Manzanilla La Guita 15%, Hijos de R Perez Marin

Appearance

Pale strawy gold with golden highlights, clean and bright.

Nose

Typical tangy Manzanilla aromas; fresh sea air, flor with its attendant yeastiness and salinity and the faintest hint of yeast autolysis, a touch of Palomino fruit and a hint of camomile flowers, very fresh with immediate appeal.

Palate

Clean, dry and tangy, bready with traces of fruit and a slightly more savoury follow-through. It is very racy with lively acidity and plenty of minerality. It really expresses the word "punzante" (sharp, crisp, zippy in the wine sense) with flor and bitter almond and has a very long dry fresh finish  leaving you wanting more.

Comments

At one time this wine was sold as a Manzanilla Pasada aged for around 12 years in solera, and it was one of the very best. It is no longer Pasada - not that it pretends to be - but it has just under 5 years in solera, which on one hand gives really vibrant freshness, but on the other hand lacks the complexity of a Pasada. The bodega does have another solera of Manzanilla Pasada but doesn't seem to sell the wine - at least under its own name. The name "La Guita" is a play on words: the bodega's founder liked cash on the nail, and "guita" is Andaluz slang for cash, which also means string. That is why since 1908 the bottle has a bit of string running down the neck from capsule to label. Interestingly, this was the first Manzanilla to carry a bottling date on the back label - so you know it's fresh. The wine is produced from the firm´s own vineyard Miraflores La Baja, but being a best seller they need to buy in a lot of mosto from the cooperative COVISAN next door with whom Estevez has a close relationship. All the grapes come from Sanlucar. La Guita passes through 6 criaderas before reaching the solera.

Price
£ 12.50 per bottle from Drinkmonger, Edinburgh