6.1.13 New York Times; Wine Spectator; Reyes Magos

New York Times visits Sherry Country

The New York Times travel section decided to delve into the mystery of Palo Cortado, and visited two bodegas in El Puerto and one in Sanlucar for their report. They visited Gutierrez Colosia and Obregon in El Puerto and Hidalgo La Gitana in Sanlucar, three family-run bodegas who stock these wines, as complex as they are beautiful, to try to understand Palo Cortado.

The NYT discovered (what we all know) that Palo Cortado is a chalk cask marking which identifies the wine in the form of an angled stroke with a short horizontal line crossing it. Juan Carlos Gutierrez told them that he couldn’t tell them how to make PC, it just happens. Sherry is not just any wine; there are factors which can’t be controlled by humans. Manolo Obregon agreed, saying that PC is an accident. It is quite a rare one too, Obregon rarely sell any, but the picturesque bodega attracts many visitors.

Javier Hidalgo, one who really knows Sherry and has written books on the subject, declared that “it is no accident. We make a quite a lot and it has taken generations of family to do it. It lacks the delicacy of Amontillado, the structure of Oloroso and the freshness of Manzanilla. We only sell about 800 bottles of PC a year and that’s more for prestige than profit”. He then put the remains in his glass back into a butt - of Amontillado. When quizzed about this, and would that not change the style of the wine, he shook his head, saying no, it’s like a tear in the ocean. Then he switched off the lights.

Source Diario de Jerez

For actual article:  http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/travel/sharing-a-sherry-treasured-in-spain.html

Wine Spectator listing for Lustau

The American publication The Wine Spectator publishes a list of the 100 best wines of the year, all having been awarded 90 or more points, and in position 82 is a Sherry - Amontillado Solera Reserva Los Arcos from Emilio Lustau. Other Spanish wines also feature in the list, from Rioja, Almansa, Ribera del Duero and Bierzo.

Reyes Magos (Three Kings) visit Jerez

The Kings' cavalcade hit the streets today, throwing millions of sweets to the children.

Source Diario de Jerez