Pagollano 2016 12.5%, Hidalgo la Gitana

Appearance

Fairly pale straw to yellowy gold with golden highlights.

Nose

Very fresh with an attractive mix of flowers and fruit; traces of camomile and orchard blossom with apples and pears, yet it does smell of Palomino and there is a very light saline hint.

Palate

Smooth, fruity and soft thanks to a low acid level, but there is plenty of Palomino flavour and that saline hint comes through. It is well rounded with a little body and dangerously drinkable.

Comments

This is a new table wine from Hidalgo La Gitana launched as part of the celebrations of their 225th anniversary. According to the back label the grapes come from old vines and are harvested a bit later for increased ripeness. This has of course led to the aforementioned lack of acidity. Nowhere on the label or cork does it give a vintage, so I am presuming this is from 2016 as is very likely. Nor is there any mention of grape variety, origin of grapes or method of production, so I am again presuming that it is Palomino (I'm pretty sure) and from the firm's own vineyards. Is it a new vintage of Las 30? Who knows. There is no information out there on the firm's website or Facebook page.

Price
5.75 from De Albariza

28.9.17 Fedejerez Wants to Stop Fino from Sanlúcar

Under the Regulations governing the production of Sherry it has always been perfectly legal for bodegas in Sanlúcar to produce and sell Fino as well as Manzanilla, but it has long been an aspiration of Fedejerez to put a stop to this. The matter was last raised in 2013 but having aroused heated exchanges it was decided to shelve it. At a plenary meeting of the Consejo Regulador on Tuesday however, it was raised again with the idea of modifying the regulations to exclude Sanlúcar, leaving only Jerez and El Puerto de Santa María for the production of Fino and only Sanlúcar for the production of Manzanilla.

The proposal was presented at the meeting but was totally rejected by the (one) representative of Manzanilla and so Fedejerez will put the matter to the vote at some future meeting. In justification of its move, Fedejerez recalled that in May 2013 it raised the matter after a commission concluded that there is no objective parameter which allows for a difference between Fino and Manzanilla. In the judgement of Fedejerez therefore, the continued production of two wines, produced in exactly the same way and which cannot be distinguished and which belong to two different Denominaciones de Origen is “irregular” and “indefensible”.

According to the Fedejerez proposal, “The lack of technical specifications to distinguish Fino from Manzanilla calls into question the sustainability of the DO Manzanilla de Sanlúcar itself, the regulations of which establish that Sanlúcar is the exclusive zone for the ageing of Manzanilla. The defence of the DO Manzanilla – the fulfilment of EU requirements for the recognition and protection of DO wines produced in member states – should bring with it the assurance that only Sanlúcar has suitable conditions for the ageing of Manzanilla, and that consequently no other type of biologically aged wine, such as Fino, can be aged there.”

The Fedejerez arguments are the same as those in the original proposal which questioned the possibility of producing the two wines in the same place. After pressing the Junta de Andalucía to “exercise its powers in matters of Denominaciones de Origen as soon as possible”, Fedejerez reiterated its claim to be defending the uniqueness of the DO Manzanilla to avoid the loss of credibility which could result from the lack of differentiating parameters between Fino and Manzanilla “and the consequent harm to the whole Sherry region.”

International Sherry Week - Win a Place on the Sherry Educator Course

The IV edition of International Sherry Week is only five weeks away (November 6-12) so it is time to start organising your event. This year it will be bigger than ever and there is an added incentive to join the fun. Two places on the Sherry Educator course are being offered as a prize for the best Sherry and food match. It is well known that Sherry can match any dish, but there are some wonderful combinations still to be discovered. So here is a chance to not only experiment, but to have a wonderful time with your friends, and possibly win a trip to Jerez. The course consists of three days of intensive tutorials, tastings, bodega and vineyard visits and masterclasses which give a real understanding of our favourite wine. Details can be found at: http://www.sherry.wine/sherryweek 

Ojo de Gallo 2016 12%, Grupo Estévez

Appearance

Pale bright strawy gold with golden highlights.

Nose

Fresh, clean and very natural, honest, with traces of apples and minerals, it smells young, fresh, leafy and vital with a slight note of Fino, but it is fruitier and lighter.

Palate

Dry, clean, lean and minerally, it has a decent acidity and a slightly chalky feel and a certain crunchy character, and all these characteristics relate to the quality of the vineyard. It is light yet has lots of style and is brilliant with food. I can't wait to see what bottle age does to it.

Comments

This delicious wine is made from 100% Palomino grapes hand picked from 25 + year old organically grown vines in the company's 145 hectares in Macharnudo Alto, the best bit of the best pago in Jerez. (They own 256 hectares in the Pago Macharnudo as a whole). The wine is fermented in stainless steel using selected local yeasts and rested at low temperature for six months on its lees before bottling. After the successful sales and critical acclaim of the first release, the 2015, the 2016 is selling fast. This is one of the best examples around of a wine which faithfully reflects the character of the vineyard in which it was born, and shows just how important vineyards are. Grupo Estévez know this - they are the  biggest vineyard owner of all the bodegas with 800 hectares. Ojo de Gallo (Eye of the Cockerel) is the name of the parcel of vines the wine comes from.

