Amontillado Solera 1891 18%, Bodegas Velez

Appearance

Medium depth mahogany fading to amber with copper highlights.

Nose

Forthcoming and attractive with lots of toasted almonds and hazelnuts along with hints of that wonderful smell that bodegas have and traces of pipe tobacco and autumn leaves. There is also that fleeting background note of sweetness which gives Amontillados their charm.

Palate

Nicely rounded with hints of garrapiñadas (almonds tossed in caramel), tobacco, toasted almond and hazelnut praline, all of which are on the sweet side, yet it is not sweet, though there is enough glycerine to make it very smooth which balances nicely with some volatile acidity and a faint salty tang. Tasty, long and characterful, and amazing value for money.

Comments

Established in 1857 in Chiclana, this bodega is little known outside its home turf which is a real shame as the wines are very good. Being in the Production Zone, they can´t sell the wine as Sherry, but they can to sell it bodegas in the "triangle" who can, and they are doing good business with cask seasoning, and of course local sales. Things could change for the better however if the Production and Ageing zones are merged, which is under consideration. This wine ages in the unusually low bodega Don Alfredo, named in honour of a long serving capataz, Alfredo Cieza Ruiz.

Price
6.30 euros, Licores Corredera

Amontillado El Neto 18%, Bodegas Manuel Aragón

Appearance
Deep amber with golden highlights.
Nose

Fresh and fairly young, it has all the almonds and hazelnuts, toasted bread and a hint of caramel one would expect but there are still faint traces of the Fino it once was in the form of a very slight  bitterness and an attractive lightness. It is elegant and quite refined.

Palate

The same holds true on the palate. It is moderately crisp, quite light and has a pleasant tang which brings out that nuttiness and a hint of salted caramel. It is at a nice stage of development and is good and dry leaving a sort of Fino/Amontillado character on the long elegant finish.

Comments

The origins of Bodegas Manuel Aragón, known after its despacho (wine shop) as “El Sanatorio” (hospital or clinic), go back to the XVIII century. This family firm is in Chiclana in the production zone and so cannot use the word “Sherry” on its labels –even though two of their wines bottled by Equipo Navazos scored almost maximum Parker points: Palo Cortado La Bota 62 (98) and Oloroso La Bota 63 (99). Anyway they have their own vineyards and make red, white, rosé and vermouth as well as the various Sherry styles. This is their standard Amontillado which is somewhere around 10-12 years old and is very good value for money. The word “neto” is an old word for a cart driver.

Price

6.20 euros, Licores Corredera

4.11.16 González Byass Release New Palmas; Chiclana’s New Wine & Salt Museum

The Palacio de las Dueñas in Sevilla, property of the Duchy of Alba, was the scene for the launch of the sixth edition of the González Byass Palmas range yesterday. The grandeur of the wines matched that of the Palacio itself as oenologist Antonio Flores and GB vice president Pedro Rebuelta led a tasting of the wines, referring to them as “the ages of Tio Pepe”.

L-R: Pedro Rebuelta, Cayetano Martinez de Irujo, Antonio Flores

Hoteliers, journalists, sommeliers, bloggers and members of Sevilla society, including Cayetano Martínez de Irujo, son of the late Duchess of Alba, were given a glass of Tio Pepe straight from the barrel on arrival. This year’s wines were selected by Antonio Flores and Gérard Basset, the first to become a master sommelier and master of wine. Each wine was introduced with poetry and flamenco guitar. The Una Palma, aged six years was selected from the three best butts of the 150 in the fourth criadera and 3,000 50cl bottles will be released. Only 1,500 bottles will be released of the Dos Palmas which is eight years old. The Tres Palmas is ten years old and 1,000 bottles will be released, while the Cuatro Palmas, a magnificent old Amontillado aged 51 years will be released in only 500 bottles.

Chiclana’s new Centro de Interpretación del Vino y la Sal was officially opened yesterday by the mayor accompanied by various dignitaries. The museum is located in an old bodega formerly belonging to Viuda Guerrero and latterly to Primitivo Collantes in Calle Concepción. The old bodega has been beautifully restored and contains a huge number of interesting historical items, all donated and extremely well displayed. It offers an amazing insight into the long history of Chiclana, its salt pans, vineyards and bodegas, and of course it’s people. Very well worth a visit.

Moscatel Oro Los Cuartillos 15%, Primitivo Collantes

Appearance
Pure gold with bright glinting highlights, legs.
Nose
Fresh aromas of tea with hints of zippy citrus, floral camomile and that classic Moscatel grapiness, clean and bright with a noticeable tang, light and elegant.
Palate
Pure essence of Moscatel grapes with a little extract and texture but balanced by a gentle acidity giving a feeling of freshness such that you hardly notice the sweetness and that light citrus note carries it through to a clean finish with decent length. The comparatively low 15% helps, serve chilled.
Comments
This is a delicious Moscatel made from grapes over-ripened on the vine on sandy soils near the coast at Chiclana and without arrope or sun drying of the grapes making it light fresh and zippy. It has no great age, perhaps two years at the most and that's just fine, it is young, fresh and moreish suitable for any time of day rather than a wine for sipping in the evening.
Price
6.30 euros from Cuatrogatos

Amontillado Fossi 17.5%, Primitivo Collantes

Appearance

Bright amber tinted gold, legs.

