Amontillado de Bandera VORS 18.5%, M Gil Luque

Appearance

Burnished antique mahogany fading through amber to a trace of green at the rim.

Nose

Forthcoming and fragrant, textbook Amontillado and more; fresh and crisp with that enticing aroma of toasted nuts and a trace of almost caramel sweetness, notes of fine quality oak - even exotic woods and a faint hint of linseed oil and resin -  and none of it spoiled by excess alcohol, which is modest for its age of over 30 years. Enough tartaric/volatile acidity to give it the necessary bite.

Palate

On the full side at the start but opens out into an excellent, supremely elegant, dry, nutty characterful wine. Gently crisp acidity provides freshness and poise unhindered by tannin and balances beautifully with the glycerol and nuts. This is an outstandingly stylish Amontillado with amazing length.

Comments

The bodega dates back to the end of the XIX century and acquired its name when bought by Manuel Gil Luque in 1912. Shortly before it was taken over by La Guita in 1984, Gil Luque bought some very old soleras from Fernando Carrasco Sagastizábal, which may have belonged to Tomás Geraldino Croquer (the Irishman Thomas Fitzgerald) whose bodega was established in 1840. In 2007 La Guita was bought by Grupo Estévez, and the De Bandera wines have all but disappeared from the market, though the soleras are still looked after. The brand name De Bandera translates as flagship (not in the naval sense) and this wine certainly is. It is sealed with a stopper cork smothered in wax. I was rather lucky to get hold of this slice of history.

Price

80 euros, Er Guerrita

La Bota de Amontillado No 37 18.5%, Equipo Navazos

Appearance
Light amber with coppery orange tints, legs.
Nose
Amazingly fresh nose with hints of saltiness and minerals, lots of savoury autolytic notes, a hint of Marmite and yeasty bitterness remaining. Then there's the oxidative side with  traces of quince, and the beginnings of the nuttiness and implied sweetness of an Amontillado. This is amazing: at 18 years you could still almost call it a Manzanilla Pasada - but for that hint of sweetness. Manzanilla Muy Pasada?!
Palate
Here the weight and strength of the Amontillado comes in at first, nutty with trace sweetness, but still there are those saline yeasty characteristics giving it a real raw tang which of course balances perfectly with the slight sweetness. A fascinating wine, bursting with flavour, very long and of a type almost unobtainable anywhere else. It is not cheap, but you should get some: it shows you exactly how Amontillados evolve from Manzanillas. A magnificent wine!
Comments
Another masterpiece from Equipo Navazos. 3,000 bottles of this wine (equivalent to @ 4.5 butts) were sourced from Hijos de Rainera Perez Marin (La Guita) in Sanlucar, and bottled in August 2012. When Grupo Estevez bought the bodega in 2007, there were various tiny "Manzanilla Pasada" soleras which had been laid down by a previous oenologist, and these were rationalised. {The term Manzanilla Pasada is used in Sanlucar to denote wines which could be anywhere between old Manzanilla and young Amontillado}. The finest and most complex butts were selected, and they were refreshed with selected unfortified Manzanilla, creating a very natural Amontillado solera of just over 100 butts. Throughout June 2012 Navazos selected a dozen or so of the butts for their freshness and complexity. The average age of this wine is 18 years, yet it is as fresh as a daisy - like an Amontillado Fino!
Price
£46.00 from Drinkmonger Edinburgh. UK agents Rhone to Rioja.

Bodegas: Grupo Estevez

The story of this successful Bodega began in 1809 when Don Jose Lena Rendon set up as a dealer in Sherry wines. He was joined at some point by Don Inigo Ruiz de Villegas y Sanchez de Tagle. Bodegas were constructed in Jerez at No. 8 Calle Lechuga.  By the 1870s the firm had important business in Northern Europe and South America, as well as offices in London run by Antonio Rodrigo Ruiz. In 1894 the principal shareholder, Felix Ruiz y Ruiz a descendant of Don Inigo, changed the company name to Felix Ruiz y Ruiz SA. The name was changed a few times: AR Ruiz Hermanos, J Ruiz y Cia.

Rumasa's first bodega purchase was AR Ruiz Hnos. with its 10,000 butts in 1963, and in 1974 Ruiz was bought by Jose Estevez SA. Jose Estevez de los Reyes was a real entrepreneur, a Jerezano who from childhood was always on the lookout for business opportunities. Among many other things, he was involved in construction, a bottle factory, he worked in the production department at Domecq, studied geology and owned a silica sand mining company at Arcos, the sale of which (for 12,000 million pesetas!) gave him the money to invest in the wine business. He died in 2005 and his son Jose Ramon now runs the business.

 In 1982 he bought a significant holding in the bodega Marques del Real Tesoro, completing the purchase in 1989, merging the companies, for which he spent a fortune building a new bodega complex. 1993 saw the purchase of the ex Harveys fino brand Tio Mateo, along with its soleras, and expansion didn't stop there. Valdespino was purchased in 2002, and in 2007 the group bought Hijos de Rainera Perez Marin,owner of the best selling Manzanilla, La Guita, and Bodegas M Gil Luque.

Grupo Estevez is more dynamic than many Sherry firms, and one of the few with facilities in all three of the main Sherry towns, turning over 103 million Euros and employing 200 staff. The company recently bought 400 hectares more vineyard (ex Domecq) from Beam Global, a very canny move, giving the firm almost 800 in total. The firm is also keen to use fortification spirit made from Palomino in Jerez rather than from Airen in la Mancha, and is now sending Jerez mosto to Tomelloso for distillation and using it in an experimental solera set up in 2015. They are also trying to raise interest in the establishment of a distillery in Jerez.

The bodegas also house an art gallery, a carriage museum and a stud. More recently the firm has moved into spirits, and supplies no less than 48 wine and spirit products to the Mercadona supermarket which has 1500 branches in Spain. The two firms have worked very well together and prospered.

Contact

Address: Carretera Nacional IV - km 640, CP 11408, Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz

Tel: (+34)  956 321 004

Web: www.grupoestevez.es

News from Jerez 8.7.12

Grupo Estevez has just completed the purchase of 400 hectares of vineyard, which used to belong to Pedro Domecq, from Beam Global. Estevez, which owns important brands such as Tio Mateo, La Guita, Real Tesoro and Valdespino has thus doubled its vineyard holding, making it the biggest vineyard owner of all Sherry companies with over 10% of plantations. Because of the recent uprooting and abandonment of vineyard bringing the total down to about 6,500 hectares, Estevez has been intensifying its search for more vineyard to guarantee a bit over half its grape requirements to fulfil contracts.

The firm, which supplies the Mercadona supermarket chain with over 50 brands (not all Sherry) has increased sales to supermarkets such as Tesco, and others whose suppliers had been hit by the Sherry Crisis. Estevez had toyed with the idea of buying vineyard from Zoilo Ruiz Mateos, a subsidiary of Nueva Rumasa-owned Garvey who are in receivership, before opting for the Beam Global deal, and is satisfied with that, as they are not intending to be 100% self sufficient.

The loss of nearly a third of Jerez vineyards and the adjustment between supply and demand coupled with growing demand for table wines presaging a tension in grape and must prices decided Estevez to make the purchase to guarantee future competitiveness. They are hoping vineyards can be made profitable after a decade of grave problems for growers and bodegas alike. They have already made 3-year price agreements with their contracted growers in the hope of preventing further loss of vineyard and employment.