Ube de Ubérrima Maina 2016 14.5%, Bodegas Cota 45

Appearance
Bright golden straw with golden highlights.

Nose

Full and forthcoming with a little weight from good ripeness of the appley Palomino grapes and faint tropical notes. There is also a saline maritime air coming presumably from the vineyard location near Sanlúcar and the ageing in an ex Manzanilla butt. All the above makes for a very interesting and appetising character.

Palate

It is quite soft and nicely rounded and beautifully balanced with moderate but sufficient acidity and it has considerable depth with lots of ripe apple fruit. There is a faint trace of residual sugar which is dried out by that gentle salinity, and of course a hint of albariza chalkiness making it very moreish.

Comments

This excellent wine is made from grapes grown in  the extreme northern part of the La Charanga vineyard in the pago Ma(h)ina near Sanlúcar which is partially surrounded by marshland and has very fine albariza in the form of barajuelas which have a very high marine fossil content. Its producer, Ramiro Ibáñez, is dedicated to making wines as they were in the past, using old vines and methods but with modern skills to display the personality of the vineyard itself and that of the vintage without letting flor or winemaking techniques obscure it. So this is a single vineyard wine, 100% Palomino selected at the vineyard and fermented and aged in an ex Manzanilla butt with flor kept to an absolute minimum. Those wines of the past must have been great.

Price

37.95, De Albariza

Agostado Cortado 2016 15%, Bodegas Cota 45

Appearance

Light amber brassy gold with old gold highlights.

Nose

Quite light and relaxed, and not totally unlike a slightly and gently oxidised Fino and with aromas of the asoleo: traces of riper fruit, rounder and less punzante.There are hints of straw, apple sauce and faint traces of flor, and it is at a crossroads between biological and oxidative ageing - the encrucijado of previous vintages. It is charming, complex and interesting.

Palate

Light to medium bodied with that faintly toffee apple flavour of early oxidation, that trace of overripeness and a faint bitter flor note and the dry chalky texture associated with albariza soil and it finishes dry though there is a very faint suggestion of residual sugar which is balanced by a judicious level of acidity making it very elegant, long and delicious.

Comments

This lovely wine is the new vintage of the much admired Encrucijado from Ramiro Ibáñez, but he has had to change the name for some sort of rights reasons. It is effectively the same outstanding wine however; a young vintage Palo Cortado made from grapes from the pago Miraflores. The grapes were hand picked and selected from the inner bunches for more malic acid then trodden before fermentation and ageing in butt. It was bottled without filtration. In the old days, when the fermentation was over the wines were left as añadas in sobretablas and their development was carefully monitored before later being classified as Palmas, Cortados and Rayas. The Cortados would lose the flor and begin oxidative ageing and that is what has happened here. It has spent about half its life under flor and the rest ageing oxidatively. It has not been fortified, the grapes having been briefly sunned to give higher sugar levels and thus more alcohol. Then the wine is sold at not much more than two years old which distinguishes it from what one is accustomed to with standard Palos Cortados, and makes it all the more interesting being an old fashioned style. Agostado is a vineyard job involving the preparation of the soil for the planting of vines and takes place in August.

Price
37.95, De Albariza

Pandorga PX 2017, 8%, Bodegas Cota 45

Appearance

Mahogany tinged amber fading to amber with copper/old gold highlights, viscous.

Nose

Delightful! Intensely aromatic, rich, super complex and charming with totally natural aromas of overripe grapes and the texture of their pulp with notes of raisin, quince jelly, tarte tatin, dried apricots, orange blossom honey, esparto and lots more, it really gives so much.

Palate

Despite the sweetness it is very fresh and clean, helped by the perfect level of acidity, in fact it is mouthwatering! The texture is such that you can almost chew those raisins and apricots and as you let it lie on the palate loads of subtle flavours keep pouring out and it just goes on and on.