Nose

Light yet elegant, complex and attractive, still with dry and slightly bitter notes of flor and a touch of salinity yet with delicate lightly toasted bread, hazelnut and almond and a faint background sweetness reminiscent of turrón which balances it up perfectly. Very much an Amontillado Fino, and a good one - of which there are not enough around.

Palate

Fairly crisp thanks to its Fino origins, but the sweeter, nuttier element soon comes through balancing perfectly with the nicely judged acidity giving a vivatious wine with good length which is delightful on its own and perfect for food.

Comments

This is a lovely wine with about 5 years under flor and a further 10 ageing oxidatively. It seems younger than that but all the more delicious for it, and it is a shame wines such as this must be labelled either as Amontillado or Fino, it is such an attractive style. However the label in the picture below uses the term "Amontillado Fino" but the bottle I am tasting calls itself "Amontillado" an old picture on the firm's website perhaps. The wine might come from Chiclana, and cannot therefore be labelled as Sherry, but is the equal of many which can - especially at the price. The albariza soils and the skilled hand of Ramiro Ibáñez as consultant oenologist might have something to do with it.

Price

8.00 euros

Fino Arroyuelo en rama 15%, Primitivo Collantes

Appearance

Mid strawy brassy gold, some legs.

Nose

Fairly serious, slightly savoury flor at first with a slight trace of buttery autolysis, notes of dry scrub, a little salinity and quite bready with an olive brine touch and traces of dried green herbs, there's some character here.

Palate

Quite full with a fairly intense entry, lots of bitter and briny flor and that slight pasada note coming from the dead yeast cells at the bottom of the butt and a trace of oxidation. Moderate acidity, very dry but very good length with a very slightly tangy savoury even lively farewell.

Comments

Aged under flor for an average of five years, this Fino was bottled on 23rd October 2015 with no clarification at all. Judging from the hand-written panel on the back label it is a blend of wines selected from butts nos. 16, 32, 96 and 117 of the Fino Arroyuelo solera. Being from Chiclana which is in the production zone but not the ageing zone, the wine cannot carry the DO Sherry seal, but is very much the equal. It is sealed with what looks like a 2 inch driven Amorim Twin Top cork. It scored 90 points from Parker - the wine that is. It just shows the difference between a wine bottled from selected butts without filtration and a wine from the same solera bottled from all of the butts and filtered. The standard Arroyuelo is excellent (see post) but this has so much more depth and character. I could drink it all night....

Price

15 euros per 75cl bottle from Cuatrogatos

Fino Arroyuelo 15%, Primitivo Collantes

Appearance

Quite pale bright silvery gold, light legs.

Nose

Lively yeasty and fresh. There is a gentle salinity, and notes of sourdough, dried herbs and plenty of almondy bitterness from the flor and an overall light zestiness.

Palate

Dry and fresh with a slightly savoury note and more complexity than the nose was prepered to give away. The flor is noticeable from both above and below giving a lovely bitter kick. While acidity is on the low side it has considerable length, and considerable character.

Comments

This excellent Fino is solera aged for 5 years. It is their best Fino and there is also an en rama version of it (qv). The others are Ceballos and Ceballos Solera. It comes from their own 55 hectares of albariza vineyard at Chiclana which is in the Sherry production zone, not the ageing zone, and the wine is not therefore officially called Sherry, but is the equal of a good one. The vineyards and bodegas are close to the Atlantic which gives the wine its freshness.

Price
6 Euros

Bodegas: Manuel Aragón SL “Bodega Sanatorio”

The origins of this family bodega in Chiclana go back to 1815 when it was founded by Pedro Aragón Morales, born in 1795. He began with a small shop on the Jerez road selling wines from his bodega to local bars and to the public. His son Juan Aragón Ramos continued the business and expanded the shop and the vineyards. Juan was succeeded by his son Juan Aragón Saucedo, whose own son Diego Aragón Periñán, born in 1896, in turn succeeded him. Diego and his sons set about expanding the firm buying a house in Calle del Olivo and more vineyards. One of his sons, Manuel Aragón Baizan (b.1916) took over the business, expanding further and giving it the name we know today. The Sanatorio (or clinic) is an affectionate name for the shop.

Currently the firm, run by Chano Aragón, owns 320 hectares of vines in the Campano district, an area which was established by the 2^nd Marqués de Bertemati towards the end of the XIX century. He contributed much to the modernisation of the industry, even being the first to bring in American vines even before phylloxera arrived in Chiclana. The vineyard area was much bigger then than now, and there are many fewer bodegas - in fact 30 years ago there were 100 and now only 5. The distance between the Aragón vineyards and bodegas means that looking after them is more difficult. They used to have a problem with birds eating the grapes – until they discovered falconry! The vineyards are farmed as organically as possible and roses are planted at the ends of the vine rows to warn of any potential problems.

