Fairly pale golden Straw with bright golden highlights.
Nose
The super fresh and fairly intense maritime
aromas are not surprising as the bodega is among the closest to the estuary.
They are strongly saline with very pungent flor, bitter almond and dry scrub along
with faint notes of seaweed and esparto in the background. Cracking nose.
Palate
Intense and full of character, it is a big
Manzanilla with considerable concentration and yet there are only faint notes
of cabezuela; the bitter yeastiness is mostly – but not all - from the wine’s
surface, and there is no shortage of that. It epitomises the Spanish word “punzante”
(sharp) but in a wine context, meaning up-front, crisp, incisive, pungent. In
the very long finish there are briny notes of sourdough and cabezuela and a dry
chalky texture. It is amazigly complex for wine which is not yet really a Manzanilla pasada - though it is getting close.
Comments
This wine was launched comparatively recently
and fairly quietly – until it won the Manzanilla Trophy at the International
Wine Challenge 2017. It is a blend of selected butts in the Manzanilla solera
which dates back to 1822 and it has an average age of over 6 years. Back in the
day Don León de Argüeso separated out some particularly good butts to form his own
private stock and that is now sold as Reserva de Familia, the firm’s top
Manzanilla. This wine however, is arguably better still – I tasted them side by
side, along with the standard San León, and while there are obvious similarities, this one is darker in colour - probably en rama but there's no mention of this - more
intense, bitter and wild, possibly at the expense of elegance, but certainly
not class. The label resembles one used in the past. Most of the firm’s production
is Manzanilla with the wine being sold at various ages under various brands: Fina,
La E (draught only), Medallas, San León and Reserva de Familia, and frankly
they are all excellent. Judging by the quality of this wine I reckon even more
interesting Manzanillas could yet be to come from this revitalised bodega. Great price too.
Price5.95 euros per 50cl, De Albariza
No comments:
Post a Comment