Amontillado Perpendicular 22%, Las Botas

Appearance

Attractive antique chestnut fading through amber to a green tinge at the rim, copper highlights.
Nose
It immediately smells old and complex with traces of oak along with some real refinement. There are lots of toasted nuts made crisper with a hint of volatile acidity, traces of tobacco, aromatic woods, incense and of course a hint of salinity, all balanced up with a gentle hint of almond in caramel. At this age many of the super subtle nuances have harmonised into a classic and charming bouquet.
Palate

The opening gambit is crisp and zippy with a refreshing acidity which helps accentuate the bones of the wine; nuts and salinity on a faintly oaky background. There can be no doubt this intense wine is from Sanlúcar. While assertive, it is fairly light and as it opens out more of its subtleties show themselves; faint notes of spices like vanilla and cinnamon with faint notes of toast and turron yema tostada. The finish is characterful, clean and almost eternal. Magnificent.

Comments

This is the second release of Perpendicular bottled (en rama) in December 2017 for Balandro Vinos consisting of 900 x 50cl bottles, and it is amazing. It comes from a selection from 6 butts which were originally in the bodega of the church of Santo Domingo, on the corner next to the Argüeso bodegas of Calle Mar in Sanlúcar, and was incorporated into the latter in the XIX century. Argüeso now belongs to Francisco Yuste. The wine has an average age of some 70 years and began life as Manzanilla, with no doubt many years under flor, reaching its alcoholic strength entirely naturally by concentration, without re-fortification. This release is a very different style from the first which was a superb 20 year old Jerez wine from Bodegas Urium.

Price
39 euros per 50cl bottle, La Tienda del Jerez

 

Amontillado Perpendicular 18%, Las Botas

Appearance

Mahogany fading to amber with copper glints and the faintest trace of green at the rim.
Nose
Attractive, fairly intense and unusual with a distinct note of bitter orange along with toasted hazelnuts and almonds and gentle spice notes like vanilla and cinnamon. There are all sorts of nuances like pipe tobacco and oak.
Palate
It starts off quite full but soon displays considerable elegance, being well rounded and dry yet without any aggressive tannin. That orange character is still there but the nuts come through as it develops on the palate. There is a passing note of antique furniture as it fades, long and elegant
Comments

This wine is from the first saca of 700 bottles which comes from Bodegas Urium in Jerez. It is a blend of varying proportions of wine with a long period of biological ageing from four selected butts in the firm's Amontillado solera, and has an average age of over 20 years. The wine is bottled unfiltered. The name Perpendicular alludes to the two types of ageing involved; biological and oxidative. The Las Botas range is the brainchild of sommelier Raul Villabrille and César Velazquez of Balandro Vinos in Sevilla. Their first releases have been extremely good and the project augurs very well.

Price
29.80 euros per 50cl, La Tienda del Jerez

Palo Cortado Horizontal 20%, Las Botas

Appearance
Bright chestnut tinged deep amber with copper and gold highlights.

Nose

Refined, elegant, sophisticated and fresh with distinct hazelnut and almond aromas along with notes of polished furniture, tobacco and caramel. There are gentle notes of exotic woods too, and the wine lies right between Amontillado and Oloroso, focused and generous.

Palate

Impressive on entry, packed with flavour, complex and attractive, perfectly balanced between volatile acidity and glyceric sweetness with a nice tang leading through to those caramelly nuts and wood flavours and a trace of vanilla. There is hardly any tannin and it has terrific length. Excellent.
Comments

This delightful Palo Cortado is a limited bottling of 850 x 50cl bottles selected from Bodegas Urium. The original mosto came from the pago Carrascal and the name “Horizontal” refers to the fact that the wine didn’t go through any awkward stages and seemed determined to be a Palo Cortado right from the first clasification. César Velazquez of Balandro Vinos and sommelier Raúl Villabrille marked four butts for their particular character and made a blend using greater or smaller amounts from each. The wine has an approximate average age of 28 years and was bottled in September 2017 without any filtration or stabilisation. 

Price
31.90 per 50cl, La Tienda del Jerez

Fino Cruzado 15%, Las Botas

Appearance

Bright pale amber with golden highlights.

Nose

Fine and complex with plenty of bitter flor, notes of straw and gentle traces of oxidation. There are slight buttery, autolytic, rancio hints of cabezuela and a nutty toasted almond note, giving the wine a very serious Fino-Amontillado character and considerable depth. It is on that cusp - or at least approaching - it between Fino and Amontillado.

Palate

Full for a Fino, and very complex with an attractive texture and perfect balance between bitter almondy flor, correct acidity and the softer buttery notes. The flavour is intense giving a really long finish which is amazingly fresh and clean, a lovely wine.

Comments

Las Botas is a joint project between two young Sherry fans, wineshop owner César Velázquez and sommelier Raúl Villabrille who have spent a couple of years searching for amazing wines hidden away in the bodegas of Jerez and Sanlúcar (but not just in the Marco de Jerez) which they can bring to the public. They mark particularly interesting butts and make a very small scale blend of some of these wines. This Fino is made from grapes from the pagos Carrascal and Macharnudo and the wines were selected from the solera of Fino Señorita Irene at Bodegas Francisco Yuste. The wines have undergone considerable crianza and the scales have only been run occasionally giving a more mature style. In fact this en rama Fino averages 10 years of age, and comes from a saca of 2,000 50cl bottles. The name "cruzado" means the wine is right at the crossroads between Fino and Amontillado

Price
15 euros per 50cl bottle, La Tienda del Jerez

26.2.17 New Range of Top Quality Sherry Launched

A new range of exclusive Sherries is about to be launched under the brand name “Las Botas”. It is the brainchild of sommelier Raúl Villabrille and César Velázquez, owner of wine distributor Balandro in Sevilla. The new wines, which have taken two years to organise, were presented on Friday at the Cádiz wine shop Baco, and represent great butts from small bodegas. The Manzanilla and Fino will be available from next week while the Amontillado and Palo Cortado will be available next month. Each wine has a registered name which refers to a geometric game which illustrates the development of the wine.

Manzanilla Apartada is described by Villabrille as very old, from 9 butts with wine between 12 and 14 years old, and comes from the San León Reserva de Familia solera at Herederos de Argüeso. It is so named as it has set itself apart from crianza biológica as oxidation has begun to set in. Fino Cruzado is the same idea but is a blend of wines from three small almacenistas in the Pago Balbaina with an average age of 10 years and notable oxidative nuances. The Amontillado Perpendicular results from the two men’s obsession with reflecting the two crianzas; extended biological and oxidative. The wine has an average age of 20 years and comes from four butts at Bodegas Urium. Palo Cortado Horizontal gets its name from the fact that this wine was classified as such from the outset. Again it comes from four butts at Urium averageing 21 years old. Initially 2,000 bottles of Fino and Manzanilla will be available and 700 of Amontillado and Palo Cortado. Such limited releases keep the meticulous selection of the finest wines sustainable. There are currently no plans for export. No point - they are almost sold out already!