30.9.15 Consejo Meeting on BIB; "Red Duchess" Archive

In a bitter debate yesterday at the Consejo Regulador, approval for the use of the bag in box (BIB) was again refused. Much of the three hours of the meeting was taken up with this highly controversial matter and another, proposed by Fedejerez, to restrict sales of bulk Sherry except in exceptional circumstances. The latter will be discussed at greater length at another meeting, but one wonders how this might affect tabancos. In a strongly worded statement Evaristo Babé, Fedejerez president stated that BIB is “manifestly illegal” and lamented the lack of “immediate measures” from public administrations against this “fraud which is going on every day.”

Some of the Archive of Medina Sidonia

Nicknamed the “Red Duchess” for her anti-Franco activities, the Duquesa de Medina Sidonia, who died recently, was a member of a very old and noble family in Sanlúcar. A previous duke led the Spanish Armada in 1588, and the family has built up a huge archive of great historical importance, consisting of over six million documents, some from the XIII century. It is one of the two most important in Europe. To conserve it the duchess established the Fundación Casa Medina Sidonia, to which she donated the archive which was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural, based in the Palacio de los Guzmanes in Sanlúcar.

The duchess died in 2008 and did not include the archive in her legacy as she had already given it away, but her heirs think differently and are disputing the will in court, and that could mean breaking up the archive which is priceless but has a notional value of €60 million. A large platform of citizens, writers, historians, the Junta de Andalucía, the Diputación de Cádiz and Sanlúcar Town Council has been established to try and ensure this doesn’t happen. The case begins today.

29.9.15 Viticulturist Explains how to Make Unfortified Fino

Experiments have shown that it is possible in the Marco de Jerez to make Fino without the need to add alcohol. The key is to raise the sugar level in the must to a reading of 15-15.5ᴼ Beaumé, but this flies in the face of established custom whereby quantity is rewarded rather than quality, so it would be difficult to put into practice. To do so would require a change of mentality in the bodegas. Some are interested but until it is more general the growers will just keep on producing quantity which, according to the growers’ president, Francisco Guerrero, is to the detriment of quality.

Many growers but few bodegas attended a conference held on Wednesday, organised by Asevi-Asaja, the growers’ association, about improving the balance of the vineyards and techniques around which revolve a significant part of vineyard work being developed by professor José Ramón Lisarrague at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, who hosted the event. Various strategies were presented to the growers and to Consejo president, Beltrán Domecq who was present, for increasing sugar levels in the grapes.

Jose Ramon Lisarrague (foto:ocw.upm.es)

According to Lisarrague the character and quality of a wine depend on its different components and the balance between them. These components and their precursors present in the grape before winemaking are influenced by a series of factors which are difficult to change such as the climate and the soil, and by other alterable factors such as the hand of man. Varying the viticulture will produce different results in the same vineyard: leaf cover, ground cover, pruning, irrigation can all help to change the balance from quantity to quality in the grapes.

Frasquito Reserva en Rama 15%, González Palacios

Appearance
Quite deep brassy gold through yellow to pale rim, legs.
Nose
Intense with lots of flor and considerable depth, marine, saline and mineral elements and a suspicion of dried fruit and autolysis give it complexity, though predominantly sea and flor. Serious.
Palate
Full and generous with a certain roundness balancing the bitterness with gentle acidity, gentle salinity. It is a real mouthful on the palate, intense flavour and terrific length.
Comments
Known by the bodegas as "Flor de Lebrija" this delicious wine is made from Palomino grapes and aged under flor for five years in the bodega's best solera, bought from the Caro Salguero family. The grapes come from the González family vineyard "Abuelo Curro" NE of Sanlúcar at Lebrija, so it is not Sherry (though similar to Manzanilla) and carries the DO Vino de Calidad de Lebrija.

Price

€ 9-10 in Spain but unlikely to be available elsewhere...pity..

Bodegas: González Palacios

This family firm in Lebrija was established in 1960 by Francisco González Palacios who, having grown up in wine country developed a passion for it and started the bodega as more of a hobby than a business. He bought a vineyard called “Abuelo Curro” in the albariza soils overlooking the marshes of the Guadalquivir and makes the wines from its grapes.

