24.6.15 Review of “El Misterio del Palo Cortado”

Produced by Antonio Saura and directed by José Luís López Linares, it is a 90 minute documentary in Spanish with subtitles.

Antonio Saura and Jose Luis Lopez Linares

This impressive and charming film will do wonders for the promotion of Sherry and its enjoyment. Through the voices of many of the characters in the Sherry business, it subtly gets the message across that Sherry is not remotely stuffy, and that it has a complexity and history far beyond that found in other great wines. It is also one of the most natural wines, hence the mystery.

There are roundtable sessions with winemakers and other experts passionately discussing this mystical liquid. There are Michelin starred chefs inspired to create new food matches. There are cellarmasters demonstrating all the cask markings and bodega procedures. There are lovely interludes of old film recalling the methods and bodegas of the past. There are even interludes with flamenco – suitably fuelled with Sherry of course, and music from Manuel de Falla.

If this sounds scrappy, it is not. The film succeeds in transmitting the fascinating and inimitable atmosphere of Jerez through beautiful photography, and impassioned dialogue leaving you spellbound and wishing it would never end. It certainly made a deep impression on the filmmakers themselves. So is the mystery solved? That would be a terrible shame.

An Interview with José Luis López Linares, Directior of El Misterio del Palo Cortado

The first showing in Jerez of El Misterio del Palo Cortado took place last night at the Sala Compañía. This very successful film, directed by José Luis López Linares and produced by Antonio Saura, features leading chefs, sommeliers and many members of the wine trade in Jerez. Here José Luis is interviewed by A Cala of the Diario de Jerez.

How did Sherry inspire you to make this documentary?

When I arrived in Jerez I had practically no idea what a Palo Cortado was.  I saw that nobody could agree how it was made yet it had a clear definition, and I thought it would make a great protagonist for a film with all its possibilities: its history, its name…

The director on set 2014 (foto:diario jerez)

Once you had finished the film, was Palo Cortado still a mystery to you?

No, no, no, quite the opposite (he laughs). I like a good mystery and I like to discuss it, develop it but without revealing it. I wanted it to remain a mystery after the film, I think that is one of its great advantages: it is a mysterious wine, and if you take away the mystery you make it into just a normal wine. Wine should be a mystery, and this one even more, so the idea was to try to make it more so.

Were other Spanish wines more familiar to you?

Yes, and although I am a wine enthusiast, I had no idea about Sherry. A Fino occasionally, a Manzanilla, an Amontillado…, but it had never occurred to me to drink Sherry with food, and I hadn’t realised how great the wines could be. I think Sherry is somehow beyond the sphere of the wine enthusiasts, they know little about it which is a great pity. We tried to address this with the film, to enrich their knowledge and show that there is another wine which is not properly known.

Do you think that the word about Sherry is not adequately broadcast?

A lot is happening, and the wine has suddenly been discovered by the sommeliers in the great restaurants of Spain and most of the rest of the world. The word is getting through, and the film is part of this new way of focussing on Sherry.

What exactly is the film about?

It basically relates my experience in Jerez; it is very personal. I know that not all the bodegas which should have been in the film were in it, but then it would have been too long. The film tells of a visitor who has arrived in Jerez and met wonderful people and truly great wines. There are many things not included, but there was a time limit. What I think the film has achieved is to get across the fascination of Sherry.

Using a venencia, a shot from the film (foto:elmundo)

Filming must have been a real pleasure..?

A really hard pleasure! (he laughs). We filmed for long hours and every session brought some new discovery which we did not have time for. It was a fantastic experience because of the people in the bodegas, but it was one of the hardest in terms of hours – the harvest in the middle of it. Filming took from May to December.

And you also had great collaboration and participation from distinguished chefs, sommeliers, Sherry experts from prestigious restaurants like El Celler de Can Roca, Miramar, Mugaritz…,

Yes, yes, we really appreciated their support and knowledge, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Sherry bodegas: Tradición, González Byass, Rey Fernando de Castilla, El Maestro Sierra, Osborne, Barbadillo, Equipo Navazos, Harveys, Williams & Humbert etc., and the fundamental collaboration of the Consejo Regulador. And that of all the people of Jerez: oenologists, bodegueros, coopers, the people in the bodegas, in the vineyards, pickers, cellarmasters, all experts in their respective fields.

Do you think there might be a second part to the film? It has given you new ideas.

I don’t know, (he laughs), possibly. There are certainly other avenues.  Of course there are things we could not include in the film and I would like to do more. There are many possible themes in Sherry.

How was your partnership with Antonio Saura? You have worked together before.

We have been friends for many years and have already made “El Pollo, El Pez y El Cangrejo Real” about gastronomy and various television projects. We collaborate a lot.

Will you be visiting Jerez more often having made this film?

Well, not more often than last year! (he laughs).  I will visit when I can, I would love to.

What will this documentary do for cinema in general?

There are film makers who want to change the world, but I am less ambitious. What I want to do is find a subject I like and which merits being better known, and for me Sherry was a discovery which I wanted to share with as many people as possible.

