10.3.19 Sherry Scores Well at Mundus Vini

González Byass and Williams & Humbert wines have won a total of 14 medals at Mundus Vini 2019. Since 2001 the German specialist wine publishing house Meininger has held what is now one of the leading international wine competitions. This year over 7,000 wines were submitted from 156 wine regions and judged by 260 experts from 50 countries. According to the man in charge, Christian Wolf, Spain has once again “profoundly impressed” the judges for quality and diversity and is the second most awarded country. The Sherry medals were as follows:

 Grand Gold (over 95 points):

Cristina Medium, González Byass

Gold (over 90 points):

Fino en Rama 2015, Williams & Humbert

Dos Cortados, Williams & Humbert

Dry Sack Medium, Williams & Humbert

Una Palma, González Byass

Cuatro Palmas, González Byass

Amontillado del Duque, González Byass

Palo Cortado Apóstoles, González Byass

Oloroso Dulce Matúsalem, González Byass

Pedro Ximénez Noé, González Byass

Palo Cortado Leonor, González Byass

Pedro Ximénez Néctar, González Byass

Cream Solera 1847, González Byass

Silver (over 85 points):

Tres Palmas, González Byass

Fino Ecológico en rama Añada 2015 (2) 15%, Williams & Humbert

Appearance
Brass tinged gold with a little depth and golden reflexions.
Nose
There is an interesting balance between faintly sweet traces of apple and quince puree and bitterness from the flor. It has some weight and depth as one might expect from a wine which has not been refreshed and there are some slightly herbal notes of esparto, sourdough and olive brine.
Palate
Quite full and intense for a Fino, perhaps less fruit now and more straw with  just the very faintest hint of oxidation. It is very stylish, assertive and serious, yet elegant with a pronounced texture, at once chalky and with a hint of grapeskin, and great length. Not only super interesting, but delicious.

Comments

Bottled on the 27th July 2018, this is a second saca of the first ever organic vintage Fino en rama from a single pago: Burujena in Trebujena. The first saca (qv) was bottled in March so there is around four months more crianza. As before, the must was fermented at 22° and fortified with organic spirit to 15.5° so the flor has consumed half a degree over around 3 years meaning it would have to be bottled before that level dropped to below 15°. Not all the Añada butts turn out to be Fino of course, so there is not much of this unfortunately.

Price
15.50 per 50cl Licores Corredera

Brandy Marqués de Misa Solera Reserva 36%, Williams & Humbert

Appearance

Deepish amber with old gold and coppery highlights.

Nose

Subtle toasted oak and caramel notes along with those of dried fruits and nuts with a hints of mineral and brown sugar. The crispness of the aguardientes is just about rounded off by the holandas.

Palate

Fairly sweet on entry with dried fruit, caramel and a slight liquorice/aniseed note, then it gets crisper and nuttier. It looks as if the ageing butts were more Amontillado than Oloroso so the brandy is a little lighter in style. There are trace wood notes and very low tannin, but noticeable sweetness is balanced by a slight parting bitter note.

Comments

Manuel Misa y Bertemati founded his bodega in 1844 and merged with his brother Buenaventura Pablo whose bodega was established in 1840. Manuel was a great salesman and was deeply involved in politics, holding various important posts for which he was made Conde de Bayona and later Marqués de Misa, a Spanish grandee. He constructed the lovely bodega in Calle Diego Fernández Herrera now owned by Diez Mérito. After his death in 1903 the firm continued in family hands until the late 1960s when Rumasa bought the stocks and brands selling the bodega to Harveys. The stocks were transferred to the vast Bodegas Internacionales, now Williams & Humbert, which was also bought by Rumasa in 1972. The old Misa brandy solera was already there when the Medinas bought the firm. This brandy is made from mostly Airén and some Palomino grapes and is a blend of holandas and aguardientes. It has an average age of over three years, the minimum required being one, and a sugar content of 15g/l. The bottle is thankfully sealed with a cork instead of those annoying plastic "tapones irrellenables" you find under screwcaps.

