Vermut Goyesco 15%, Delgado Zuleta

Appearance

Pale to mid strawy gold with golden highlights and a hint of viscosity.

Nose

Fresh, light and forthcoming with notable hints of wormwood and gentian but not enough to completely obscure the Manzanilla base. There are gentle floral and citric notes and a touch of sweetness and background traces of green herbs and salinity, gently complex and very attractive.

Palate

There is sweetness present (though the bodega calls it dry), as there is in most "dry" vermouths, but it is not excessive and balances well with the light bitterness, that faint salinity and a refreshing gently fruity acidity. There are also - naturally - herbal notes on the palate and it finishes fairly dry with good length and a lingering gentian note. A very good aperitif.

Comments

This new vermouth was launched only a couple of weeks ago and looks set to be popular. The idea was to combine two of the great apéritif wines: Manzanilla and vermouth to make something really special - and the first of its kind. The base wine is of course Manzanilla, selected from the now centenarian La Goya solera, in which they macerate - separately - a range of natural extracts inspired by the flora in Sanlúcar´s special Coto Doñana environment. Naturally it contains wormwood and gentian to provide the bitterness, and botanicals such as sweet and bitter orange peels. The others are secret. Once the maceration is complete, all the aromatised wines are blended together and aged together for 6 months in ex Manzanilla butts before filtration and bottling.

Price

13.95, De Albariza

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

Manzanilla Pasada Goya XL 2018 15%, Bodegas Delgado Zuleta

Appearance
Fairly deep brass tinged gold with brassy highlights.
Nose

Very attractive mature nose with considerable depth and showing some flor - but much more. It has all the characteristic aromas of esparto, olive brine, sea salt and sourdough, along with a touch of cabezuela and faint hints of oxidation and a slightly humid buttery note which combine to give it great complexity. Classic Manzanilla pasada yet extremely elegant and harmonious.
Palate

This is delicious. Completely dry and super subtle with a gently salty tang enhanced by a hit of flor bitterness. There is a certain richness which comes from those oxidative and buttery cabezuela notes, which also give it a gentle texture and grip allowing the wonderful briny yeastiness to shine through in all its complexity. Once swallowed it just goes on and on.
Comments

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 of the Manzanilla La Goya solera which used to be 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 many of the old butts had to be repaired, stave by stave, so it took a while for the wine to settle, but it has certainly returned to its former glory. It is a Manzanilla pasada with an average age of over 10 years which is a blend of selected butts, and the saca is aged a little extra as a blend, or ”reposada” as the bodega calls it, before bottling en rama in Autumn 2017 and in very limited quantities. XL (excelente) is what the oenologist writes in chalk on the selected butts.

Price
22.95 euros per 50cl bottle, De Albariza

28.9.18 New Label for Manzanilla La Goya

In celebration of the centenary of its iconic brand, Delgado Zuleta, established in 1744, has introduced a smart new label design. Included is the seal of the royal household to which the firm is an oficial supplier. In fact La Goya was one of the wines served at the wedding of King Felipe VI and Doña Letizia. It is most popular in Spain with annual sales of some 10,000 cases, while in the export markets a few thousand more are sold in no fewer than 24 countries. The brand was first registered in 1914 by then president of the firm Tomás Delgado Ñudi, but he had to wait four years for the permission of the hugely popular singer Aurora Purificación Mañanós Jauffret to use her stage name of La Goya. She spent many periods of rest with him and his family in Sanlúcar, no doubt enjoying his Manzanilla. In those days most of the wine was sold in bulk and it wasn´t until the 1960s that it was bottled in quantity. The wine has an average  age of seven years.

Manzanilla Zuleta 15%, Bodegas Delgado Zuleta

Appearance
Pale strawy gold with golden highlights and the faintest trace of green.
Nose
Fresh, clean and fairly zippy notes of straw and grassland along with gentle hints of flor - certainly noticeable but not overpowering - dry herbal tea and seaside salinity along with faint hints of apple and apricot fruit. Young, but remarkably well developed for its modest age.
Palate
Crisp and fresh with a certain raciness, tangy and light, there is a gentle green herbal note along with apple and hints of yeasty bread, pastry and a trace of almond. The finish is reasonably long with an attractive gentle bitterness from the flor. The perfect everyday Manzanilla; fresh crisp and clean.
Comments

The Zuleta range is the bodega's entry-level wine, but pretty good nonetheless, and very good value. This Manzanilla has an average age of between 2 and 3 years so it is quite young and still shows hints of the fruit the wine had before the flor began to dominate. The bodega's prominent position in the Barrio Alto allows for all the benefits of the Poniente giving the wine great freshness.

