Amontillado Alcazar 19%, Bobadilla

Appearance
Deep amber to brown with reddy-gold tints, legs.
Nose
Pronounced and full, very amontillado with traces of wood, traces even of resin, some age, dry with that typical apparent sweetness and lots of toasted hazelnut and almond, most attractive.
Palate
Full and dry, but with that apparent sweetness from glycerol, and fairly intense with toasted nuts, beautifully refined oxidation, elegant and expressive, perfectly balanced between the slight woodiness of ageing and that glycerol feel of sweetness, with a certain fresh crispness, long. A serious and delicious wine.
Comments
I'm afraid I can't tell you much about it except that the grapes came from the Macharnudo, it is a solera pura wine (straight from the solera, unblended - as was the Bobadilla preference) and that it was delicious. I bought it 8 years ago, the last bottle in a back-street shop in Spain. It must have been sitting around some time as it had sediment, but it turned out to be in good condition.
Years ago I had my own wine shop, and naturally we specialised in Spanish wines. We had a large range of Sherry, and our best seller was Bobadilla. It was high quality, well presented and well priced, but at the end of the eighties it suddenly stopped being available. I really miss it.
Price
5.50 euros a ridiculous price, but one I was happy to pay!

(Jerezsiempre)

Bodegas: Bobadilla

Don Manuel Fernandez de Bobadillay Martinez was born in Arenzana, Logrono 1n 1852. He found his way to Jerez, he began exporting wines in 1879 and founded his bodega in 1882 in the Calle Cristal, 4, in the old monastery of Los Padres Mercedarios.  A beautiful building, it was full of patios with overhanging roofs with butts stacked below, and inside, many murals of harvesting and bacchanales. He bought 150 ha of vineyards in Balbaina and Macharnudo and soleras. One of the shareholders was the Marques de Misa. It didn’t take long for Bobadilla to become one of the best bodegas in Jerez. Don Manuel died in 1924, his wife Dona Maria Ragel y Rendon having predeceased him.

His descendants continued to run the firm, and in 1930 the name was changed to Bobadilla & Cia. In the vineyards they were progressive, Gonzalo Fernandez de Bobadilla developing a new clone of Palomino, Palomino 84, which gave a 50% increase in yield with no (apparent) loss in quality. They were particularly successful with their Brandy, however: 103 Etiqueta Blanca, launched in 1903, the older 103 Etiqueta Negra and the Gran Capitan, though the wines enjoyed a very good reputation.

Circunvalacion Bodegas (JL Jimenez/Jerez Siempre)

Towards the end of the 1960's the bodega moved to more spacious premises in the Carretera de Circunvalacion (s/n) - Bodega Don Manuel, and in 2009 the old C/Cristal bodega was converted into a columbarium. First of many bodegas to move out of the town centre, Bobadilla had seen the advantages: easier access for lorries carrying grapes in - and lorries with wine out. 

1987 the Dutch liqueur firm Bols made an offer for Bobadilla which was approved by the shareholders. But Alvaro Fernandez Bobadilla, until now a minority shareholder, made an improved offer, and bought almost the entire company for over 1,500 million pesetas, some borrowed from a Danish financier. At the time, the bodega employed about 200 staff and turnover was about 6,000 million pesetas. It also owned Detosa (Destilerias de Tomelloso) as well as distributors in Barcelona, La Coruna, Mexico, USA, and Belgium. There were also three vineyards, 150 hectares in total.

In 1989 Bobadilla merged with Naviera Arenas and Tomas Garcia SA becoming Bodegas Bobadilla SA, but control soon passed out of the family to the European Wine Company, 50% owned by United Dutch Holdings. The firm was launched on the stock market, making it an easier target. In 1992, it was taken over by Osborne, who, as brandy specialists, were principally interested in the Brandy 103. The purchase of Bobadilla helped Osborne become the biggest producer of Brandy de Jerez (42% of it).

Osborne Transferred all the wine (one solera dating back to 1809) and brandy to its own bodegas in El Puerto de Santa Maria, where a huge brandy complex (El Tiro) was built. The Bobadilla Sherries disappeared (what happened to them?), and the 103 Brandy now carries the name Osborne.

Complejo bodeguero El Tiro in El Puerto

In 2006, the Circunvalacion bodegas were converted into industrial units.

Some of the Bobadilla Sherry Brands were:

Manzanilla Carmen

Fino Victoria (Macharnudo)

Oloroso Capitan

Amontillado Alcazar

Cream La Merced
PX Romantico

Golden Sherry Eldorado

They also produced anis and vinegar, as well as the brandies

24.4.13 Latest Tio Pepe En Rama Released

The 4^th in the series, the 2013 Tio Pepe en Rama has been launched in the UK at the Big Fortified Tasting in London today. En rama Sherry undergoes the least possible stabilisation and filtration, leaving the wine in a state similar to that in the solera, and far more complex than the normal wine. Chief winemaker at Gonzalez Byass, Antonio Flores, describes it as “untamed Tio Pepe”. This year’s release has  more flor character than usual, due to the mild and wet winter and spring which makes the flor grow thicker. The wine was bottled on the 8^th of April, and being en rama, should be drunk sooner than the normal wine, ideally about 3 months.

 RRP is £14.99. Only 10752 bottles have been released along with a few half bottles, so don’t hang about!!