Comments

This exquisite PX is made by Ramiro Ibáñez from grapes grown in the Viña La Panesa in the pago Carrascal which, with its barajuela and tosca cerrada forms of albariza, allows perfect sugar concentration in the grapes. Picking was later than for the normal harvest giving a degree of overripeness and the hand picked bunches were laid out to dry in the sun for 10 days, less than for normal PX, and reducing their weight to a half. Again unlike normal PX, the must was fermented in butt rather than being fortified, reaching a natural strength of 8%. It then aged for about a year in the same American oak butt before bottling. So this is a 100% naturally sweet wine which reflects the characteristics of the vineyard, grape variety and vintage. The word Pandorga is sanluqueño for kite.

Price

31.15 per 50cl bottle, Licores Corredera

Ube de Ubérrima Miraflores 2017 11%, Bodega Cota 45

Appearance
Pale bright strawy gold with golden highlights.
Nose

Very attractive, fresh and very natural, it really shows the slightly saline sea air at Sanlúcar and the very slightly lean appley aroma of the Palomino along with faint background notes of fresh herbs, but it has a little richness, generosity, about it too. Surprisingly it conjures up a blend with some of the breadth of a  Chardonnay and the taut fruit of a Riesling but with that coastal salinity, the stamp of Sanlúcar, and develops beautifully in the glass. It should do so very well in bottle too over the next couple of years.

Palate

There is lots of character here. It really expresses Sanlúcar with those salt, apple and faint herbal notes, and perfectly judged acidity helps to highlight them. This is a sophisticated, honest and interesting wine which could have been Manzanilla but makes a wonderful alternative. It is dry, clean, tangy, fresh, long with a slightly chalky texture, delicious and dangerously moreish, and is one of those wines you must buy more of to see how it develops.

Comments

This 2017 is the latest release of this excellent wine from the Bodega Cota 45 of Ramiro Ibáñez, and it is a gem. It is made from 100% Palomino grapes grown in five parcels, three in Miraflores Alta with predominantly tosca cerrada soils, and two in the Baja with mainly lustrillos and lentejuelas. The must was fermented in ex Manzanilla butts and aged in them briefly filled to the brim to exclude flor as he wants the wine to express the soil and the vintage. The word "uberrima" derives from Latin and means "abundant" or "fertile" referring, to the albariza and he makes another wine in an identical manner only it is from the Sanlúcar pago Carrascal, while a third from the pago Maina will be released soon. Cota 45 is the altitude above sea level where the best albarizas are to be found.

Price 
12 euros, Licores Corredera

Vino Blanco La Riva 2016 13.5%, M Ant. De La Riva

Appearance
Mid strawy brassy gold with golden highlights.
Nose
The first thing you notice is seriousness: depth and a good degree of ripeness; most Palomino table wines are 12% and lack this depth and intensity. It reminded me slightly of a fine Burgundy, Meursault possibly - it certainly has that level of class, and faint oxidative nuttiness. There are as many fruit notes as those of flor with very ripe/stewed apple and quince balancing the bitter ones of the flor. It has a slight orchard air about it with some wild herbs growing nearby, and also a distinct nod to Fino. It is very complex, intense and beautiful.
Palate
This is way more complex and concentrated than any white table wine I have come across so far in Cádiz. It has a lovely chalky grapeskin texture and a gentle tension between that lovely ripe fruit and just a little bitter flor edge. It is clean with reasonably low acidity and lingers for ages. No new French oak barrels necessary for complexity here, just outstanding grapes and winemaking - the way it was done in the past. It makes you realise how much has been lost, and how important Ramiro's and Willy's work is in recuperating it. This wine is utterly superb.
Comments

This stunning wine was made by Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Pérez for their new brand, M Antonio de la Riva, for which they bought the rights. The original firm was famed for quality and they want to maintain that, and have got off to a great start with Oloroso and Moscatel (just 90 half bottles) Viejisimos and an outstanding Fino. This white wine is made from old Palomino 84 vines grown in the Viña El Notario, located in the northern part of the Viña El Majuelo, owned by Fundador, in the Macharnudo Alto. It is well inland with a warmer climate but has a decent altitude of some 115 metres and fantastic albariza soil composed of tosca cerrada and barajuela. The grapes were harvested by hand in mid September at a very low yield of about half the normal, and sunned for 8 hours, as was the original La Riva practice, which increased the must weight by 1.2 degrees. The grapes were very lightly pressed for maximum quality and the wine was fermented in butt at ambient temperature using flor yeast, and remained in the butt under the flor for 10 months before only 400 bottles were filled in October 2017 en rama and under a fine quality 2 inch driven cork. If you manage to get hold of a bottle, don't over chill it.

