Vino Blanco Maina Corta y Raspa 2017 13%, Antonio Bernal

Appearance
Pale to mid golden staw with golden highlights.

Nose

Fresh and forthcoming with some depth and sophistication, it has all the appley airs of Palomino and a trace of saltiness while being very well rounded. There is no detectable flor and the nose is of ripe apple and quince with perhaps a faint trace of apricot.

Palate

Very slightly higher acidity than expected and there is a little more of that raw Sanlúcar wildness yet it is nicely balanced with slightly grassy ripe apple hints, a trace of salinity and that classic albariza chalky texture. Tangy, fresh and lively, it is very attractive and might age well for a couple of years.

Comments

This is the second release of this wine which comes from La Charanga vineyard in the northwest part of the pago Maina, a little inland from Sanlúcar, and with barajuela type albariza. The vines are over 30 years old and production is kept low. Antonio Bernal Ortega is a fourth generation grower and leading member of the Mayetería Sanluqueña, the brainchild of Ramiro Ibáñez to provide growers with a more profitable way of selling their grapes. Antonio makes various wines like Moscatel and Tintilla and this wine, made from Palomino, is fermented in butts and bottled with minimal filtration. Only about 1,000 bottles were made.

Price

9.95 euros, De Albariza

Corta y Raspa Viña Atalaya 2016 11%, José Manuel Harana

Appearance

Bright pale gold with golden highlights.

Nose

Fresh,clean and natural with notes of very young Manzanilla, very mineral with hints of fresh herbs and wild plants and a maritime note. There are faint notes of apple and even flor, so the wine leans slightly more towards Manzanilla than fruity table wine. Classic Sanlúcar vino blanco.

Palate

Light young and fresh with good acidity, almost crunchy, the fruit is balanced out by a faint flor bitterness and saline minerality which gives it a lovely tension. There is a chalky texture and while it seems a little lean at first it soon fills out and leaves a super clean dry finish. It is barely a year old and more time in bottle will bring it out further and enhance the vineyard character.

Comments

José Manuel Harana Yuste is a 5th generation grower and one of the three mayetos involved in the Mayetería Sanluqueña project which was the brainchild of oenologist Ramiro Ibáñez to make the vineyards more profitable by selling a finished product rather than just grapes. José Manuel's grapes come from his Viña Atalaya vineyard in the Pago Atalaya where the soil is the lentejuela type of albariza. All the Mayetería Sanluqueña wines have been made in exactly the same way, fermented in butt, to let the vineyard speak for itself, all the wines are different and all are good, showing just how important and how interesting vineyards are. Production for 2016 was just 700 bottles, but that could increase when he sees how well received the wines have deservedly been. Bottled by MC3 in El Puerto de Santa María.

Price

9.95 euros, De Albariza

Corta y Raspa Viña Morla 2016 11%, Rafael Rodríguez

Appearance

Pale straw gold with golden highlights.

Nose

Fresh clean, open and mineral with slight marine notes, there is a gentle leanness with a real feeling of nature and aromas of open meadow and hints of apple and kiwi. Young fresh and crisp with real vineyard character.

Palate

Crisp and clean, almost like biting into an apple, then salinity and minerals come through. There is a good acidity and while the whole thing seems on the lean side there is enough breadth. While lovely now, the wine is still young and that breadth will develop well over a couple of years.

Comments

Despite being made in an identical way, this wine is very different from the Viña Las 40 and shows the vineyard effect clearly. It was one of just 700 bottles made of 100% Palomino from the 3rd generation mayeto Rafael Rodríguez' vineyard Viña Morla in the Pago Añina with help from consultant oenologist Ramiro Ibáñez, whose brilliant idea the Corta y Raspa wines and the Mayetería Sanluqueña project was. There are two wines from Rafael, the other coming, like this one, from the tosca cerrada albariza soil of his Las 40 vineyard (QV). The idea was for the mayetos to make  a more sustainable income from their vineyards, and if the quality is as good as this, then they will. It was contract bottled by EMC3 in El Puerto de Santa María. Rafael is one of three growers involved in the project, and there is sure and certain hope that more will join.

Price
9.95 euros, De Albariza

Corta y Raspa Viña La Charanga 2016, 12.5%, Antonio Bernal

Appearance

Pale silvery strawy gold with bright golden highlights.

Nose

Super fresh, clean and natural with notes of apple skin and wild meadow plants, both herbs and flowers. A faint hint of sweeties is overpowered by salinity and ozone, and there is even a slight trace of lemon icing. Young and promising.

Palate

Clean, fresh and crisp with a distinct malic note, surprising given the 12.5% strength and the ripeness that would imply. Yet that malic acidity gives the wine amazing freshness and is certainly a part of the Palomino flavour profile when young. The salinity is still there, adding to the fun. This is a very young wine and needs time in bottle to develop, but I am sure it will develop well.

