Very Old Oloroso Medium VORS

Harveys Very Old Palo Cortado VORS

Lustau Almacenista Oloroso del Puerto (JLGonzález Obregón)

Lustau Almacenista Oloroso Pata de Gallina (J García Jarana)

Lustau Almacenista Amontillado del Castillo (A Caballero y Sobrinos)

Lustau Amontillado VORS

Lustau Moscatel Emilín

Lustau Oloroso VORS

Lustau Palo Cortado VORS

Lustau Amontillado Escuadrilla

10.6.19 Excellent Parker Scores for Willias & Humbert Añadas

Bodegas Williams & Humbert have received some excellent scores from the Wine Advocate´s man in Spain, Luis Gutiérrez, and in particular the Añadas or vintage wines. The top scorers were the Fino Añada 2010 and Palo Cortado Añada 2002 which both received 95 Parker points, while close behind were the Oloroso 2001and the Fino 2012 with 94 points, followed by the Organic Fino 2015 with 93 and the Amontillado 2001 with 92. And it wasn´t only the vintage wines which scored well: Amontillado Jalifa VORS and Dos Cortados VOS scored 93. The new Canasta VOS 20 year old scored 92. The bodega began ageing vintage wines back in 1920 but in recent years has given them more focus through the work of highly talented oenologist Paola Medina. Unlike the solera wines the vintage ones are all different making each release unique and special.

9. 7.19 Latest on Cylindrocarpon

The independent growers´ association, Asevi-Asaja has begun collating information about vines suffering from the Cylindrocarpon fungus which was identified last year. It affects the wood of young vines in their second or third year leading to their death, and there is no treatment yet available against its spread. Currently the growers are aware of five or six outbreaks in the Sherry vineyards, some of which are affected up to 40%, and which are manifested by the loss of vigour in the vine and necrotic stains in the wood which starts to dry out and the vine withers and dies.

Asevi has emitted a circular providing and seeking useful information which can be forwarded to the authorities to help with preventive measures. One grower in the pago Balbaina noticed a slight problema last year but this year it has grown to some 11% of his vineyard. According to him, while the fungus is mainly confined to 2nd or 3rd year vines, it is spreading to older ones as well possibly on pruning shears. He is also convinced that the fungus comes from the nurseries which supply rootstocks and which, while the are legally obliged to supply them free of viruses, there is no such obligation for funguses. Asevi is also thinking along these lines, and once they have sufficient proof they will persuede the Junta to take action at source.

The association has expressed to the authorities the need to negotiate exemptions for affected growers from the requirement to repay grants for replanting under the vineyard restructuring scheme for the los of vines before the scheme reaches its conclusión. The first outbreaks of the fungus were detected in Sanlúcar in the pagos Miraflores and Carrascal three or four years ago. After observing the development of the disease in the affected parcels, Vara y Pulgar, a company specialising in vineyards, produced a report last August which noted the presence of the fungus in recently planted vinerards and and that it could have come from nurseries. According to their study, the problem centres round the rootstock 164-49 Coudert, the most widely used one for Palomono in the area.

Last August, after worries about another vine disease caused by Xylella Fastidiosa which was making an unwanted appearance in olive trees, it was found that the problema in Jerez was in fact Cylindrocarpon. A year later the problem is not only still here but it is growing, and without an effective cure. Asevi members have conducted experiments using the disinfectatnt effects of ozone sprayed in water which is having some effect in reducing the propagation of the fungus, but not in eliminating it. Worse still, the fungus seems to be spreading to other rootstocks, and again it seems to have come from young vines coming from nureries. Such wood fungi are not exclusive to Jerez. 27 different ones have been identified round the world, and in Spain Cylindrocarpon has also been detected in the extensive vineyards of La Mancha and also closer to home in Montilla-Moriles.