Price
35.50 (and worth every centimo) Guerrita

Vinoble Tastings 2018: A Tour round the Albarizas of the Marco de Jerez

This phenomenal tasting was given by Willy Pérez and Ramiro Ibáñez, whose intimate knowledge of almost every grain of albariza in the area they so obviously love with a passion  is quite incredible. On arrival everyone received a beautiful glass-fronted wooden box containing samples of the soils the wines came from along with detailed notes of vineyard locations and conditions and the wines themselves. It had all been beautifully thought out, and just as well, as they had so much to talk about that there was not enough time so they had to rush the tasting, which consisted of 9 wines, slightly to cram it all in. First they took a look at the climate and how the landscape was formed, explaining why all the different pagos, and indeed vineyards within them, are different, and thus why the wines taste different from different places. Then we tasted the wines which were all the more fascinating knowing their background, but there was little time for tasting notes.

Ube Carrascal 2014 Ramiro Ibáñez Cota 45

There are two pagos in the Marco de Jerez with the name Carrascal, one is north of Jerez and one of the farthest inland, while the other is the closest to the Atlantic of the Sanlúcar pagos, a little south of the city, so the results are very different. The pago covers 230 hectares and its long flank parallel to the sea and its gently sloping disposition eastwards leave it exposed to the humid west winds which moderate temperatures. Soils are more mixed towards the west with more lustrillos and lentejuelas towards the east. This wine comes from the 0.7 hectare Las Vegas del Carrascal vineyard in the north east of the pago at its highest point. The vines are over 100 years old and different clones of Palomino: Fino, Jerez and Pelusón. Ube is made from a field blend of these vines and fermented in butt where it is aged for 2 years, full to avoid flor. It has amazing depth and balance with hints of caramel and apple and a lovely texture.

Ube Miraflores Alta 2016
From the neighbouring 150 hectare pago Miraflores Alta just to the east of Carrascal. This pago is probably the "grand cru" of Sanlúcar and roughly two thirds of it faces west and one third east. Elevation can reach over 60 metres and soils are mixed with lots of white marl, various qualities of lustrillo and some brown albariza, while further west lentejuelas, tosca cerrada and occasional barajuela can be found. This wine is made from a small west facing parcel of 1.45 hectares which once belonged to Rodríguez Lacave. The wine was made exactly the same way as the Ube Carrascal, the only difference being the vineyard (and the vintage). Lovely wine: texture, apples, brine...

Amontillado El Armijo
Viña El Armijo belongs to the Florido family and is at one of the most elevated points of the pago Miraflores Alta. The vineyard extends to 33.5 hectares with slopes facing both west, with tosca cerrada and a little lustrillo, and east, where the buildings stand, where the soil contains more marl. The west facing slope gives more wine with more zip while the other gives more depth and structure. This Amontillado is produced here from the soleras of Gaspar Florido. It spends 10 years under flor before spending another 12 ageing oxidatively, and being a natural Amontillado no refortification is done. It is simply beautiful; fragrant and expressive, intense yet elegant, but limited in availability.

Manzanilla La Charanga
La Charanga is a famous old finca in the northern part of the pago Maina (or Mahina) dating back to 1794. Here the Atlantic has much less of a role to play as the finca is 15 kilometres away, east of Sanlúcar, however it is surrounded by the Guadalquivir marshes. The pago has 170 hectares divided into 153 vineyards and the soil is extremely fine with a high clay and fossil content. This single vineyard Manzanilla comes from the 1.7 hectare vineyard of La Charanga and the mosto is fermented in butts and the wine has an average age of 5 years. It is super tasty and zippy yet serious, lovely.

