Manzanilla Pasada en rama de la Pastora 15%, Barbadillo

Appearance

Slightly deeper brassy golden straw with golden highlights, legs.

Nose

Intense pasada nose complex but elegant, full of gentle autolytic notes of butter and straw along with briny saline maritime aromas and, of course that slightly bitter flor. It really opens out in the glass, and as it warms up there are definite hints of camomile and lees.

Palate

Full with a balanced and refined intensity, the rich flavours of yeast from top and bottom of the butt integrate with a gentle acidity and those wonderful saline, marine notes for a wine of true distinction. This is text book Manzanilla Pasada which leaves lingering flavour on the palate for ages.

Comments

It is always a thrill to see the release of a new Sherry, especially from a bodega as prestigious as Barbadillo. They, of course, were the first to ever bottle Manzanilla as a brand in 1827 under the name Divina Pastora (divine shepherdess). It comes from the same huge solera as Solear which is stabilised before release. This is also the base solera for the Solear en rama, which consists of selected butts of Solear bottled with minimal stabilisation. Pastora is also from this solera but is aged an extra three years making it close to 10 years old and then bottled en rama. The idea is to produce a Manzanilla in the XIX century style. It is amazing what can be achieved from one solera. Bottled February 2016, and well worthy of 93 points from Luis Gutiérrez (Robert Parker).

Price

12.50 per half bottle at Er Guerrita

11.3.16 Juan Gil Looking to Invest in Jerez; New Barbadillo Table Wine

The highly successful Spanish wine group Juan Gil Bodegas Familiares which owns 10 bodegas in 8 DOs wishes to expand and has a budget of 30 million euros to do so. This year the firm celebrates the centenary of its first bodega in DO Jumilla, and between now and 2018 they plan to invest this money not only in expanding operations in DO Priorat, DO Campo de Borja and purchasing vineyard in DO Rioja, but also establishing themselves in DO Jerez.

Angel & Miguel Gil Vera with a few of their wines

Miguel Gil Vera, fourth generation of the family, says they want to invest 5 million euros in Jerez. “It is the DO par excellence which has more history than any other, but we want to do things properly, and are already ”prospecting”. The idea is to try to team up with some existing project which would allow us to sell the wine sooner.” Starting from scratch would take years as the wine needs to age, so it would be much more convenient to buy an existing bodega. If they can find one, they could have the wine on the market in 2018, but if not they will wait rather than sell something below standard. This looks very hopeful.

Barbadillo Launches New Wine

Blanco de Blancos is the name for Barbadillo’s new table wine from their albariza vineyards at Santa Lucía and Gibalbín. It is a blend of Sauvignon, Verdejo and Moscatel grapes. This new wine joins the ever growing number of excellent table wines produced in Cádiz.

5.5.15 International Wine Challenge Awards for Sherry

This year’s awards have seen success for Fernando de Castilla. The bodega picked up a Commended for their Fino en Rama, Gold for thir Palo Cortado Antique and Silver for the Oloroso Classic along with Commended for their Don Fernando Fino and Gold for Don Fernando Oloroso, both bottled for Marks & Spencer. Also in the awards were Luis Caballero with the wines they bottle for Morrisons winning Gold (Amontillado), Silver (Pale Cream) and Bronze (Cream, Fino).  Emilio Lustau bottle Morrisons Signature Sherries, for which they won Silver for the Palo Cortado, Manzanilla, Oloroso and PX. Lastly Barbadillo won Commended for the Tesco Finest Manzanilla.

Amontillado Reliquia 19%, Antonio Barbadillo

Appearance
Quite pale amber fading through yellow to a touch of green at the rim, looks old, legs.
Nose
Starts fairly light but builds, hazelnut, wafers, oak, trace dried fruits, nutshells, traces of its Sanlucar origins such as nuances of salt, bitter almond and sheer pungency. Even after all these years you can still smell the last saline vestiges of Manzanilla, now far more complex.
Palate
Tangy, dry and concentrated, there is some astringency here, but it stops just short of excess and there has been no sweetening, a certain lightness in weight is compensated by sheer depth and complexity and grip. Again the nuts, some bitterness and astringency now balanced by glycerol alone, so well integrated over time it is hard to pick out individual notes. It is clearly a very old wine, still with its traces of Sanlucar bitterness, and I would have thought it would have been more like 20-22%. It is a wine to sip rather than drink: quite apart from the price, it is pretty concentrated and has almost interminable length. At such an age these are not easy wines, they require understanding and respect, but repay it handsomely.
Comments
This is one of the very limited Reliquia range of four wines (Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Oloroso and PX) which are bottled in hand-blown decanters. They are among the oldest wines in the Marco de Jerez, this one with an age of over 100 years, some say more, and complexity to match.

When Don Benigno Barbadillo died in 1837, his wife Dolores married Pedro Rodriguez, who ran the firm till the latter part of the XIX century under the name Pedro Rodriguez e Hijos, until Antonio Barbadillo Ambrossy inherited the firm, which is now run by the 7th generation.

This wine has its origins in the Pedro Rodriguez e Hijos days. A very old Amontillado solera called Soberana which aged in the bodega del Toro was fed by another called Hindenburg. This latter came from the bodegas of the Conde de Aldama. The Conde had been buying up as many old wines as he could to sell for a great profit, but ended up with difficulty finding a market for them despite their quality. Antonio Barbadillo Ambrossy exchanged 10 butts of Manzanilla for every one of the Amontillado, so it must have been outstanding even then.

Price
Price paid when tasted nearly four years ago: 260.00 Euros (per bottle), but now around £625 !! according to Wine Searcher. It is almost unobtainable (try John Fells, Farr Vintners in UK) but oh so worth the effort.