Price
4.35 Licores Corredera

25.5.18 Forty Year Old Whisky Enhanced by Forty Year Old Amontillado

One of Scotland’s most emblematic distilleries, Talisker on the Isle of Skye, has chosen to finish an extremely limited edition  40 year old single malt Whisky in butts seasoned with one of the best Amontillados money can buy: Quo Vadis? VORS from the Bodegas of Delgado Zuleta in Sanlúcar. The firm has supplied butts to Talisker for over 100 years. It is a winning combination as both products display delightful maritime characteristics mellowed and enhanced by time. First the Whisky is aged in American oak refill casks before spending its final years in just five Amontillado butts before bottling at 50% vol. This launch is the first in the new Talisker Bodega Series, but before you rush out to buy this nectar, there will only be 2,000 bottles at a price of £2,750. You could buy a lot of Quo Vadis? for that!

Palo Cortado Monteagudo 19%, Delgado Zuleta

Appearance

Bright chestnut to mahogany with coppery tints fading to amber.

Nose

There is a hint of umami along with a savoury, salty, very slightly bitter note from the flor one imagines, and a trace of olive followed by toasted nuts and a trace of autolised yeast. It has lots of character and could only really come from Sanlúcar. There is also some body with notes of walnut and a trace of caramel mingling with the oxidative notes.

Palate

Similar, smooth - despite a slightly higher level of acidity than a Jerez, yet not quite crisp - with that savoury umami note carrying through. It is salty with a hint of caramel giving a very slightly bitter-sweet note blending in with the nuts. This is good, fairly light but very tasty.
Comments

Monteagudo is the upmarket range from Delgado Zuleta, named after the Conde de Monteagudo who once owned the vineyards from which the grapes for this wine come. This fine Palo Cortado, which is very good value for money, has a good but short time under Sanlúcar flor before oxidation sets in and has a total of about 12-14 years of ageing in solera.

Price
12,50, Licores Corredera

Manzanilla Entusiástica 15%, Delgado Zuleta

Appearance

Pale straw gold with golden highlights.

Nose

There are signs of development since the first release with a little less fruit and a little more flor. While the first was more a 15% table wine with a trace of flor, it has developed a little more in the Manzanilla direction. It is very clean and fresh, retaining some mosto notes, but is more of a Sherry now, with faint green herb, almond and flor notes, and most attractive.

Palate

Some apple and quince fruit, grassy green herb notes and just a little bitterness. There is a gentle mineral salinity and a pleasant roundness beautifully balanced by the flor. It is a serious wine with some class and is much better than some young Manzanillas - and it is still a baby. Lovely.

Comments

Organic viticulture is growing in  the province of Cádiz, and while there are quite a few very good organic table wines, this is still the one and only organic Manzanilla. The grapes were grown by organic pioneer Pepe Cabral in his vineyard in the Pago Burujena and the wine was made at Delgado Zuleta. Here the small young solera of only some 12 butts is located and quietly growing in size and complexity every year under the care of oenologist José Sánchez. The butts were previously used for La Goya. This is the second release, and the wine is now three years old and comes with a completely new label, quite different from other brands. Unusual too are the clear glass bottle and driven Diam cork, perhaps with the idea of attracting table wine drinkers - let's hope it works. The wine is bottled en rama and there are - or rather were - about 1100 available.

Price
17.95 euros, De Albariza

Viña Galvana 2015 12%, Bodegas Delgado Zuleta

Appearance

Pale bright almost silvery gold with light gold glints.

Nose

Interesting and fruity notes of geranium, tangerine peel and sappy saline green herbs, camomile tea, with background hints of apple and barely ripe apricot, the Moscatel is notable on the nose but the Palomino is apparent in the background. Slightly unusual yet very attractive and characterful.

Palate

Fresh and crisp up front with all that tangy herbal fruit and a faint saline note then softens into a very gentle very slightly chalky textured finish with lingering fruit. Very drinkable yet it has a subtle serious side.