Dos Palmas 2009, Bodega Forlong
The 1825 hectare pago Balbaina Baja is just outside El Puerto de Santa María, around 6 km from the Atlantic and has a long history. The vineyard altitudes lie between 50 and 60 metres and soils here are mixed with various albarizas, lustrillos and bujeos. Bodega Forlong is located in an old organic vineyard of that name and run by Rocío Áspera and Alejandro Narváez who have made a great reputation for interesting and high quality table wines. This one is as close as they have come so far to Sherry. It is 100% Palomino Fino fermented in butt with three years crianza under flor. It is delicious, quite full with enormous depth of flavour with ageing potential even now.

Amontillado Las 40
This wine is from the pago Añina, around 6 km north west of Jerez, which dates back at least to Roman times. It is a large pago about 13 km from the coast extending to some 800 hectares and thus soils vary between mostly lustrillos and bujeos. Wines from here are considered as being between Balbaina and Macharnudo in style. The Viña Las 40 lies at the heart of the Marihernández sub-pago on about 18 hectares (or 40 aranzadas, hence the name) of high quality white marl. The wine is a natural Amontillado - not refortified - made on site in a completely artisan way with the solera only being refreshed occasionally to replace transpiration losses. It is 20 years old and absolutely lovely, nutty, fresh and elegant with amazing length.

Vino Blanco 2016, La Riva
This cracking wine comes from the famous Viña El Notario vineyard in the northern part of the Viña Majuelo (owned by Fundador) part of the 800 hectare pago Macharnudo. This "grand cru" of Jerez lies north and slightly west of the city, some 18 km from the coast, with a maximum elevation of around 135 metres. Most if it  slopes south and has probably the purest and deepest albariza in the area. Many famous Sherries were born here. The De La Riva Vino Blanco was made by hand picking the grapes comparatively late, sunning them for 8 hours before pressing them gently for a low yield and fermenting the mosto in butts and ageing it under flor for 10 months.

Oloroso Barajuela 2013, Willy Pérez
This superb wine is from Willy Pérez and comes from the El Corregidor vineyard in the pago Carrascal, north of Jerez and to the east of neighbouring Macharnudo. Located  around 20 km from the sea at an altitude of some 113 metres, the vineyard has 60 hectares of which 29 are Palomino at 45 years of age and planted in the traditional vara y pulgar. The soil is barajuela. The vineyard is harvested in various passes to make various products, and the grapes destined for Oloroso are picked in late September and sunned for 24-48 hours before fermentation and static oxidative ageing. The result is a delicious super smooth classic old fashioned un-fortified Oloroso.

Amontillado Fino Carta Blanca, Agustín Blázquez 
Carta Blanca was a famous wine in its day and was made from grapes grown in the Viña Blázquez vineyard in the pago Macharnudo Bajo. After a day or more of sunning the grapes the wine was fermented in butts where they reached an alcohol level of around 13.5 - 14%. No further alcohol was added and the wine slowly became a natural Amontillado. Carta Blanca was drawn from the 1st and second criaderas of this solera. This bottle dates from the 1940s and was in perfect condition. In fact it was absolutely superb, representing a style that has been lost: the ultimate expression of Fino, a much fuller wine than we are used to now, allowed to develop towards Amontillado, and completely naturally. Luckily I managed to obtain a bottle and will post notes anon.

Bodegas: M Antonio De la Riva SL

M Antonio De la Riva SA is a highly respected but long disappeared Sherry Brand which has been given a new lease of life, revived by local superstar oenologists Willy Pérez and Ramiro Ibáñez, who have bought the rights from Beam Global who had acquired them in 2017 along with the purchase of Domecq from Pernod Ricard. Domecq had acquired De La Riva in the early 1970s, and also Agustín Blázquez, quite possibly to boost the firm’s value in an effort to avoid takeover by Rumasa.

