Amontillado 19% Pedro's Almacenista Selection

Appearance
Pale golden amber with golden glints, legs.
Nose
Light and fairly young, not particularly forthcoming, with a hint of sweetness yet a trace of background flor bitterness, almond essence, Madeira cake, slight notes of raisin and wood, fresh, balanced and quite attractive.
Palate
Still quite glyceric but balanced out by a certain tang, a hint of bitterness from the flor still remains, but very much an Amontillado. Light but has good presence and length with a trace of wood tannin. A very good wine for everyday drinking.
Comments
This is a special bottling for retailer Majestic who had the great idea of commissioning Peter (Pedro) Dauthieu of Viniberia to source them a range of quality Sherry. The Amontillado is made by Garcia Jarana, a small Almacenista in Jerez (who also supplies Lustau with Almacenista wine). The wine has a youthful complexity and I imagine it might come from a criadera at maybe 8-10 years old. It was bottled by Sanchez Romate at the end of 2013. The labels on this range are taken from old Fiesta de la Vendimia posters, this one being from 1955.
Price 
£ 10,99 only available from Majestic

Bodegas: José Bustamante SL

José Bustamante y Sánchez was born in Málaga and moved to Jerez where he set up a small bodega in 1921 at C/San Francisco Javier, 3. He was essentially an almacenista but big enough to be selling his own brands of both Sherry and Brandy. 

Bustamante brands included:

Fino Betis; Amontillado Paso Doble; Fragata East India Medium Oloroso;  Reverencia Cream;  Special Solera Old Brown Sherry;  Calesa Manzanilla Pasada;  Polca Moscatel Viejísimo, as well as a complete range of spirits.

The bodega along with its soleras was bought by Sánchez Romate and sold in 2001 to Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla in neighbouring C/Jardinillo. These soleras - apart from the PX and obviously the Manzanilla which was bought in - now produce the very fine Fernando de Castilla Antique range.

Palo Cortado Solera 20%, Cayetano del Pino

Appearance
Golden amber, legs.
Nose
Very pretty, gentle with a delicate honeyed sweetness and lots of toasted almonds and nut oil, hints of vanilla and very slightest trace of oak, subtle, delicate, refined and attractive.
Palate
Smooth and crisp, dry and round, very fresh with lots of nuts and a hint of walnut in syrup, generous with an attractive texture yet all the while quite delicate.
Comments

This lovely wine comes from a small bodega in the Plaza Silos next to Maestro Sierra in Jerez. Once bigger and more commercially oriented, they are now really just almacenistas, and their wines are contract bottled with minimal filtration by Sanchez Romate. This Solera Palo Cortado is around 15 years old and comes from a solera of 22 butts. This feeds their older 5 butt solera for the Palo Cortado Viejisimo.

Price
£ 15 from the Wine Society. UK agents Ehrmanns.

Fino 15% Pedro's Almacenista Selection

Appearance
Pale, quite golden straw, legs.
Nose
Interesting; lots of flor and olive, traces of oxidation, bitter and quite full, hints of oxidised apple, palomino fruit, a slight whiff of cinnamon. More complex than it seems at first, a strong flor effect though no autolysis, but really quite bitter - and appetising - needs olives!
Palate
Fairly low acidity is compensated for by bitterness, yet well rounded with a little weight, lots of very bitter almond and traces of salinity, apple, yeast, very long.
Comments
A really stylish Fino, but only available from Majestic. The range is only minimally filtered, so all the flavour is retained. This Fino is sourced from the Almacenista Garcia Jarana and contract bottled by Sanchez Romate. The label is a reproduction of the poster for the Fiesta de la Vendimia in Jerez from 1967. For more background to the range, see the notes on the Palo Cortado.
Price 
£8.99, and extremely good value.

Fino Bella Luna 15%, Sanchez Romate

Appearance
Pale strawy gold, virtually no legs.
Nose
Slightly waxy at first, dry, then the flor hits with dough, almond and traces of membrillo and background marmite, quite an attractive nose which develops.
Palate
Good and dry with trace acidity and lots of flor bitterness, and yet well rounded with a clean, long finish.  No great age, but has a certain seriousness.A good glass of Fino.
Comments
There are three wines in the Bella Luna range: PX, Amontillado and Fino, all available in half bottles only, which is a good price for people to try them. They are all made by Sanchez Romate in Jerez, and have the quality you would expect from this fine bodega.
Price
About the £7 mark. Reasonably widely available. UK importer Enotria.

