Oloroso Viejo Villapanés 20%, Emilio Hidalgo

Appearance
Deepish amber with mahogany tints through to yellow at the rim, legs.
Nose
Lovely clean fresh Oloroso with a sweet aroma of garrapiñadas (almonds in caramel), hazelnuts, hints of walnut, autumn leaves, old moist barrels, dried fruits, some toasted notes with fine traces of citrus and cinnamon, damp esparto curtains (used at the bodega windows to shield the barrels from the sun). This is a complex wine which at first seems straightforward but just grow and develops.

Palate
Velvety, fresh and sweet at first developing nicely, then the drier notes of wood, nuts, mineral, earth, and dried fruits such as apricot, it is dry and there is a noticeable acidity giving the wine a lovely tang which balances the glyceric sweetness and carries across the flavour which has almost interminable length. Beautiful.
Comments
This magnificent wine is named after the XVIII century Palacio Villapanés in the Barrio San Miguel not far from this important old bodega now run by the 5th generation of the family in the centre of Jerez. Outside the Palacio is a statue of the legendary singer and actress Lola Flores. The wine comes from the same solera as the Oloroso Gobernador, probably established in the 1870s, which is bottled at about 12 years of age, while the Villapanés is sold at more like 20. Interestingly, some of the butts retained flor for a while before ageing oxidatively, and the bodega feels that it is this which gives the wine its elegance, and no doubt some of its crispness.

Price
About 30 Euros in Spain, and probably about £30+ in the UK where it is imported by Les Caves de Pyrene - who don't seem to do much with it, more's the pity.

More on Parker Points

The influence of Robert Parker on wine consumers around the world is beyond any doubt. Perhaps the Wine Advocate has fewer followers in Spain, but it has a legion of faithful followers in the US and Asia, two of the world’s most important markets for wine, and also for Sherry which has seen itself spurred on in the little more than a year since Luís Gutiérrez joined Parker as his taster for Spain, Argentina and Chile.

Luís finds it hard to conceal his devotion to the wines of Jerez and last year he consecrated two wines with 100 points: Barbadillo’s Reliquia and Valdespino’s Moscatel Toneles. This year another Sherry won 100 points: Equipo Navazos’ La Bota de Amontillado No. 49 Bota AR. There are very few old wines like this in the area and according to Jesús Barquín, co-founder with Eduardo Ojeda of Equipo Navazos, it is a wine that speaks of history, it is a piece of history which took decades and decades, generations and generations to achieve this level of quality.

L-R: Jesus Barquin, Luis Gutierrez, Cesar Saldana (foto diario jerez)

Of all the wines awarded 100 points in the latest edition of the Wine Advocate the La Bota No. 49 is the most affordable at about €75 per half bottle, and Jesús says that he had no doubt that such an exceptional wine would score 100. He does not say this to sell the wine which is already hard to find, but to point out that there are collectors who buy up all the 100 point wines leaving very few bottles available – and the guide has been out for a month already.

Another Equipo Navazos wine, La Bota de Palo Cortado No. 47 (from the same source as No. 49) and a wine from Bodegas Tradición achieved 99 points in the guide. This success extends to Sherry in general. No fewer than 75% of the over 60 Sherries tasted by Luís were awarded 90 points or more, qualifying them as “excellent”, and that doesn’t include some local table wines.

Emilio Hidalgo’s Palo Cortado Privilegio scored 98; five Williams & Humbert wines scored 90 or more: Pando, As You Like It, Oloroso Añada 2001 and the Fino en rama Añada 2006 and Oloroso Añada 1982 both scored 93. Jesús believes that the arrival of Luís was providential for Jerez as he has a much better understanding of the wines and they are now more prominent than before in the Wine Advocate.

The Parker tastings will be centred on new wines, that is to say small sacas, special releases or new vintage wines rather than the same old solera brands which have been in previous editions. César Saldaña, director of the Consejo underlined that the bodegas are no longer limiting themselves to marketing their solera brands as has been the case until recently. They have taken account of the limitations to innovation inherent in the solera system, and though it will naturally continue, many producers are seeking differentiation in which they see many opportunities. He sees this as the right road to take with limited special releases, añadas, seasonal sacas etcetera, giving new challenges to the marketing people.