Alceo once said “In Vino Veritas”. Is that true?

Yes, there is truth in wine, among many other things. Truth is complicated, where a lie is much simpler. The truth has shades, shapes, it can escape and you have to follow it. Wine helps one to find the truth.

13.2.15 Ruiz Mateos; Misterio del Palo Cortado

José María Ruíz Mateos is in the news again. He and his son Francisco Javier have been ordered by a court in Madrid to pay out €92 million to reimburse creditors for shares in Nueva Rumasa made worthless by the company’s collapse.

The patriarch and his son, in trouble again (foto:reporterosjerez)

At the same hearing, the businessman Ángel de Cabo and his right hand man Iván Losada, who had bought Nueva Rumasa, were absolved since the removal of funds had happened before they bought the firm. A nephew of Ruíz Mateos was also absolved as he was not involved in any wrongdoing, but just worked for the company.

The film “El Misterio del Palo Cortado” premiered in Berlin last night. More than 200 people managed to get tickets before the “sold out” signs went up on the first day of sale. A curious mix of cinephiles and oenophiles watched the film as well as professionals from the world of sommeliers and gastronomy who had been invited by the bodegas and the Consejo. The Spanish Ambassador was also present.

Proudly produced by Antonio Saura and directed by José Luís López Linares, the film is the result of a few years’ research and hectic months of filming in such diverse places as Jerez, the Basque Country, Barcelona and Madrid. It is an important documentary which includes personal and professional contributions from those involved in bodegas, vineyards, cooperages and haute cuisine which combine to form a kaleidoscope of the experience of those involved in this most unique and singular wine universe.

The Spanish team toast the film in Berlin (foto: reporterosjerez)

At the end of the screening, the audience were able to enjoy some Sherry with food specially matched to the wines by the award-winning five Michelin Starred Spanish chef, Paco Pérez. He carefully chose the food to “make the Sherry shine”. “Making a film is an art, but so is making Sherry, and the menu demonstrates this.” Varied and sophisticated creations, made from crab and grouper fish as well as ice cream, were accompanied by emblematic Sherry brands such as Valdespino, Tradición, González Byass, Equipo Navazos and La Guita. Palo Cortado was, of course the main protagonist, but people were also able to try Manzanilla, Fino, Moscatel and Pedro Ximénez.

César Saldaña, director of the Consejo, was delighted with the attendance at the film and pointed out that it showed how important Sherry is in our culture and it engenders fascination in people of very diverse ways of life. He said that the film is a powerful tool to show Sherry to new generations of consumers through the lens of optimum quality.

Filming in Jerez

Antonio Saura said that the film arose from a crazy idea but that we are convinced that it will help spread the word about Sherry throughout the world. Many film festivals are interested now which shows the quality of the work, but above all the wine. There is no better example than Sherry of a product which needs time to reach fullness.  Being in Berlin signifies the removal of many barriers, in the ten years of its culinary cinema section this is the first film not to be inspired by a restaurant or a chef. It is the first about wine to be shown in Berlin.

The film’s director, José Luís López Linares, said that the film had 89 minutes in which to make the public fall in love with these unique wines, the starting point for a beautiful relationship of love and pleasure for the senses. The film team is a living example of how captivating is the world of Sherry. In fact they went from “No thanks, I don’t drink Sherry” to “Why isn’t there more Sherry on the table?”

18.6.14 The Mystery of Palo Cortado

A documentary film called “The Mystery of Palo Cortado” by Jose Luis Lopez Linares will show a debate on the subject which for some is the result of a mistake and for others an unrepeatable work of art.

A formidable list of top names in Jerez got together last week at Bodegas Tradicion in front of the cameras of the award winning film director to reveal the mysteries and secrets of this great Spanish treasure. The following debated the past, present and future of this wine, unique in the world:

Josep “Pitu” Roca, (Restaurant El Celler de Can Roca), Maria Jose Huertas (sommelier of La Terraza del Casino in Madrid), Antonio Flores (chief oenologist  of Gonzalez Byass), Eduardo Ojeda ( chief oenologist at Valdespino), Jose Maria Quiros (Bodegas Tradicion), Jan Petersen  (Fernando de Castilla), Jesus Barquin (Equipo Navazos), Adela Cordoba  (Perez Barquero - Montilla), and other experts like Alvaro Giron, Juan Manuel Bellver, Paz Ivison, Alberto Fernandez Bombin and Alberto Luchini among others.

Preparing for filming at Bodegas Tradicion (Foto Correodelvino)

The film sets out to be an oenological thriller at a time when Sherry is being researched, discovered, enjoyed and discussed along with the wonderful unknown world of its wine, its region and its people. The film will be made over the next few months, dissecting Jerez before moving on to London, Paris and New York.

Its director refers to it as a “tribute to pleasure by devotees of happiness”. It will defend the opinion attributed to Plato that “nothing greater or more heroic was ever offered by the Gods to Man than wine”. Wine is not only an object of pleasure but an object of knowledge, and that pleasure depends on that knowledge. Sherry is a distillation of a place, a time and a culture.