Palo Cortado Regente 20%, Sanchez Romate

Appearance
Mid to deep amber, through to yellowrim with a trace of green, legs.
Nose
Very attractive mix of toasted nuts, mainly almond and hazel, but a hint of walnut, a touch of sweet marzipan too. More Amontillado than Oloroso on the nose, but a hint of walnut in syrup behind promises an interesting flavour.
Palate
Dry, still Amontillado characteristics there - those toasted nuts, but also some walnut, a trace of wood astringency and a definite though lightish Oloroso tang. For me a classic Palo Cortado: it's neither one nor the other but very much a wine in its own right. Quite serious and very long.

Comments

A really good and almost affordable wine, it is over 15 years old from a solera of only 30 butts. Luckily for us all, Romate are rather too busy with Cardenal Mendoza brandy and other spirits to mess about with the Sherry, and the result is a range of very natural wines of high quality and personality. I am very fond of this bodega.

Price
9.89 euros in Spain, probably about £15 here. UK agents: Eaux de Vie

Iberia Cream 18%, Sanchez Romate

Appearance
Very deep brown, chestnut/walnut, not much black, through amber to greeny yellow rim, legs.
Nose
Very fresh, a no-nonsence proper cream Sherry with noticeable Oloroso, PX and Moscatel, quite fruity - traces of raisins backed by some seriousness from age. Very attractive.
Palate
Broadly similar, very homogeneous, decent tangy freshness, could be matured as a blend (not sure), rich, fruity; pasas, dates and good Oloroso lifted by Moscatel, very natural, not over sweet, long, classic.
Comments
Aged over 8 years; according to the bodega it is made from oloroso and about 15% PX, which are certainly there - and good - but I am sure there is some Moscatel there too, though they deny it. Whatever, it is lovely, one of the best Creams around.
Price
Around £15.00 in the UK

29.11.12 Decanter Magazine Praises Sherry

Decanter Magazine, in its current (December) edition has given high praise to some Sherries. The article was written by Sarah Jane Evans MW, who knows a lot about Sherry, having written her MW dissertation on the Almacenistas. I can confirm that; I last met her at Vinoble giving a talk on Moscatel. She praises the following:

La Bota de Manzanilla No 32, Equipo Navazos

Manzanilla Pasada Cuevas Jurado, Lustau Almacenista

Manzanilla Pasada Pastrana, Hidalgo la Gitana

Puerto Fino, Emilio Lustau

Fino la Ina, Emilio Lustau

Fino Antique, Fernando de Castilla

Fino Perdido, Sanchez Romate

Amontillado La Bota No 31, Equipo Navazos

Amontillado Antique, Fernando de Castilla

Amontillado Vina AB, Gonzalez Byass

Oloroso La Bota No 28 Bota Punta, Equipo Navazos

Palo Cortado Viejisimo 1/5, Cayetano del Pino

Palo Cortado Vides, Lustau Almacenista

Palo Cortado Wellington VORS, Hidalgo la Gitana

Moscatel Emilin, Emilio Lustau

PX Antique, Fernando de Castilla

PX Noe VORS, Gonzalez Byass

I have tasted most of these, and will post my notes on those not already posted as soon as I can. They are all quite excellent, and you should stock up with them for Christmas!

Amontillado NPU 19%, Sanchez Romate

Appearance
Pure, deepish amber fading through autumn leaf yellow and a trace of green on rim, legs
Nose
Classic Amontillado: toasted hazelnuts and apparent sweetness, traces of oak from long ageing along with remnants of a past life as Fino: traces of autolised yeast, garrapinadas (almonds cooked in caramelised sugar), full, serious, some age.
Palate
Dry, certain crispness, gentle acidity, quite full and textured, lovely nutty, oaky follow-through and a little less implicit sweetness than on the nose. Very long.
Comments
Classic wine from the bodega's excellent Special Reserves range, and over 20 years old, although not marketed as a VOS. It spends about 7 years as a Fino before entering the Amontillado solera. A really good buy...just needs Bellota ham!