Price

7.60 euros, Licores Corredera

Nectar Cream 18%, González Byass

Appearance

Transparent deep brown with amber towards the rim.

Nose

Attractive aromas where the PX and Oloroso balance nicely, if anything allowing the Oloroso to dominate. There are notes of American oak, toasted almond and walnut, hints of antique furniture, caramel and toffee with a trace of raisin.

Palate

It is sweet, but by no means excessively so and again the Oloroso is expressive with only enough PX to soften it. It is well balanced and quite stylish, with hints of oak and no cloying. The quality is very good and it has a lightness of touch, good length and a reasonably dry finish.

Comments

This is an old GB brand which used to be a Cream, but has since been changed to a Pedro Ximénez, so having found some I thought it would be fun to try it as you don't see much around any more. The firm has reduced its range of wines over the years, presumably because it was just too expensive to promote so many, besides they have introduced new wines like Tio Pepe en rama and the Palmas range. They also have another Cream in the form of Solera 1847. The Nectar was delightful and a shade lighter than Solera 1847.

Price

5.90 euros, Vilaviniteca

Bodegas: Gorman & Co

Dr. John Gorman (MD MRCS) was an English surgeon who decided to change careers and join the wine trade. He spent most of the latter part of his life in El Puerto de Santa María exporting quality Sherry to Gorman, Hamilton & Thorby, wine merchants of which he was a partner, with offices at 16 Mark Lane London, a street noted for wine merchants. The firm later included William Hastings Hughes until the partnership was dissolved in 1859. The Sherry business was comparatively small scale, exporting 296 butts in 1856 (compared to Burdon’s 3507). This number had risen to 650 butts by the late 1860s. The wine was sold under the firm’s name in the London area.

Gorman was a hands-on type with a thorough knowledge of the Sherry business and indeed wine in general. His wine was highly recommended by Richard Ford (1796-1858) in his book “A Handbook for Travellers in Spain” of 1846. This recommendation would increase Gorman’s sales enormously, at least for a while. Ford tells us that Gorman acted as both manager and capataz of the bodega and that it was well worth paying a visit.

A contemporary quayside at El Puerto (foto:gentedelpuerto)

Gorman's knowledge was put to good use in 1823 when he gave evidence to the British Board of Trade on the quality of Sherry. He produced an amazing list of all the vineyards, their size, their soils, number of butts produced and their owners. He reckoned that the 25,000 acres or just over 10,000 hectares (there are only 7,000 now) was close to the limit of planting to produce quality wine, and said that the wine shipped to Britain was blended to suit the British taste and much was therefore not natural.

In 1852 he gave evidence to a House of Commons committee that increasing excise duty was counterproductive, saying also that a properly made Sherry did not need as much alcohol as some inferior wines contained. He pointed out that much wine shipped as “Sherry” was not genuine and needed to be fortified. In his view, if the public could learn to drink natural wines, they would drink better and so drink more, and thus raise Government revenue.

Gorman is credited with being the first to ship Manzanilla to England, and he described it as “a natural wine, sub-bitter with a fragrant aroma, very pure, and might be drunk by those who have any organic affection or inflammatory disease”. There is no record of the business, at least under that name, after the 1870s, when presumably Gorman died.

Holgado Petit Verdot 2013 14.7%, Hermanos Holgado

Appearance

Opaque black cherry red with very narrow pinky almost purple rim, young looking.

Nose

Big, fresh and very attractive. Perfectly ripened grapes and notes of American oak, brambles, blueberries and traces of spice, bitter black chocolate with a faint balsamic even minty hint. The oak is nicely balanced and not excessive, just enough to add complexity, though more bottle age will be needed to age the wine.

Palate

Full bodied and dry with plenty of texture and a certain amount of mostly ripe tannin, chewy. There is also plenty of black fruit, just the right acidity and those spicy balsamic notes. It is fresh, clean and long, a very good wine with some charm, but personally I would have given it more time in oak. Still it will be interesting to see how another say, three years in bottle brings it on.

Comments

This Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz is produced organically at the vineyard called the Viña Dehesa Palomino located in the protected spectacularly beautiful natural park of Alcornocales, between the sierras  Grazalema and Las Nieves, east of the road from Algeciras to Jerez. Here, some distance from "civilisation" near Villamartin, there is both Atlantic and Mediterranean influence in the microclimate. Vines have been cultivated here since the XVI century, originally by monks. While they use modern equipment they also use artisanal processes. Having made money in Pajarete cheese the family decided to invest in small scale wine production and planted Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The PV was hand picked, selected and then fermented in stainless steel tanks and aged in American oak for six months. Given that the wine is nearly 4 years old is is amazingly fresh, but needs more bottle age. Meanwhile it would be delicious with Retinto beef, steaks or game dishes as their proteins balance the tannins.

Price

10.00 euros, Licores Corredera