This new incarnation of the company was registered in 2017 as Bodegas De La Riva SL. Willy and Ramiro are making wines from grapes grown in the historic pagos like Macharnudo and Balbaina which supplied the original La Riva brands like Fino Tres Palmas, Viña Sabel and Fino La Riva. Their new Fino is sourced from the Balbaína Alta. Wines will be made in the old fashioned way and sold under this famous brand name, with labels similar to the originals. 

In the meantime they are selling a stunning white table wine made from grapes bought in from the El Notario plot in the Majuelo vineyard in the pago Macharnudo (400 bottles) and tiny quantities of fabulous old wines they have come across: Moscatel Viejísimo Loma Baja (98 RP) the original Moscatel Pico Plata Añejo made by Florido Hermanos and saved from the sale of the bodega to Domecq in the 1970s, and is extremely old (over 80 years) and amazingly concentrated and thus only available in 120 half bottles, which is all the wine there was. Francisco Yuste now owns and markets the brand but not the original wine. Oloroso Viejísimo Balbaina Baja (96 RP), a quite outstandingly fragrant and concentrated old wine, again available only in half bottles, with a first saca of 1,300. This wine comes from a selection from twelve butts from a now lost Cuvillo solera which were used as payment, during the crisis of the 1980s, to a Jerez architect who had kept them at his home for 40 years without refreshing them, concentrating the wine considerably.and a quite outstanding Fino Balbaina Alta  (92 RP) with a few hours of sunning and 10 years of solera ageing (1,500 bottles). These are all stupendous wines, but available in painfully limited quantities.

For information on the original firm, see the post M Antonio de la Riva SA

Palo Cortado Encrucijado 2015 15%, Cota 45

Appearance

Amber tinged gold with bright brassy gold reflections.

Nose

A lovely harmony between gentle oxidation and fruit. The wine is very fresh, clean, light and ripe with fruity notes of dried apricot balancing with straw and caramel notes of oxidation and traces of apple and seaside keeping things light and elegant - yet serious. It smells like a young Sherry and really that is what it is, apart from the unauthorised grapes.

Palate

Fresh, deeply tasty and dangerously moreish. Acidity is comparatively low, but it balances perfectly with a delightful slightly clean salty tang at the finish. It has a lovely light weight and considerable elegance and complexity, still with lots of Manzanilla character, but it is at the crossroads (encrucijada) between the latter and Palo Cortado. Interestingly it tastes lighter than 15%, but it is.

Comments

What an interesting and delicious wine! Made from Rey (30%), Perruno (50%) and Palomino (20%) from the albariza soils of the pago Miraflores. Two of these grapes were used in the past before Palomino took over and they were dropped from the regulations, and Ramiro wants to recuperate them to add complexity to the wine, which he has certainly done. The grapes were sunned for two days to avoid the need for fortification. This adds a certain degree of ripeness to the character of the wine. It was aged for two years, four months of which were under flor in seasoned Sherry butts. The result is a beautiful style of wine, a young Cortado, which had disappeared, yet neither the symbol nor the words "palo" or "cortado" appear on the label any more. (this is the third release) Brilliant stuff, which should age beautifully for many years in bottle, which is sealed with a good quality driven cork. Only 1,000 bottles were produced.

Price

25 euros, Er Guerrita

Zerej

Zerej is a masterstroke, a sort of luxury Sherry tasting pack consisting of four different magnums of seriously interesting and top quality wine from Sanlúcar in limited quantities. Armando Guerra had the idea and was helped by Ramiro Ibáñez, and the theme of the first release, Zerej I, back in spring 2015 was to show the effects of flor. It contained a 2014 barrel fermented Mosto with no flor and an eighteen month old Manzanilla from Viña Callejuela; an eleven year old Manzanilla Pasada from Juan Piñero; and an eighteen year old Amontillado from Delgado Zuleta. Only 120 packs of four magnums were available. Naturally Sherry enthusiasts were delighted and shared their magnums with friends and family, so the pack inevitably sold out very quickly. 