Comments

Made by Manzanilla specialists and one of the oldest bodegas (1744) Delgado Zuleta, this Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz contains 85% Palomino and 15% Moscatel. The grapes are from vineyards located near the coast between Sanlúcar (Palomino) and Chipiona (Moscatel). The musts were fermented separately at low temperature in stainless steel tanks. The wine is aged on its lees and allowed to decant naturally before bottling, giving the desired young fresh fruity style and losing the minimum in stabilisation. 18,000 bottles are produced annually. The label shows horse racing on Las Piletas beach, Sanlúcar.

Price

4.10 euros, Licores Corredera

Manzanilla Pasada Goya XL 15%,(saca 2016) Delgado Zuleta

Appearance

Amber tinged strawy old gold with golden glints.

Nose

Delightful pasada nose, almost pungent yet complex and refined. Behind the full-on dried herbs and flowers and notable salinity of the flor, there are all sorts of nuances; apple, slightly toasted almond, olive brine, ozone, sea water and hints of oxidation and autolysis. Mature Manzanilla at its very best.

Palate

Full and super fresh despite its age thanks to the flor which leaves its trademark yeasty bitterness. Balance is perfect and there are wonderful buttery savoury flavours from the bottom of the butts as well as slightly oxidative notes. It is very dry with a gentle chalky mineral feel and very long. Classic.

Comments

I haven't tasted this superb Manzanilla for years - partly because it is so hard to get - being released only "when a series of exceptional circumstances comes about". The wine, which is the bodega's top Manzanilla, is from selected butts in the La Goya solera (marked with XL) and "reposed" a further 2 years, being bottled en rama at 10 years old. Not surprisingly it won the IWC Manzanilla Gold Medal and Trophy in 2016 and scored 93 from Robert Parker. The solera is very old and special, having once been stored in an old underground bodega close to the Bajo de Guia. This bottle is from a 2016 saca. If you see it, buy it!

Price
18.20 euros per 50cl, Licores Corredera

29.6.16 More Medals for Sherry; Lustau Appoint New Oenologist; Goya XL

The XXII edition of the Premios Mezquita which takes place annually in Córdoba has rewarded the Sherry bodegas with lots of medals.  Diez Mérito won a Mezquita Grand Gold for Fino Imperial and Gold for the PX VORS while the firm’s Bertola won gold for the PX, Palo Cortado, Amontillado, Cream and Oloroso, all 12 years old. González Byass also won gold for the Noé, Amontillado del Duque and Tio Pepe en Rama. Meanwhile the Jerez Cooperative La Angustias won gold for its Fino Mira la Mar and silver for the Oloroso, PX and Cream from the same range. Their Romerito range won silver for the Oloroso, Cream and Medium and their excellent Fino sin Pecado also won silver.

At another competition, the Concurso Internacional de Vinos de Atlántico, Bertola PX 12 years old, while at yet another, the Akatavino Top Ten, included 98.5 for Williams & Humbert’s Jalifa and 96 for Dos Cortados. González Byass scored 94 for their Tintilla de Rota, 97.5 for Cuatro Palmas and Tres Palmas. Delgado Zuleta scored 98 for Amontillado Quo Vadis.

After the immensely sad loss of oenologist Manuel Lozano, Lustau have appointed Sergio Martínez in his place. Sergio has already worked for the firm for 13 years and spent 10 of them working daily alongside “Manolo”. Lustau’s director general, Luis Luengo, said that “Sergio has our full support in leading the team. There is no one better to maintain our style and bring new ideas to the project.”

Sergio was born in San Fernando (Cádiz) and spent his childhood among the towns of Cádiz Bay. While passionate about nature, the sea the marvellous local beaches and animals he is also passionate about Sherry and says his favourite style is Amontillado “for its complexity, subtle nuances and elegance thanks to both biological and oxidative ageing which makes it unique.”

Bodegas Delgado Zuleta have released a new saca of their superb Manzanilla Goya XL. It has already received 93 Parker points and gold at the International Wine Challenge and Best Manzanilla. This wine is released extremely rarely, in fact this is only the third ever saca. It comes from an exhaustive selection from 10 butts from the La Goya Solera by oenologist Salvador Real, is over ten years old and bottled en rama. It is an outstanding wine, a true classic, get it if you can. Now.

Salvador Real (R) at the Madrid presentation