Manzanilla en rama 15%, Viña Callejuela

Appearance

Bright strawy gold with golden highlights, legs.

Nose

Fresh ozone and marked aromas of flor, straw, salt, camomile, grass and dry scrubland. This smells so natural and coastal with a slightly wild unrestrained nature, yet there is depth to it with notes of rope and a gentle hint of lees and autolysis. It starts innocently enough and then just grows.

Palate

A gentle acidity along with fairly powerful bitter almond flor notes make it assertive and lively from the start and then the complexity kicks in. There is a strong influence of yeast both from the wine's surface and from the bottom of the butt giving light bitterness backed up by almost oily autolytic flavours heavily influenced by the adjacent sea. Real character and terrific length.

Comments

Bottled on the 25th November 2016, this superb wine is made from a careful selection of the most interesting butts in the Manzanilla solera and is bottled with no clarification whatsoever. The simple presentation belies its sheer complexity. If "en rama" means "raw" then this wine is the epitome of that; it is full of life and character and is definitely a wine for laying down for two to five years. Some was bottled with a special label for the local charity AFANAS to raise money to help people suffering from mental illness and their families

Price
18.50 from Licores Corredera

Manzanilla En Rama 1a Saca 2011 15%, Barbadillo

Appearance
Quite deep strawy gold, some depth for a fino, bright.
Nose
Full, soft, broad and yeasty, lots of bitter almond and salinity, a trace of oxidation along with a touch of autolysis and the smell of the beach. Very complex, fascinating and attractive.
Palate
Full yet soft with a trace of the fruit from whence it came, trace oxidation and autolysis mingle with the complexities imparted by the flor, thoroughly delicious if a little short.

Comments

For more detail see notes on the Saca 2012. I tasted these two side by side, and they were remarkably different. The principal reasons, I guess, are that the flor is of a diferent thickness in different seasons, so you get slight changes in the oxidative and yeasty aromas, and that the 2011 is obviously one year older and has one year's bottle age. A fascinating tasting would be to compare the four sacas of one year. I once tasted a (well-stored) Autumn saca 2008 in May 2011 and found it really interesting how it had developed. It was less punzante, slightly more oxidised and much more rounded, still with lots of flor character, aching to be an amontillado but unable. It also seemed to have more glycerol, and traces of apple or quince yet retaining its manzanilla characteristics.

Manzanilla En Rama 1a Saca 2012 15%, Barbadillo

Appearance
Quite a deep shade of gold, trace straw, bright.
Nose
Big and complex, full and broad with lots of sea air, hints of autolysis, dry scrub, flor, yellow fruits and bitter almond. Very fresh but with a whiff of Manzanilla pasada, and the complexity that goes with it.
Palate
Full, lots of flavour, tangy with hints of Manzanilla pasada, fresh, round and maritime and with a lovely slightly bitter edge, long and beautiful.
Comments

Barbadillo release the En Rama wines seasonally, in Spring Summer, Autumn and Winter, so this one is from Spring 2012. (See note on Spring 2011) These are wines drawn only from a few selected solera butts somewhere around 8 years old, and bottled with only the slightest possible pre-bottling treatment - fining with egg white - thus preserving to the maximum their aromatic and flavour profiles. Most commercial finos and manzanillas are subjected to Bentinite fining, chill filtration and physical filtration before bottling to ensure stability in export markets with different climates, and to avoid the possibility of any sediment appearing in bottle. The En Ramas therefore, need to be drunk much sooner and more quickly. That's hardly a problem, now, is it?! The problem is getting hold of any: they only fill about 1,200 half bottles from each saca.

Price

Hard to find in the Uk, but importer is Ehrmanns in London. Probably around £ 20.00

Back from Jerez: 4

The next morning it was off to Williams & Humbert, on the edge of town but somehow near the centre as well. This is the biggest bodega in Europe, though you would never guess that from the front. It is a modern, even boring, industrial looking concrete complex from the outside, yet enormous on the inside, seemingly going off in all directions. Constructed in 1974, it is much cleverer than it looks from the outside, being a series of umbrella-shaped concrete castings which link together at the top. (see photo below)

It was built for Rumasa who wanted one vast complex in which to house the various soleras for the different bodegas they had taken over. One still remains, the excellent Don Zoilo (see Tastings). There is space for a museum of tools and instruments, a huge tasting area, room for horse shows, large private gatherings and flamenco. Here is housed the famous collection of Anadas going back to 1920, a vintage car, and a large shop - not to mention huge aisles of Sherry.

The bodega welcomes busloads of tourists, and was full of them, so there was nobody serious to talk with, but I managed to wander around unnoticed, taste a couple of wines and take in the amazing atmosphere.

Then it was off to Sanlucar to visit Barbadillo. It is a short drive on a beautiful day and I managed to park very near to the bodegas! They have a very interesting Museo de la Manzanilla upstairs above the formal entrance, which has many old vineyard and bodega implements, short videos, collections of old labels and bottles, and is well worth a visit. Back downstairs I met the technical director, Juan Guerrero Ferrer along with some of his staff and over a few glasses of the excellent Manzanilla Solear we discussed - at some length - Sherry and what is going on.

Most unusually for the Sherry area - indeed almost uniquely - Barbadillo is producing an excellent Sparkling wine, which they were first to produce. "Beta" is a traditional method sparkling wine made in the Sherry area from Palomino and Chardonnay grapes, and is probably the first sparkling wine produced in Andalucia, of which they are rightly proud. Then we discussed their wonderful, seasonally released Manzanilla en Rama. (The Autumn 2012 has just been released). It is a cracking wine, concentrated Manzanilla yet subtle and so fragrant and zesty. The very essence of Manzanilla. And it is only a part of their very fine range of Sherries.

The team at Barbadillo, Solear at the ready

Rosario, second from left in the picture above, featured in a recent Spanish television film about Sherry in general and Manzanilla in particular, which I happened to see a few days later. Felicidades, Rosario! What a delightful bunch of people - no wonder their wines are so good!

After a lovely day in Sanlucar, it was off back to Jerez for dinner and a glass of Sherry. Next day I was off to Malaga for a pre-opening visit to the latest bar-restaurant, Los Patios de Beatas. It is huge and beautifully set up in an old building right in the old city centre off the Calle Granada, and has tasting rooms, extensive bar, restaurant and entertainment areas for Jazz, Flamenco etc. The kitchens are state of the art, and the wine list is probably the best I have ever seen - it is immense!! Next time you are in Malaga, you have to go. This in itself is a very good reason to go! It is a difficult place to photograph, but the photo below should give you an idea of at least part of it.

The stained glass roof, Los Patios de Beatas