This is only the 4th
saca of this superb Manzanilla which is not released regularly but only when
conditions are exceptional, and then only from very few carefully selected butts. It comes from
the family reserve Manzanilla solera which was located in an old underground
bodega called La Casa near Sanlúcar’s Bajo de Guia. When the firm relocated to
the new bodega on the Chipiona road in 1989, the solera had to be moved and all
the old butts were repaired, stave by stave, so it took a while for the wine to
settle, but it soon returned to its former glory. It is a Manzanilla pasada
with an average age of over 10 years, bottled en rama and in very limited
quantities.
The multi million euro
business of seasoning Sherry butts for the distilling industry is steaming
ahead according to figures presented to the latest meeting of the Consejo Regulador. Since the Consejo
established a voluntary certification system in 2015, some 50,000 butts have
been seasoned officially, mainly for Whisky and Rum distillers. The Consejo has long been worried that many “Sherry casks” were seasoned elsewhere,
illicitly using terms which are protected by the Sherry Denominación de Origen.
Currently some 65,000 butts are being seasoned under Consejo supervision.
The Consejo issues traceability cards for those
butts which have been seasoned by one of the 12 firms which have registered for
the scheme. Each card, which is stapled to the butt, is printed with a QR code which
contains information like the name of the cooperage, the type of oak, the type
of wine used for the seasoning and the period of seasoning. The minimum period is
one year, but the average is more like three years. Spirits aged in butts
without the card cannot use protected terms such as “Sherry cask”, Manzanilla,
Fino, Oloroso, Amontillado or Pedro Ximénez on their labels. A certain prestige
is, of course, attached to labels bearing the words “Sherry cask”.
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