Oloroso 5 18.5%, Mar 7

Appearance

Bright clean mahogany with copper glints fading to amber.
Nose
Attractive and classic Oloroso nose with beautifully integrated oxidation. It is generous, open and fresh with a hint of implied sweetness and lots of toasted nuts, a hint of turron yema tostada and a trace of oak, all nicely balanced with a certain savoury note.
Palate
Quite full bodied and well structured with a decent acidity keeping things tight then those nuts come through and the wine softens and opens outwith a faint trace of caramel to a well rounded but deeply flavoured character with considerable length. Textbook Oloroso.
Comments

Mar 7 is an unusual wine shop at Calle Mar, 7 opposite Bodegas Argüeso in Sanlúcar. This house with its own bodega dates from 1820 and was once owned by a cargador a Indias. This was the starting point of the famous bodega Pedro Romero founded in 1860, and it is a distant relative, María José Romero who runs this enterprising business. She has some original wines of Pedro Romero which are refreshed for her by Delgado Zuleta, making her wines pretty unique, and they are certainly very good. This Oloroso is one of them and has an average age of somewhere between 12-14 years. She sells wine both on draught and in bottle.

Price
17 euros, Mar 7

Manzanilla Pasada 8 15%, Mar 7

Appearance

Pale strawy gold with bright golden highlights, legs.

Nose

Forthcoming and super fresh. Traces of wild herbs and flowers mix with a powerful saline kick behind which there are notes of bitter almond, flor and tantalising traces of cabezuela. Quite racy and maritime yet vivatious and absolutely classic Manzanilla.

Palate

A lot of flavour in an elegant package. It starts off as a good Manzanilla with relatively low acidity but keeps on developing on the palate with very dry, more intense salty cabezuela notes with a faint hint of butter and only a faint trace of oxidation. The flor must have been vigorous. Lovely.

Comments

This elegant Manzanilla was produced and bottled  for María José Romero, owner of Mar 7, by Delgado Zuleta. It was aged for at least eight years in their bodegas and selected by María José for its quality and freshness. Some of her wines are bottled for her and some are brought in bulk to her beautiful, atmospheric, traditional old bodega, the one where Pedro Romero started out, and they are filled into 80 year old butts so she can sell them on draught. Don't miss a visit to Mar 7 if you're in Sanlúcar, it is in Calle Mar, 7, opposite Bodegas Argüeso.

Price
13 euros from Mar 7

Amontillado 8 18.5%, Despacho de Vinos Mar 7

Appearance

Attractive amber verging on antique mahogany, bright copper highlights, legs.

Nose

Classic Amontillado nose, clean, fresh, with lots of toasted almond, hazelnut and a hint of toasted bread and an incisive, saline coastal note with a trace of flor bitterness, meaning it was once Manzanilla. It is really fragrant and nuanced and encourages you to keep on nosing it, which is very rewarding, even without drinking it.

Palate

Crisp, fresh and lively with immediate appeal, it is at a beautiful stage of its crianza where, while it retains most of the character of its Manzanilla origins, it has developed complexity in addition to that without taking up too much wood. It tastes very natural and clean, beautifully balanced and long.

Comments

This delightful Amontillado from Sanlúcar has an average age of fifteen years and was selected by Marіa José Romero who runs the despacho and who comes from a family of bodegueros (Pedro Romero) and is thus very skilled in Manzanilla matters. This wine was bottled by Delgado Zuleta, to whom she is also related, and that attests to its quality. This is what Amontillado is all about.

Price

17 euros from Mar 7

Manzanilla Fina 15%, Despacho Mar 7

Appearance

Fairly pale strawy gold with bright golden glints, legs.

Nose

Pronounced maritime aromas; salt seaweed and beach are followed by a whiff of cidery fruit and plenty yeasty briny slightly bitter flor. There is an attractive fresh rawness about this wine, even a trace of cabezuela, but it is restrained giving it a delicate complexity.

Palate

Very dry with well balanced acidity and bitterness, giving a lively wine with a saline note yet there are still the slightest traces of fruit to round it off with a long clean finish. Good.

Comments

This attractive Manzanilla comes from a comparatively new company, Despacho de Vinos Mar 7 which occupies a small bodega, opposite Argüeso at no. 7 Calle Mar, Sanlúcar, which was where Pedro Romero started out. Interestingly, María José Romero who runs this great little bodega, is related to both the Romero and the Delgado Zuleta families, so Manzanilla is in her blood. She selects and buys in wines from the bodegas. and sells them in bottle or on draught. I have to say she has very good taste. The Manzanilla Fina, bottled like all her wines with minimal stabilisation, is at least three and a half years old and is delightfully fresh, as is the clean, clear presentation.

Price

9.50 euros from Despacho Mar 7