Pedro Ximénez Los Buhos 15%, Wisdom & Warter

Appearance
Very dark blacky brown, almost opaque, fading to tight amber rim.
Nose
Very rich with lots of dried fruits like raisin, date and prune along with hints of treacle toffee and very slight toasted notes like carob and traces of oak. Overall it is the dried fruit which predominates, and in quite an intense way; it is big and quite generous.
Palate
Full, rich, unctuous and fairly silky with all that fruit up front and a trace of spice as it opens out, then toffee. You can really feel the texture of the raisin pulp, yet there is enough acidity to give it some freshness and very decent length, leaving lovely lingering raisin flavours in its wake.
Comments

Wisdom & Warter was established in 1854 and is now a sous-marque of González Byass, who bought the firm in 1929. While it can occasionally be found in Jerez, it is more often seen on export markets such as the USA, though with a different label. Very good value for money.

Price
About 8 euros

Oloroso Los Buhos 18%, Wisdom & Warter

Appearance

Chestnut mahogany colour fading to amber with copper highlights.

Nose

Fresh and soft, with a light dried fruit note, traces of oak, not particularly old, somewhere between five and eight years perhaps, but has character with dried fig and walnut and an open friendly style and a faint wax note. 

Palate

Attractive smooth, open textured, fresh young Oloroso. The dried fruit notes follow through and balance beautifully with the oxidative character making it a very versatile everyday Oloroso which is very tasty and has really good length.

Comments

Wisdom and Warter were two Englishmen who in 1854 established a bodega in Jerez and earned a good reputation. The firm was bought out in the 1960s by González Byass and quietly disappeared, but GB still use the brand name for a standard but good quality range of Sherries mostly for export, but they can occasionally be found in Jerez, especially at GB's shop. Los Buhos was the W&W trademark featuring a pair of owls representing wisdom.

Price
6.65 euros, Licores Corredera

Bodegas: Ysasi y Cia.

The name Ysasi originates in the north of Spain, in Vizcaya, the Basque country. The Y and the I are interchangeable, and confusingly you see both spellings on labels (as below).

Gregorio de Ysasi y Tricio was a bodeguero in Jerez, known for good Finos and Amontillados. He married Juana de Dios Lacoste y Biñalet (1792-1888) and they had 22 children. Manuel de Ysasi y Lacoste (1810-1854) was the elder of them. In 1850 he went to London to try and sell the family wines, and was named honorary Spanish Consul. His claim to fame is that he was instrumental in the establishment of the Universal Postal Union. He travelled a lot, but was drowned after giving a woman his lifebelt in a shipwreck.

Another son, Luis de Ysasi Lacoste, became a successful businessman and philanthropist. On his death in 1902, he left the Finca El Retiro to the citizens of Jerez to be used as a park with a library.

By the mid 1850’s Ysasi had a fine reputation but their fortunes were on the wane and the business had eventually to be sold. Some soleras were acquired from Enrique Ysasi by Wisdom & Warter in the mid-1850s and others by Diez Hermanos, established later in 1876, such as the Oloroso Victoria Regina, both of the latter firms were therefore established on XVIII C soleras.

The bodega was visited by Henry Vizetely in about 1875, and he commented “To reach Señor Ysasi’s bodegas one has to pass through some of the more curious among the old streets of Jerez, where elaborate escutcheons figure above the ornamental doorways of the principal houses, and stone pillars with richly carved capitals decorate many of their corners. The Ysasi bodegas, being somewhat old-fashioned, are in keeping with these picturesque surroundings, and Señor Ysasi’s wines, notably his Finos and Amontillados, if not of a like remote antiquity, are thoroughly well matured and of high quality.”

Enrique Ysasi e Ivison (1899-1983) was the son of Enrique Ysasi Gonzalez and Petronila Ivison Pastor. He was a writer and photographer as well as a bodeguero, and known for his book “Con Una Copita de Jerez”, as well as being a director of Wisdom & Warter from the time of its purchase by Gonzalez Byass in 1929. He was also an enthusiastic promoter of the Jerez motor racing circuit.

(foto:archivo Jose Luis Jimenez)

A central street was named after Juana de Dios Lacoste in 1888 for her tireless charity work. In this street once stood the bodega of Parra Guerrero and the (in)famous Tabanco del Duque, now in ruins. There is a good bar/restaurant here called Taberna del Segura. A street was also named after Luis de Ysasi Lacoste, Juana' son, a street formerly named Baño Viejo.