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Amontillado Viejo El Tresillo 1874 20%, Emilio Hidalgo

Appearance
Bright gold-tinted amber, is that a trace of green at the rim? Legs.
Nose
Huge full and expressive, impressively fresh and laden with charm. Very fragrant and complex. Some American oak and a trace of exotic wood like cedar gives a slight edge to the sweeter side with its toasted hazelnut and pistachio praline and honey, as does a decent acidity and a mere trace of its Fino past. There are hints of cinnamon, cooked orange peel, caramel, beeswaxed antique furniture, all beautifully nuanced and integrated. It just keeps on opening out in the glass.
Palate
Sweetness: caramel and creamy nuts at first, which then disperses into lots of tangy nuttiness, traces of walnut, oak tannin - not much given the age, but along with that lovely tang it balances things and makes for terrific length. Super smooth, voluptuous, perfectly balanced and so, so good.
Comments
This wine comes from a solera dated 1874, roughly the foundation date of the bodega, and averages somewhere around 50 years of age. Only about 3,000 bottles are released annually. A younger wine called El Tresillo is extracted from the same solera at about 15 years old. The young wine entering the solera has already had extensive biological ageing which gives it suitable complexity to develop into one of the finest Amontillados in Jerez. It combines concentration and finesse, complexity and character. It is intensely beautiful! Wine like this requires to be drunk slowly on its own with no distractions while you commune with it, watch it open out and out...
Price
About 60-70 Euros in Spain, probably @ £80 in UK, agents are Caves de la Pyrene

PX 15%, Emilio Hidalgo

Appearance
Almost black, deep burnt umber to brown-stained amber and a green-tinged rim, long slow legs.
Nose
Intense aromas of pasas and dried figs, very fruity and quite concentrated with the slightest savoury note and traces of American oak. You can smell the very pulp of the sunned grapes along with traces of toast, coffee, caramel and a bodega full of ageing Sherries.
Palate
Soft fruity and deliciously smooth at first, then the more serious notes appear: traces of tannin, coffee, toffee, creme caramel and a gentle grippy tanginess. It grows in complexity and texture on the palate into a wine with some body, and leaves a long-lasting memory of a good PX.
Comments
Containing around 430 g/l natural grape sugar, this wine sounds intensely sweet, and it is, but that level of sweetness is not unusual in PX. What is unusual is that this wine is aged in its solera outside, against the bodega wall under an extended roof. This way it matures more quickly and rapidly develops concentration. Obviously this process works, as the wine is excellent, but this is just the young PX; they also offer the PX Santa Ana from a solera dated 1861 with an average age of around 100 years! Needless to say that is very expensive and hard to obtain, but this "baby" is delicious and will keep us going nicely while we save up.
Price
About £ 16.00 in the UK. Agents are Caves de Pyrene

Amontillado Fino El Tresillo 17.5%, Emilio Hidalgo

Appearance
Paleish, old gold with slight amber hue, legs.
Nose
Very attractive and interesting; a complex array of aromas starting with oxidised Fino, rich and full - at that half-way stage between Fino and Amontillado - some dried fruits such as sultana and a trace of barrels, something slightly humid and autumnal, the beginnings of that delightful Amontillado smell of toasted hazelnuts with a hint of honeyed sweetness, quince jelly.
Palate
Starts with a certain sweetness, but is actually dry, some glycerol here which one would have expected to be lost under the flor, but there is a (not unattractive) oiliness which will give way to a crisper wine with further ageing. Acidity is low but there is a slight tang, and already considerable length.
Comments  
This could be described as work in progress. Very good work. The solera dates from 1874 and this wine is from (if I remember correctly) the 3rd criadera with an average age of 15 years. Amontillado El Tresillo 1874 is the finished wine, somewhere around 50 years old, and any self-respecting Sherry fan will HAVE to try the finished wine after trying this one - which I definitely recommend. This is REAL Sherry, constantly evolving. One of the very few Sherries to be sealed with a driven cork, and thus better able to be laid down, which would certainly be worth doing. Tresillo is a card game once popular at the bodega.
Price
Ex bodega 25.00 euros, and well worth it. UK agent Les Caves de Pyrene.

Fino Especial La Panesa, Bodegas Emilio Hidalgo

Appearance:
Deep strawy gold, quite deeply coloured for a Fino (It is an amazing 15 years old)
Nose:
Quite intense and seriously complex, autolysed yeast undertones, saline hints and a fullness which only age can confer. It really shows how yeast and time affect the Finos. Beautiful.
Palate:
Full with attractive hint of bitterness from the Flor, almost powerful, concentrated Fino towards Amontillado - but not quite, traces of toast, quince jelly (crema de membrillo), low acidity yet tangy and with great length.
Comments:
Quite simply a wonderful wine. It is named after a vineyard they once owned and comes from a solera laid down in 1961 to celebrate the birth of Alfonso Rodriguez Hidalgo. 15 years would have turned most wines to Amontillado, but this still has just a little flor left, and is definitely still more Fino than Amontillado. The wine is made from a selection of the best wines in the fino solera and is then fed through 7 criaderas using very small sacas and rocios. The solera itself is in the most humid part of the bodega to preserve the flor. Only about 8,000 bottles are available annually. An absolute masterpiece.
Price
Around £35 but worth it!