Price
8.50 euros

20.11.15 Brandy Cheese; More on BIB

Get your tastebuds around this latest gourmet idea: top quality cheese steeped in top quality Jerez brandy!  Cheese producer Reny Picot and Williams & Humbert have got together to create this wonderfully tasty limited edition product which will be promoted throughout the Christmas period.

Master cheesemakers Reny Picot, based at Fresno de la Ribera (Zamora) have produced a traditional ewes milk cheese called Señorío de Montelarreina Gran Reserva to a centuries old formula, which  was the winner of a silver medal at last year’s World Cheese Awards among many other accolades. The quality of the cheese is due, like that of Jerez, to climate, soil and location both of the sheep and the dairy, which are in a mountainous area.

The cheese has been steeped in Gran Duque de Alba Gran Reserva brandy giving it an even more intense flavour. It is available whole or in 250g.packs and they recommend it with fine table wine, but it sounds to me to be the perfect partner for a good old Sherry, which can so easily deal with that intensity of flavour.

The artisan BIB bodegas in Sanlúcar say they are being “persecuted” by the Consejo. They are soliciting the help of the Junta vice president, Manuel Jiménez Barrios who visited Sanlúcar on Wednesday, to get more power of decision making on affairs which exclusively affect Sanlúcar wine, including the possibility of an independent decision making body. They are defending the sale of bulk wine in general and especially in BIB rather than garrafa, a measure which they say was endorsed a while ago in a Consejo report, a copy of which they have sent to the Junta.

After the meeting the Manzanilleros complained to Jiménez Barrios about the “total and absolute” lack of decision making power in the DO Manzanilla which is actually controlled by Fedejerez. In order to rectify this and prevent “the continued loss of bodegas, vineyards and jobs” the group reminded him that the rules of the Consejo contemplate decision making on Manzanilla affairs in Sanlúcar. Certainly the rules include the possibility of setting up a commission to deal with the specific affairs of any of the DOs, but any decisions would still have to go before a plenary at the Consejo which has the final say.

For the moment the rebels have not requested such a commission because they know that Manzanilla only has one representative out of twenty in a plenary which would make it extremely difficult to make any headway. They are not proposing a separate DO but rather to have a separate parallel plenary relating specifically to Manzanilla. As far as their complaints about the “harassment” they claim to suffer from the Consejo are concerned, and which they reported to Jiménez Barrios, they denounced the fact that the day following their meeting with him, an unannounced visit took place by inspectors from the Consejo’s Control and Certification department, a most unusual event according to a spokesperson.

The Consejo has emphatically denied this accusation, saying it would be difficult to do their job if they gave notice and thus give any lawbreaker the chance to conceal their activities. All members are treated equally and it is the purpose of the Consejo to ensure that rules are obeyed and not to look the other way when people explicitly say they are going to break them (alluding to the rebels’ plans to sell BIB Manzanilla). Despite their disapproval of the inspectors’ unannounced visit they claim they have nothing to hide and that the quality of their wine is infinitely higher than that of those who would wish harm (meaning Fedejerez) to those working in an ever more concentrated business in which the interests of a few are imposed on the rest.

Manzanilla 15%, Pérez Megía

Appearance

Pale bright lemony gold, some legs.

Nose

Quite forthcoming, salty with a slightly savoury edge to the flor, hints of the seaside: seaweed on the beach and ropes on a fishing boat, all that but fairly young with a trace of fruit still perceptible.

Palate

The tanginess and bitter flor bite balance out the fruit note at first but it recurs towards the end. Fresh with a savouriness which imparts character and the acidity provides length. It really provokes an appetite - both for food - and more of this Manzanilla!

Comments

Quite an interesting wine for the price. Bodegas Pérez Megía was established in 1821 and remained in family hands till 1979 when it was bought by José Medina through their subsidiary Luis Páez. The Medina brothers eventually bought Williams & Humbert and the bodega acts as their base in Sanlúcar where the better-known Manzanilla Alegría is produced. The Pérez Megía brand is more of a sous-marque nowadays, but there is some good wine in there.

Price

4.37 Euros in Spain. Not available UK