The vineyards are not only planted with Moscatel, but also with Palomino, Sauvignon Blanc, Tempranillo, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, for the table wines. While Chiclana is in the Sherry production zone, Palomino and Moscatel wine must be aged  in El Puerto, Sanlúcar or Jerez to be called “Sherry”, so the Fino, Oloroso and Cream they age in their own bodegas can only be called Chiclana wine – of which they are deservedly very proud.

The wines are:

Moscatel Gloria, Moscatel Los Cuatro, Moscatel Naranja, Fino Granero, Oloroso Tio Alejandro, Cream Arrumbaó, as well as the red white and rosé table wines. Moscatel Gloria is one of the top Moscateles.

Address: Calle del Olivo, 1, 11130 Chiclana de la Frontera, Cádiz

Telephone: 956 400 756

Web: www.bodegasanatorio.com

Visits? Yes, by appointment

Bodegas: Primitivo Collantes

The history of this bodega in Chiclana goes back to the end of the XIX century, 1889 in fact,  when the brothers Primitivo and Tomás Collantes Lloredo arrived there from the Valle de Iguña near Santander. Their first harvest was in 1903, and before long they bought from Don Manuel Lloredo, presumably a relative, part of a bodega in the Calle Ancha, 51, which remains to this day their headquarters. This bodega is known popularly as the “Bodega El Gallo” (The Cockerel) and is still run by the 4^th generation of the family.

Over the years the brothers worked hard and the business grew. They went on to acquire a site in the Calle Arroyuelo, now the site of their bodega de crianza. In 1946 the company was registered, becoming a limited company in 1973 under the name Primitivo Collantes SA. The firm makes wine and vinegar from the produce of its own vineyards which are in the registry of the Consejo Regulador for Sherry production, along with the bodega de elaboración and the bodega de crianza.

The bodegas over the years

The vineyards consist of Pozo Galván (17.3 ha. of Palomino on albariza lustrillo), Matlián (19.53 ha. and including small plos of Moscatel and Uva Rey, a vine which was once fairly abundant here but nearly disappeared after Phylloxera) and El Inglés (18.31 ha.) totalling just over 55 hectares of long established albariza soils, mostly of the tajón type , but with a more coastal climate. All the vineyards are cultivated and harvested manually. Wines are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks before being transferred to butts for ageing in criaderas and soleras. The firm is currently run by Primitivo Collantes who is one of the new generation of dynamic winemakers pushing the frontiers of wine in the province and has the well-known oenologist Ramiro Ibañez Espinar as a consultant.

Various very fine "Sherries" are produced and some table wines:

Fino Arroyuelo (5 years old, also available en rama)

Fino Ceballos (3 years old), Fino Arroyuelo (5 years old from solera with 5 criaderas)

Moscatel Oro Los Cuartillos and Moscatel Viejo Los Cuartillos  (Made from the Moscatel de Grano Menudo (smaller berries) as opposed to the more usual Moscatel de Alejandría).

Amontillado-Fino  Fossi (5 years old)

Oloroso Los Dos (7 years old and slightly sweet)

Cream El Trovador (Oloroso + Moscatel)

Viña Matlián (Table wine made from Palomino fermented in tank. They also make a slightly sweeter version of it, the Semi-dulce.
Socaire  (Palomino fermented in butt and aged 24 months without flor. There is a new slightly oxidised version

They also make very good vinegar aged in solera

Address: J. Canalejas, 51, 11130 Chiclana de la Frontera, Cádiz

Telephone: (+34) 956 400 150 and 956 400 767
Website: www.bodegasprimitivocollantes.com

Visits: Mon- Fri  07.00 – 15.00 by appointment

3.3.14 Chiclana's Wine and Salt Museum

The Wine and Salt Museum project in Chiclana, which should have been finished by now, is still under way despite delays which mean that about 30% of the work remains to be done. There have been problems with the roof, which was in a worse state than had been thought, and which needs to be completely replaced. All the supporting beams of this old bodega have been fixed, and the new roof will resemble the original. Once the roof is finished, interior works can begin, and it is hoped that the museum will be up and running by the end of this year.

(Imagen La Voz Digital)

23.8.13 Limited Sherry to Toast the Poet

Bodegas Manuel Aragon in Chiclana is raising a glass of something special to toast the bicentenary of locally born romantic poet and dramatist, Antonio Garcia Gutierrez, who wrote El Trovador, which became Verdi’s Il Trovatore, among other important works.

A toast to the Poet at Manuel Aragon

The bodega El Sanatorio in the C/ El Olivo, which houses the firm’s oldest wines, has produced a very old Cream Sherry based on the old oloroso stored in an area known as the Nave de los Poetas. Enologist Sebastian Aragon explained that the wine is a blend of very old oloroso with moscatel at 18% which could easily age in bottle for a further 50 years. It is, however a limited release of only 1,000 bottles.