Comments
This is was one of 1,000 bottles made from 100% Palomino grapes grown by Antonio Bernal Ortega, a 4th generation grower, in his historic Viña La Charanga vineyard in the northwest part of the Pago Maina (or Mahina) near Sanlúcar. Here the soil is the barajuelas type of albariza and the vines are around 30 years old. He also supplies grapes to Viticultores Alba for their lovely sparkling wines. As a "member" of Mayetería Sanluqueña, the project set up by oenologist Ramiro Ibáñez to make the vineyards more profitable, the wine is made from low yield grapes which are virtually organic and fermented naturally in butts. All the project's wines are made the same way allowing the individual vineyards to speak for themselves, and they do. This project deserves maximum support and will hopefully help protect the vineyards from encroaching urbanisation. I would like to buy the Corta y Raspa range again to see how they age, and it would be very helpful if some way of identifying the vintage were on the labels, even a lot number. Yes it is on the cork, but you have to remove the capsule to see it, and most wine merchants wouldn't want you doing that.

Price

9.95 euros, De Albariza

Corta y Raspa Las 40 2016 12% Rafael Rodríguez

Appearance 

Bright clean light gold with golden reflections.

Nose

Full ripe and generous, Burgundy-ish at first with a fleeting aroma of toast, but there is no oak here, it is not necessary. Then the mineral and apple notes come through along with hedgerow grasses and faint floral and citric notes. What a good start.

Palate

Big, broad and fairly soft, the acidity is comparatively low, yet the wine is well balanced. It has a gentle texture and lots of flavour of ripe orchard fruit with faint traces of herbs all held together with a mineral backbone. It is really quite sophisticated  and super drinkable.

Comments

Rafael Rodríguez Jiménez is a 3rd generation mayeto (grower) and member of the group of growers which is Mayetería Sanluqueña, formed to produce quality wines from their albariza vineyards and make a better living than just selling grapes. They are backed by the oenologist Ramiro Ibáñez. The first release of Mayetería Sanluqueña wines consists of four 2016 wines from three growers, and Rafael Rodríguez produced two of them, from different vineyards in the Pago Añina. This one is made from 100% Palomino and comes from the tosca cerrada form of albariza in his vineyard Viña Las 40, and is bottled by EMC3 in El Puerto. Only around 700 bottles. It is a pity all the Mayetería labels are identical except for the information, but hopefully that will change. They have probably had considerable financial outlay, but made a very sound investment judging by the quality. This is great value for money.

Price
9.95 euros, De Albariza

Mayetería Sanluqueña

One of the very many interesting stands at the recent iNNoble event in Sanlúcar was that of Mayetería Sanluqueña. The mayetos are growers who used to make their own wine and sell it – and/or grapes - to the bodegas, but in the last thirty years or so they have stopped producing wine because of increasing bureaucracy. Rafael Rodríguez, one of the mayetos, wanted to look again at wine production so he consulted oenologist Ramiro Ibáñez and thus was born this brilliant initiative which sets out to put them back on the map by working cooperatively under the name Mayetería Sanluqueña.

Three mayetos already have wine on the market and it is hoped that next year there will be five, and ideally ten in the next few years, along with a recuperated old bodega. The four wines all bear the brand name Corta y Raspa but the individual producers names are also on the label naturally. These totally artisan wines are all grown and made as naturally as possible, 100% Palomino, fermented in butt and with  little flor for good measure. Unfortunately production is limited to a total of just over 3,000 bottles and they are only available locally, but bigger national distributors have shown an interest.

Details of the wines are:

Antonio Bernal, Viña la Charanga (pago Maína) 2016 Antonio is the fourth generation of a family of mayetos known as Los Roteños who have lived in the area a long time and his father was the manager of a large part of the pago for years. Their vineyard is on barajuela type albariza with 30 year old vines. Production 1,000 bottles.

José Manuel Harana, La Atalaya (pago Atalaya) 2016 José Manuel comes from a long line of mayetos who have worked in many pagos and whose vineyard is in the upper (best) part of the pago, although it is under threat from urban expansion. Here the albariza is in the form of lentejuelas. Production 700 bottles.

Rafael Rodríguez, Viña de Morla (pago Añina) 2016 A long line of mayetos, Rafael’s family own some historic plots in Añina like Casabón, La Media Naranja, Morla or Las 40. The lighter of his two wines, Morla has clear biological character. Production 700 bottles.

Rafael Rodríguez, Viña Las 40 (pago Añina) 2016 Despite both vineyards being on tosca cerrada albariza and both having vines of between 20-35 years old, their wines are notably different, and Las 40 is fuller. Production 700 bottles.

(foto:cuatrogatos)

I noticed that a crowdfunding project has been set up through Verkami.com to save a Málaga Wine vineyard in Manilva endangered by the spread of urban development and wonder if that idea would help the Mayetos of Cádiz.