Fino La Draga 15%, Bodegas González Obregón

Appearance

Mid straw - gold with bright reflections, light legs.

Nose 

Forthcoming, quite full and interesting. There is a fruity edge with faint traces of autolysis, minerality, a trace of salinity and a yeasty, almondy bitterness. It is a bit multi-faceted: every sniff reveals something more, even the slightest hint of oxidation. Good start.

Palate

Salinity and yeasty bitterness are to the fore, it is very dry and fairly full with real character, still with that trace of fruit and a long well-rounded finish. A a good example of the Classic El Puerto style.

Comments

This characterful almacenista bodega/despacho in El Puerto has a great range of wines and this Fino is probably the best known. In fact they supply Fino, Oloroso and Amontillado for the Lustau Almacenista range. This fine Fino is about 5 years old and may well be the same wine as Lustau’s Almacenista Puerto Fino. Its name is interesting: “draga” translates as “dredger”, there being a faint picture of one on the label. The port area of El Puerto needs to be dredged now and then as a lot of silt is washed down by the river Guadalete.

Price

About 5 euros ex despacho C/Zarza

Bodegas: Obregon

Established in El Puerto de Santa Maria in 1935 by Jose Luis Gonzalez Obregon (1905-95), this is a small, interesting, family run enterprise of fine quality. Jose Luis was a highly knowledgeable and experienced Sherry man, having worked for many years in bodegas, in different jobs, culminating in his appointment as Capataz at Bodegas Hijos de Jimenez Varela, now sadly gone.

His first bodega was set up in the Calle Ricardo Alcon, and soon another was set up in the Calle Zarza. Later, as business grew, he opened more bodegas in the Calle Arenas and the Calle Santa Fe, and this is where most of the brandy and Sherry soleras are to be found.

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In 1947 he opened a bar, El Bodegon de Obregon in the Calle Zarza, which is now the oldest and most characterful taberna still working in El Puerto. There is a lovely vine covered patio and it is very old fashioned and traditional with old bullfight and feria posters on the walls, old bottles and barrels everywhere and Sherry available by the glass, by the bottle, or they will refill your empties. Great food is available too, in the form of tapas or bigger meals. Their chicken in PX or papas alinas (potatoes, egg, tuna, oil) are worth a detour. There is even flamenco at weekends. They have another bar, Taberna La Draga in the Calle Bizcocheros.

(Imagen Cosas de Come)

As to the bodegas, the firm has always been an almacenista, but in more recent times has also been selling its own brands on the open market. As almacenistas, they have a fine reputation, supplying three wines for Lustau's Almacenista range: Fino del Puerto, Amontillado del Puerto and Oloroso del Puerto. Today, the firm is run by the founder's great nephew, Manuel Gonzalez and his two sons, Jaime and Alvaro. The bodega is scattered with all sorts of barrels, all of which are still used; toneles of 1500 litres, bocoyes of 640 litres, botas of 500 litres, medias botas of 250 litres, cuartas botas of 125 litres, even octavas botas of 63 litres.

The bars and bodegas are all extremely interesting and really merit a visit, but what about the wine? Base wines are bought in, and from then on, the production is entirely in-house. They produce a full range of all styles under the name Obregon:
Fino La Draga, Fino en Rama, Manzanilla, Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Oloroso, Moscatel, PX, and Cream, then there is the Viejo range: Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Oloroso, PX.
They also produce fine quality Crema de Cacao (as did Jimenez Varela), Anis and Brandy.

Visits: Yes if pre arranged, but you see plenty from the taberna.
Address: Calle Zarza, 53,  11500 El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz
Telephone: (+34) 956 856 329
No website