Fino en rama 16% May 17, Gutiérrez Colosía

Appearance

Bright amber tinged gold with golden highlights, a shade deeper than the 15% version.

Nose

Fuller, more complex and intense with stronger flor and salty, briny, sourdough notes and less fruit. There is also a hint of seaweed and dried flowers. A couple more years of crianza has allowed the wine to soak up more of the quayside atmosphere in El Puerto, and it really shows.

Palate

Full and deep with lovely flor bitterness and all that brine, perhaps olive brine, and slight traces of oxidation, all in perfect harmony. This is a serious Fino with hints of straw and dry autumn leaves yet it is very fresh, with perhaps a slightly higher acidity which helps it to produce a very long, super clean tasty finish. This is a lovely wine, intense and natural.

Comments

Gutiérrez Colosia have done a very interesting thing and released two Finos en rama, both bottled at the same time, May 2017. This one, with the yellow label, is a shade over five years old and contains 16% alcohol, while the other wine, with a white label is a shade over three years old and contains the standard 15% alcohol. So here are two very different versions of the same wine from different stages of development, and they are both lovely but in different ways. It would help consumers considerably if these subtle differences were made clear on the back label, but they are not. 
Price
17.30 euros per 50cl bottle, Licores Corredera

Fino en Rama 15% May 17, Gutiérrez Colosia

Appearance
Bright pale gold with golden highlights.

Nose

Fresh and light with delicate traces of meadow herbs and faint apple, patisserie and lemon peel notes. There is not a great deal of that bitterness imparted by flor but there is a hint of fresh sea air and a suggestion of almond. This is a light young Fino, elegant and most attractive.

Palate

Light and dry retaining a hint of the fruitiness which will be lost to the flor. Acidity is low with only a hint of flor to provide balance and the wine lies somewhere between a Palomino table wine and a full blown Fino, a delightful and very interesting stage of its life, and it has a good long clean finish.
Comments

Gutiérrez Colosia have done a very interesting thing and released two Finos en rama, both bottled at the same time, May 2017, but with different ages and strengths. This one is a shade over three years old and contains the standard 15% alcohol, while the other is a shade over five years old and contains 16% alcohol. So here are two very different versions of the same wine from different stages of development, and they are both lovely but in different ways. Some explanation of this great idea on the labels would help consumers, but, well...

Price

12.60 euros per 50cl bottle, Licores Corredera

Bespoke Sherry & Tapas Bar

When you are next in El Puerto de Santa María, make sure you pay a visit to Bespoke Tapas Bar. It is quite unique and the quality is excellent. Carmen Gutiérrez Pou came up with the idea about a year ago.  She is the daughter of Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Colosía, owner of the classic bodega of that name, only a couple of hundred metres along the street. Almost everything is made from old recycled pallets and Sherry paraphernalia and painted by hand in bold colours giving an incredibly bright friendly atmosphere, and the staff are every bit as friendly.

Naturally they promote Gutiérrez Colosía Sherry, which is served in proper, larger, glasses, but they offer many other wines, mostly local ones as well as other local products including locally produced beer. The food is delicious and beautifully presented while a range of Sherry cocktails is available as well as delightful Arabic cakes. The establishment is run by Jerezano Claudio de Diego and I highly recommend it.

Address: Avenida Bajamar, 36, El Puerto de Santa María

Telephone: (+34) 956 106 412

Website: www.bespokepuerto.com

Fino en rama Saca Noviembre 2014 15%, Gutiérrez Colosia

Appearance
Mid gold fading to pale gold at the rim, legs.
Nose
Pure seaside, super fresh with lots of sea breeze and salt, trace olive brine then the flor comes through with its damp yeastiness, a slight floral note and a certain minerality, everything in harmony. It really has captured the riverside atmosphere of the bodega yet in a gentle way, not as raw as a Manzanilla.
Palate
Dry and fresh, still saline with a very light tang which along with the gentle bitterness and a trace of fruit keeps things beautifully balanced with good length. This is a very elegant wine, but still has plenty of character, it is most definitely a wine from a specific place, the one called El Puerto.
Comments
Juan Carlos Gutiérrez makes more than one Fino. There is the standard  Fino Colosia and the Campo de Guia (at least 3 years old according to the bodega), then there are export brands such as Juan Sebastian Elcano (4 years old) and Amerigo Vespucci (6 years old en rama apparently). So which one this is I don't know, but by jove it is good. It is a shame that this is the only bodega left at the river- side and close to the seafront.
Price