Later, Armando was put in charge of top end wines at Bodegas Barbadillo and, among other projects, he and the firm’s oenologist Montse Molina set about creating Zerej II. This time the wines in the pack all come from Barbadillo and the theme is the effects of oxidation. They are a 2014 barrel fermented white, a nine year old Manzanilla Amontillada (labelled Amontillado), a twenty-five year old Palo Cortado and a twelve year old Oloroso. There are 240 packs containing one magnum of each, bottled in March 2017, and an explanatory booklet.

21.10.17 Sherryfest New York to Open to the Public; VT Cádiz in Peñín Shortlist

The VI edition of Sherryfest will take place in New York between 27-29 October, and for the first time it will be open to the general public.  This will be a great event with dinners, seminars, cocktail events and the Grand Sherry Tasting on 28 October. Twenty bodegas will be pouring 150 Sherries at the Astor Center and this is not to be missed. The event coincides on the 27^th with the XII edition of the Sherry Cocktail Competition. Booking is vital and should be done as soon as possible at: https://www.sherryfest.com/events  where more details can be found.

The Sherryfest team

After long and intense rounds of tasting for the latest Guia Peñín, the tasters have selected the 10-wine shortlist for their “revelation” wines. These were chosen for their singularity and quality, and the only requisite for inclusion on the list is that they haven’t been tasted before. You won’t be surprised to learn that one of them is from Cádiz, and that it was made by Ramiro Ibáñez; his Ube Carrascal 2015. The Guia Peñín describes the wine as “a race apart, a vintage wine with a little flor, made by a young grower and oenologist who in recent years has set his sights, along with another group of rebels, on giving back to the wines of the area their sense of place. To achieve this he has simply revised and readapted the winemaking of the past, knowledge of which had been based until now on historic archives. His perspective goes back to times when wines were aged statically, when winemaking was not the most important aspect of the wine, when the vineyard character shone through and when extreme age was not necessary for quality.”

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.

Precede 2013 13.5%, Bodegas Cota 45

Appearance

Deepish brassy gold with gold highlights, legs.

Nose

Full and complex, it smells very natural with notes of well ripened Palomino, hints of fresh apricot and pineapple, a trace of cider and a traces of waxed straw and oxidation along with some chalky minerality, but no flor. It smells big, characterful, old fashioned and immensely appealing.

Palate

It is big. There is a lovely fullness of almost rustic flavour, moderate acidity and a good texture as well as certain familiar Manzanilla notes. It has all the benefits of barrel ageing without the woody flavours. There might have been some transpiration concentrating it a little and the result is a magnificent flavourful wine.

Comments

100% Palomino grown in the pago Miraflores near Sanlúcar and produced in very limited quantities (700 bottles) bottled in October 2016. This was a joint project between Ramiro Ibáñez of Cota 45 and Manuel Guerra of Taberna er Guerrita as part of their quest to resucitate old styles of wine. Apart from the ageing perhaps, this is what "vino blanco" would have tasted like before the days of soleras. It was fermented in one old Manzanilla butt and left to age there, full to the brim ("a tocadedos") to avoid flor, for three years before light filtration and bottling. It has no DO but the chaps who made it have no need of that hassle. The wine will be sold out long before the paperwork is done. This is the same wine Ramiro supplies to Guerrita for the annual mosto only this has been aged.

Price

16.15 euros, Licores Corredera

Palo Cortado Encrucijado 2014 14.5%, Bodegas Cota 45

Appearance

Mid-depth gold with copper tinted golden highlights, legs.

Nose

Pure and very attractive, slightly sweet, ripe dried fruit aromas; semi raisined grapes, quince and apricot and a faint dry, almost bitter balancing flor note. There is a very slight oxidative appley note which, with that hint of flor, gives it more of a Sherry character. "Like it says on the tin", it is at a crossroads: young and still quite fruity, yet with much more serious intent, "proto" Palo Cortado.

