30.11.18 Consejo´s New Sherry and Food Matching Guide

As aficionados will know, Sherry is one of the world´s most versatile wines to accompany food, if not the most versatile. Some of the most difficult foods to match with wine such as artichokes, eggs and asparagus are no problem for Sherry, which comes in so many types that it can´t fail. From tapas to main dishes, aperitifs to desserts and foods from around the world there is a Sherry to match. There is nothing better than getting the perfect wine for a particular dish, and to emphasise this, the Consejo Regulador has published this simple and general but useful guide designed to inspire. One excellent match  is roast wood pigeon or grouse with Palo Cortado, or try gently fried asparagus wrapped in serrano ham with Amontillado. Or go to  https://www.sherry.wine/like-no-other for many more amazing pairing suggestions.

Oloroso del Puerto 1/110 20% Lustau Almacenista

Appearance
Bright polished mahogany with copper highlights and the faintest tinge of green at the amber rim.

Nose

Fragrant and full showing lots of the subtle nuances of maturity: hints of oak, cigar box, pipe tobacco, walnut, salted caramel, toasted nuts and a trace of Seville orange marmalade. It is stylish, elegant and homogeneous, a great example of what the word Oloroso means.

Palate

Full, almost rich and very well rounded. There are gentle hints of tannin, a very slight salinity and a certain glyceric sweetness which give an attractive texture and all is nicely balanced. The faintest hint of spice like cinnamon joins flavours of tobacco and nuts with traces of oak. it is quite a big wine yet quite subtle at the same time and has terrific length.

Comments

The almacenista in this case is José Luis González Obregón in El Puerto de Santa Maria, a highly respectable firm founded in 1935 which also has a superb bodega/wine bar in the town´s Calle Zarza and the Taberna La Draga in Plaza Bizcocheros. They are almacenistas but also sell good wine and Sherry under their own brand. This solera contains 110 butts and the wine was bottled by Lustau. It must be all of 20 years old.

Price
16 euros per 50cl, ex bodega

Amontillado 21%, Colección Roberto Amillo

Appearance

Mahogany tinged chestnut with copper highlights fading through amber to a hint of green at the rim.

Nose

Lovely nose, forthcoming and fragrant with lots of toasted almonds and hazelnuts, turrón, traces of oak, tobacco and antique furniture with a glyceric note which rounds it off beautifully. It is a textbook example of fine Amontillado with considerable complexity and a great deal of charm with that classic gently implied sweetness which makes Amontillado so attractive.

Palate

Fairly intense and quite complex, beautifully rounded by that glyceric feel which balances out any more astringent oak notes, in fact there is a hint of sweetness but no more than that and very little tannin though there is a faint bitter hint which works well. Lots of nuts and hints of oak, it is an old wine yet without the slightly aggressive notes extended ageing can bring and has a very long,  satisfying, dignified finish.

Comments

The Roberto Amillo Collection, or Espiritus de Jerez, is a range of top quality products from the Marco de Jerez selected by Roberto Amillo. Like the other marquistas (people who buy small quantities from the bodegas for sale under their own label) he scours the area looking for outstanding examples of their type, one butt at a time and having them bottled in his distinctive square bottles with their Gaudi-esque corks. This beautiful old Amontillado was sourced from bodegas Dios Baco. It is probably all of 30 years old but cannot use the Consejo VOS/VORS label as it is too complicated for small one-off batches. Besides, the name Roberto Amillo should be sufficient to guarantee top quality, and the price is very reasonable for that quality.

Price

41 euros per 50cl, Licores Corredera

27.11.18 Copa Jerez Spanish Entry Chosen; Jerez Gets First Michelin Star

The chef and sommelier of the two Michelin star BonAmb restaurant in Xábia (Alicante) have won the Spanish round of the VIII Copa Jerez and will compete for Spain in Jerez next June against the winners of the rounds in Germany, Belgium, Denmark, the USA, Holland and the UK. Chef Pau García Más and sommelier Enrique García Albelda won a closely fought contest in this prestigious competition to find the best match between food and Sherry, and the standard was so high the judges found their decision very difficult. Their menu is: a starter of pickled olives and tagarninas (golden thistle) with Sanlúcar langoustines served with La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada 83 Bota Punta from Equipo Navazos. The main dish is a twinning of Amontillado and Fondillón (a rare wine from Alicante) accompanied by Amontillado 51/1 VORS from Osborne, and the dessert is salted almond, coconut and soya steeped in Brandy de Jerez and lemon accompanied by Amosroso Medium Dry from Bodegas Maestro Sierra.

Jerez has its first ever Michelin starred restaurant: LÚ Cocina y Alma at Calle Zaragoza, 2, which amazingly only opened its doors less than a year ago. Many congratulations to chef Juanlu Fernández, a Jerezano through and through who started work at his uncle´s bakery. He went on to work with Ángel León at the three star Aponiente in El Puerto for ten years, and at LÚ he cooks a wide range of dishes using local produce in a fusión of Andalucía with classic French techniques. The kitchen is open to view for diners and there are three menus at 70, 90 and 130 euros along with a good list of Sherries.

Manzanilla La Goya Centenary Magnum 15%, Delgado Zuleta

Appearance
Bright, clean gold with a trace of brass and golden highlights.
Nose

Fresh, clean and saline with noticeable pasada character, slightly more intense than the excellent Goya XL. There is lots of bitter flor but not enough to obscure the crisp doughy freshness, and notes of bitter almond, dry scrub, buttery olive brine and the faintest notes of toast, petrol and oxidation. This is very complex yet super fresh and elegant and absolutely classic Manzanilla.

Palate

Fresh and maritime at the start then it grows, developing more body and ever increasing flavour with traces of autolysis and lots of bitter almond and an attractive oily buttery character with a slight nuttiness, yet all the time there is freshness and pefectly balanced acidity. This wine is delicious and intensely flavoured with interminable nuances and terrific length.

Comments

Only 100 magnums were filled of this special wine to celebrate the centenary of Don Tomás Delgado sending a few cases of his best Manzanilla to the famous singer Aurora Jauffré "La Goya" in 1918 in exchange for her permission to name his brand after her. This wine is not standard La Goya. It is a selection from the best butt in the 232 butt solera made by the firm´s president, José Maria Bustillo and the three surviving oenologists who worked at DZ and really know the solera: Manuel Barba (1972-2012), Salvador Real (2012-2016) and the current incumbent Antonio Sánchez Pazo (2016 - present). The final choice was down to the butt which best represented the "textbook" style of La Goya, and the label is a reproduction of the original, while the label on the standard bottle has been redesigned. The wine is over 7 years old and the butt was in the part of the bodega most exposed to the Poniente giving it a vigorous growth of flor.The bottle is sealed with a Diam cork and while it is excellent, it is very expensive.

Price

150 euros per 1.5 litres ex bodega

 

The creators: (L-R): A Sanchez Pazo, S Real, M Barba, JM Bustillo