€ 16.95 per 50cl. Not sure if this is available in the UK (it should be!), but try Alliance Wine

Amontillado 18%, Gutierrez Colosia

Appearance
Amber with polished bronze highlights, legs.
Nose
Quite full with toasted, honeyed nuts, a hint of turron de yema tostada (ground almond and honey bar with toasted egg yolk on top), a touch of dried fruit, and then the more savoury elements: a maritime note and a trace of Marmite. Not particularly complex or old, but a bit of a charmer.
Palate
Dry with lots of nuts, almond hazel and walnut, not a hint of astringency, rather an attractive mellow feel and a long clean finish. Perhaps around 10 years old, but very attractive.
Comments
Highly recommended by Decanter Magazine with a score of 17/20, this is a wine to offer someone who thinks they don't like Sherry. If they don't like this, then there's no hope for them! It is correct and characterful and yet easy drinking at the same time. It is aged as a fino for at least three years before being aged in the Amontillado solera for at least a further five, so it is quite young for an Amontillado, but with all the charms of youth.
Price
Around £16.00 Uk Importers: Eaux de Vie (mainly) and Alliance Wine

Fino Campo de Guia 15%, Gutierrez Colosia

Appearance
Mid strawy yellowy gold, very light legs.
Nose
Full, lots of broad fleshy flor with saline, maritime edge - beach sand and even seaweed - touches of straw and bitter almond.
Palate
Broad soft and yeasty, low acid but attractive bitterness compensates, a young wine but quite serious and characterful, long and moreish.
Comments
Only a bit over 3 years old, but delicious, very yeasty and exuberant. The Campo de Guia is the bodega area of El Puerto de Santa Maria which sprang up in the XIX century between the bullring and the riverbank. Gutierrez Colosia's bodega is on the riverbank, and nearby are Luis Caballero and Osborne.
Price
6 euros ex bodega, but not available here as far as I know. Sorry.

Bodegas: Gutierrez Colosia

This is one of the few remaining family bodegas and is beautifully positioned on the riverbank at the mouth of the river Guadalete at el Puerto de Santa Maria. It was built in 1837 and was previously used by Sancho Hermanos (Amontillado Quijote), Pedro Domecq and the 2nd Marques de Camillas (Vina del Pollero Alto), from whom it was bought in the early XX century by the current owner's grandfather Jose Gutierrez Dosal. He had founded a firm of almacenistas in the late XIX century.

He and his son supplied wine to the big bodegas while his grandson Juan Carlos Gutierrez Colosia studied, however Juan Carlos dropped out and ended up helping his father in the bodega where he learned and did everything. His father died in 1966 when Juan Carlos was only 20 and was forced to take on the considerable responsibility.

During the seemingly endless crisis that is Sherry, some of their main customers, Williams & Humbert, Osborne and Gonzalez Byass, no longer needed their wines, leaving Juan Carlos with two choices: close or bottle and sell on the open market. This meant buying expensive bottling equipment and going out selling. Luckily he believed strongly in what he was doing and in hard work, and despite many vicissitudes he slowly made headway. In 1969 he bought the ruin of the neighbouring palace of the Conde de Cumbrehermosa, a Cargador de Indias which had a small bodega to which he added 2 more, though the firm no longer owns this. In 1982 he bought a 300 cask solera of oloroso known as Sangre y Trabajadero from the now defunct bodega Cuvillo. This wine had been traditionally used at the shipyards of Puerto Real de Navantia for launching ships. It is still available. He bought another old oloroso solera from the now also defunct bodega Merello Gomez from which he produces the Cream Mari Pepa.

In 1995 the top Spanish buyers' guides Penin and Gourmets gave his wines high marks, and in 1998 he got his first order from Britain, and slowly other countries began buying. The wines are probably better known abroad now than at home.

Range:
Colosia:
Fino, Dry Amontillado, Dry Oloroso, Cream, PX, Moscatel Soleado and a 50 year old Palo Cortado
Specials:
Mari Pepa Cream, Sangre y Trabajadero Oloroso, Fino Campo de Guia

Brandy Juan Sebastian Elcano (nearly 100 year old solera) Named after Spanish Navy training ship.
Vinegar

Visits yes
Contact
Address: Avenida Bajamar, 40, 11500 Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz
Tel: (+34) 956 852 852
Web: www.gutierrez-colosia.com