Price 

Somewhere around £18.00 available shortly from Drinkmonger Edinburgh

Fino Perdido 15%, Sanchez Romate

Appearance
Deepish fairly bright golden straw, deeper than many Finos, light legs.
Nose
Lovely, quite intense aromas of flor - bread dough, almond, a certain salinity, yeast and very finely controlled oxidation, more intense and serious than many finos, little if any Marmite, but very complex and quite soft.
Palate
Soft and gentle yet full of flavour and elegance, trace acidity balances beautifully with the yeasty roundness, the very earliest hints of Amontillado are there but it is delicious as it is without going any further, quite savoury with just a hint of salty nuts with a tang of flor on a very long finish.

Comments

From a tiny 15 butt solera called Celestino which is run less frequently than the bigger Marismeno solera, this wine is at least 8 years old and bottled "en rama" - with minimal filtration. It is a style rarely seen nowadays, unfortunately. In Sanlucar the Manzanillas Pasadas are better known, being Manzanillas with more ageing and thus depth. In Jerez, however, there are few "Finos Pasados", and the term is not actually used. Some are approaching the style such as Hidalgo's La Panesa or perhaps Valdespino's Fino Inocente, but this is a cracker. Alexander Jules used it for his 22/85 bottling.
Price
Around £10.00, available from the Wine Society

A Sherry dinner at Bia Bistrot, Edinburgh

Recently I enjoyed one of the best dinners ever, not only because the only wine served was Sherry but because the food was quite excellent and married beautifully with the wines.

Roisin and Matthias of Bia Bistrot organised five courses and Mat and I from Drinkmonger organised the five accompanying Sherries, about which I had to say a few words. Encouragingly the dinner was sold out in no time, but did leave a disappointed waiting list. An opportunity for a repeat, hopefully!

Here is what we had:

On arrival
Mackerel wrapped in crisped serrano ham and grated courgette salad  with  Lustau Manzanilla Papirusa

Starter
Coley and brandade with a tapenade crust accompanied by Sanchez Romate Fino Marismeno

Main
Ayrshire pork fillet and cheek "mojo picon" with Lustau Almacenista Vides Palo Cortado

Cheese
Corra Linn and Lanark Blue, fig and almond wheel, Lustau Don Nuno Oloroso

Dessert
Walnut cake and butterscotch ice cream, Venerable PX VORS Domec/Osborne

So if you're having friends round, why not try one or more of these very successful marriages? If you are in the Edinburgh area, I can't recommend Bia enough. There is a friendly, quietly competent atmosphere. They have a website: biabistrot.co.uk

News from Jerez 7.8.12

Bodegas Sanchez Romate are sponsoring a competition for "Flashfiction" (or "Microfiction") in conjunction with the Jerez writer Mauricio Gil Cano to promote literary creativity in relation to Sherry and Brandy de Jerez. The "I Certamen de Microrelatos Cardenal Mendoza" is open to anybody over 18 who submits a text not exceeding 200 words in Spanish. Subject matter is entirely open as long as there is mention of Sherry or Brandy de Jerez. The full rules can be found at www.romate.com/noticias.

Three prizes will be awarded, the first being 300 euros, a bottle of Cardenal Mendoza Non Plus Ultra brandy and a case of Sanchez Romate Sherry. The closing date for entries is 1 November. Go on, pour a glass of Sherry and get creative!!

Fino Marismeno 15%, Bodegas Sanchez Romate Hnos.

Appearance
Slightly deeper than some Finos, strawy gold, not 100% bright so not over filtered by the look of it, legs.
Nose
Full, quite penetrating and complex, traces autolysis, saline Flor, almond, slight hints of oxidation, yellow fruit - mainly Palomino, bread dough, even Marmite, lovely.
Palate
Broadly similar, lots of flavour starting with fruit then evolving through saline Flor, then bread and then bitter almond and yeast, all the time with some weight. Not particularly acidic yet very tangy, and very long. lovely.
Comments
A delicious wine. Such depth and flavour along with the autolytic flavours show some age and in fact it is about 7 years old. This wine comes from a solera of 836 butts with 3 criaderas. A third of the solera (227 butts) is drawn 2-3 times annually and some goes for bottling and the rest feeds the NPU Amontillado solera. Superb. Worth every penny. "Marismeno" presumably refers to the marshes at the mouth of the river Guadalquivir near Sanlucar which are a protected wildlife zone.

Price

£14.95 from Drinkmonger. UK Importers are Marussia Beverages