Palate

Despite all the aforementioned fruit notes it is dry - though there is notable glycerine accentuated by fairly low acidity - quite full, and more Sherry-like. This is oxidatively aged wine at an early stage, something very hard to obtain outside the bodegas and absolutely delicious. Wines like this were once common in the days before the standardisation we now endure. This is brilliant!

Comments

This is another fascinating wine from the brilliant Sanluqueño winemaker Ramiro Ibáñez, made in tiny quantities (barely 1,000 litres) at his little bodega Cota 45 on the Bajo de Guía. It is a young Palo Cortado made the old way, using the old grapes: 40% Rey, 40% Perruno and 20% Palomino, all grown in albariza in the Pago Miraflores. After manual harvesting  they undergo 24 hours of sunning giving a natural strength of 14.5% and are foot trodden . It is not fortified. Two reasons why it cannot have a DO, but that doesn't matter. The barrel fermented mosto supports a layer of flor for four months before dying off naturally and the wine is aged statically for two years on its lees, long enough for it to decide its future. It is bottled en rama. In the old days when there was much less Fino, the wines were classified as Palmas, Cortados and Rayas and this is how a Cortado would have been. Encrucijada is Spanish for crossroads, meaning the wine has just decided its direction. It really demonstrates not only the incredible variations Sherry offers, but also the skill of its producers.

Price

22.50 euros, Licores Corredera

Socaire N.V. 12.25%, Primitivo Collantes, Ramiro Ibáñez

Appearance

Bright yellowy gold with golden highlights, legs.

Nose

Fresh and fairly full with lots of interesting nuances of apple, apricot, straw and mineral, and there is a dusty, chalky note as well as the faintest hints of salinity, Fino marzipan and oxidation which beautifully match the slightly tangy fruitiness. This certainly proves that Palomino can have character.

Palate

The wine is clean, dry and has plenty of flavour. The apple is more pronounced, appleskin perhaps, and there is a decent acidity and a certain weight. It has a slightly dusty texture with faint hints of dried herbs or scrub, a very clean finish and good length. It is a bit of a character.

Comments

This really interesting wine, which scored 90 Parker points, is a joint effort from Primitivo Collantes and Ramiro Ibáñez made from 100% Palomino grapes grown in albariza. It was fermented in used Fino butts and aged there for 24 months without flor, presumably in full butts, and is the kind of wine once exported before the days of fortification and soleras, simply known as "vino blanco". Primitivo and Ramiro have been exploring all the albarizas in depth in the search for the ones which would give the wine the most character. The wine has no DO and does not give a vintage on the label, but my guess is that it is from 2013 given that it was bottled in May 2016 and it has spent 2 years in butts. It was bottled by EMC3. The word "Socaire" means "lee" or the side sheltered from the wind.

Price

12.50 euros from Er Guerrita

PX Pandorga 2014, 12%, Ramiro Ibáñez Cota 45

Appearance

Brassy gold with some depth and noticeable legs.

Nose

Delightfully fruity nose, very fresh, very PX with attractive aromas of quince jelly, apricot jam on toast (the latter presumably from the wood) and gentle overripe notes. There is an attractive lushness.

Palate

Fairly low acidity so soft and sweet and with a voluptuous texture but bursting with flavour with a great presence. There is lots of fruit and a trace of caramel towards the end which does not cloy.

Comments

This is not technically Sherry as it is not 15%. In fact it is really a sweet table wine made from 100% PX grapes and fermented naturally in butts to 12% and 200g/l residual sugar by the inveterate and very talented young winemaker and consultant Ramiro Ibáñez. A typical Sherry PX would have approaching double this sugar content. The grapes come from the La Panesa vineyard in the Pago Carrascal and are picked slightly overripe and then sunned for 10 days. The wine ages for one year in the same butts it was fermented in. This is the first release of this wine which is intended to show the characteristics of the vineyard and the vintage, not really possible with solera systems. Incidentally, Pandorga is the Sanlúcar word for a kite.

Price

About 20 euros per 50cl bottle, from Cuatrogatos, Coalla..