Over the years the occasional Sherry firm has had interests in Rioja,
but this could be the first time a Rioja firm has had interests in Sherry. It
all started with Roberto Amillo, a businessman from Logroño, Rioja. He was once
given a wedding present of a bottle of Brandy de Jerez and fell in love with
it, leading him to start a collection of Jerez products which now amounts to
over 17,000. In 2011 he began selecting rare and outstanding Sherries and
Brandy from bodegas in the Marco de Jerez and having small amounts bottled
under his “Colección Roberto Amillo” brand in beautifully presented bottles. He
recently added Vermouth to the range and all his products have scored between 90
and 96 points from Parker and Peñín.
About two years ago he began to colaborate
with the Rioja firm Bodegas Altanza who distribute the Colección
and they have announced that they are establishing bodegas in the central Santiago
district in Jerez. They anticipate opening at the beginning of summer and to
celebrate they will launch a new wine called “La Saca”, a Palo Cortado with an
average age of over 100 years. This rare wine came from the private bodega of a
Jerez family whose firm was established in 1829 and closed in 1950, when the
wine was already very old, and they held on to a few butts. This unrepeatable saca
will obviously be very small, 360 x 50cl bottles in fact, at 120 euros each.
Each bottle will be presented in a wooden box and José Peñín gave the wine 98 points. It
can be pre-ordered at Bodegas Altanza.