Dry Sack Fino 15%, Williams & Humbert

Appearance
Fairly pale bright light gold with some legs.
Nose
Forthcoming, plenty of flor: green almond, saline bitterness, plenty acataldehyde, trace olive brine and hints of quince, quite dry with a little weight.
Palate
Very dry, very slightly savoury, a little acidity, clean with pungent flor flavours; sourdough, almond, and really quite bitter with a certain tang. This one cries out for tapas - it really makes you hungry!
Comments
A really good Fino made from Balbaina grapes with virtually no residual sugar. Any unfermented sugars are, of course consumed by the yeast, along with glycerine, so Finos are genuinely dry. Try a glass of dry red or white after a glass of Fino, and they will seem positively sweet! Anyway this wine works its way through 6 criaderas, and is drawn from the solera with a minimum age of at least 5 years. That is about the age where complexity starts to make itself felt, and it is certainly noticeable here.
Price
I paid £12.75 at Harrisons Fine Wines in Crieff. UK importer Ehrmanns.

24.4.13 Help for Small Bodegas; Feria de la Manzanilla

Small bodegas have been given a helping hand by the Junta to sell their wines on the open market. The minimum stock holding requirement has been reduced from 500 to 50 butts by The Agriculture Ministry of the Junta de Andalucia. The proposal, by Fedejerez (the bodegas association) was approved at a plenary meeting of the Consejo Regulador, and the modified Reglamento (regulations governing Sherry production) will be published in the Junta’s official Buletin in good time for the deadline of 29^th May stipulated by Brussels.

Leaving the 500 butt minimum in place would have meant many small bodegas and almacenistas would have been unable to market their wines, some of which are fantastic. According to Sr Planas of the Junta, the industry has the Junta’s full support and it will help Sherry where it can to adjust to the new market realities. “I am convinced that if we all do our bit we have a future”, he said.

The Feria de la Manzanilla 2013 will take place in Sanlucar between the 28^th May and the 2^nd of June. The lights will be switched on on Tuesday 28^th and the event will close with a fireworks display on the Sunday night. It takes place in the recinto ferial (fairground) in the Calzada Duquesa Isabel, which will be decorated in traditional festive manner, where during the feria there will be bullfights, flamenco, dancing competitions, eating and drinking – Manzanilla, of course, and much more.

Vinoble - Welcome Back!

It is really great news that Vinoble can take place again next year. It is a wonderful event, scattered inside and out all round the Alcazar, showcasing great wines from all over the world, as long as they are sweet or fortified - or both.

Patio de las Armas, Alcazar, Jerez

Naturally, Sherry has centre stage - and there are very many - but lots of other wines from Spain are present, such as Canarias, Malaga, Huelva, Fondillon and Montilla. But the show is far more diverse. Over the last three events, I have come across wines from Greece, USA, France, Canada, Italy, Germany, Portugal, and many more.

There are many bodega stands, as well as generic and Consejo stands. Here is a great place to taste truly interesting wine, and often to meet its producer. Having done so, there is a wide variety of restaurants not too far away, where one can indulge in local gastronomy and drink more Sherry!

It was an embarrassing shame that last year's event had to be cancelled, but there just wasn't the money. Congratulations to all concerned in the renaissance of this great event! So now it will be taking place next year, I urge you to go, you can't fail to have a wonderful time!

PS One is supposed to be in the trade, but I'm sure you can blag it.

Equestrian Tourism Centre? Vinoble 2014

The Ayuntamiento (Council) of Jerez planning department has given the green light to a new project in the famaous Macharnudo vineyards, which are situated about 5 km. from Jerez on the Trebujena road. The plan is to set up an Equestrian Tourism Centre, which it is hoped, will give a new image to this agricultural area by demonstrating its beauty while creating jobs.

Existing vineyard buildings can be used without in any way inflicting environmental or urbanistic damage. The project envisages the adaptation of two of the buildings of the Casa de Las Carrenas by doing some construction work in the main building of some 672 square metres, and the bodega section of some1,000 square metres.

Many old vineyard buildings were known as “casas de la vina”. They were places where harvesters could eat and sleep, with attendant winemaking facilities: presses, lagares (treading troughs),mats for drying the grapes, stables and barrels for the wine’s fermentation. It was usually only after the fermentation that the “mosto” (newly made wine) was transported to Jerez for ageing. All that has changed, and nowadays the grapes usually come direct to the main bodegas for processing, (avoiding a lot of oxidation en route!) So no more bullock carts dragging barrels, just lorries and traffic congestion!

Macharnudo vineyards (masjerez.com)

Vinoble, the bi-annual sweet and fortified wine fair which takes place at the Alcazar in Jerez is to receive financial support to the tune of 100,000 euros from the Ministry of Agriculture. There will also be finance from local government. The 2014 edition can now go ahead after lack of finance put paid to the 2012 edition. Furthermore, 2014 will be the 750^th anniversary of the re-conquest of Jerez. The mayor, Maria Jose Garcia Pelayo has confirmed that the state will pay one third of the costs of putting on the event, which will take place in the first week of June.

The mayor now has about 300,000 euros for the event, and the minister of agriculture of the Junta de Andalucia is expected to offer a contribution as well, after all his withdrawal of support was one reason for the event’s cancellation last time. In a recent meeting with the Consejo Regulador, he said he would look at the situation favourably, given the importance of the event.

The mayor hopes to have all the finance in place in order to progress with the programming of this the 8^th Vinoble. She is also thinking of extending the event from four days to up to two weeks, with many spin-off events. She is also keen on the Consejo’s idea that Jerez could go for the European City of Wine designation in 2014. There is a rotating network of European Wine cities, of which Jerez is one, and perhaps it is Jerez’s turn.

Among the other possibilities in play are a congress of winemakers and a congress of Consejos Reguladores. The latter would be for the Jerez Consejo to organise, and they have given full support to Vinoble, along with a contribution of 50,000 euros from their budget. The Council is determined to do the maximum for the minimum, and with cost cutting here and there, they think they can pull it off without losing quality – or indeed improving it.