Lebrija is actually in the province of Sevilla, upstream from Sanlúcar, and has a long history of the production of clays for tile and brick making as well as “Lebrija clay” which is used in fining of wines. While the town’s wines have a different Denominación de Origen from Sherry (DOP Vino de Calidad de Lebrija) they are quite similar, being made by the same methods from the same grapes grown in the same soils, just farther away. One of the great gypsy Flamenco singers came from here, Juan Peña “El Lebrijano.”

The firm has two bodegas, Los Arcos where 600 butts are stored and the newer Abuelo Curro which is near the vineyard and houses 420 butts as well as the modern vinification plant. Here they have a stainless steel de-stemmer and fermentation tanks, a pneumatic press, filtration and bottling plant. It is run by Francisco's grandson, Felix M González.

The bodega produces a range of wines which consists of:

Three table wines: the White Castillo de González Palacios and Overo and the red Overo Crianza

Three Finos: M Fina, M Fina El Poeta and Frasquito Reserva en rama

Three sweet wines: Moscatel, Vino de pasas (Moscatel & Palomino) and Lebrija Old Dulce

Lebrija Old Generoso, a 30 year old dry Oloroso

Address: Calle Consolación, 60 41740 Lebrija, Sevilla

Telephone: (+34) 955 974 084

e-mail: bodegas@gonzalezpalacios.com

Website: www.gonzalezpalacios.com

Visits? Yes, just get in touch

25.9.15 Interesting New Sherry from Romate

Bodegas Sánchez Romate is launching a new and very different range of Sherries. It consists of three sweet wines with modern labelling and Burgundy-style bottles and is called “Unusual”. Each wine has an unusual name: Pedro Ximénez “Voy a Perderme” (I’m going to lose myself), Medium “¿Fuego? No Thanks” (Light? No Thanks) and Pale Cream “Mirame Cuando te Hablo” (Look at me when I’m Talking to You).

Pale Cream and Medium are styles which are not widely available on the Spanish market and the PX has a little Moscatel blended in so they are quite novel wines in Spain, but easy to drink. The labels carry the approval of the Women’s Institute and were designed by the well-known illustrator Lore Vigil-Escalera who worked with Romate before on promotional material for Fifty Pounds Gin. The attractive labels are aimed at supermarket shelves where some 40% of consumers buy wine because they like the label, and the bottle shape was chosen because there is more room for the label.

(foto:diariodejerez)

According to the commercial director of Romate, Marcelino Piquero, the aim is to approach a new, younger customer with an informal message, and not just in export markets. They are wines which can be taken in a large glass with ice and a slice of orange or lemon, and the Medium will take a splash of soda. First to be launched is the Pale Cream, the first 500 cases of which should be seen in local shops shortly. The bodega is thinking of extending the range to dry wines at some point, especially with a Fino, but it will also be unusual.

24.9.15 Guitar Made From Sherry Butt

The Gibson guitar factory in Tennessee established in 1894 has produced an electric guitar made from the wood from an old Sherry butt supplied by Osborne. The guitar, a model SG Custom first introduced in 1961, is similar to that once played by Frank Zappa, Angus Young, Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana among other legends and has a terrific sound – and even still a slight smell of wine.

More than a century ago the trunks of American white oak arrived from the Appalachian Mountains as ship’s ballast at El Puerto de Santa María. For a hundred years the barrels made from the trunks have stored and improved the Sherry, until three years ago someone had the idea of giving the old wood a new lease of life, and the project was born.

The wood was sent back to close to its Appalachian origins: Nashville, Tennessee, home of the Gibson Custom Shop, “the factory of impossible things”, where they faced the long and difficult challenge of straightening out the wood. The result is beautiful with 14 carat gold plating, mother of pearl and with the Osborne logo as well as that of Gibson.  Only two have been made, and they were extremely expensive. One will be kept in Nashville and the other will go to El Puerto as an exhibit in the future Osborne museum along with the family art collection.

A Royal Visit to Jerez and its Bodegas

From an interesting article by Antonio Mariscal Trujillo in Diario de Jerez

Queen Isabel  II with her husband Francisco de Asis de Borbón and their children, Isabel, María de la Paz,  Eulalia and Alfonso undertook a state visit to the provinces of Andalucía in the autumn of 1862. At midday on the 3^rd of October the royal train from Cádiz pulled into the station at Jerez greeted by the bell of the Madre de Dios convent which was soon followed by all the others. Amid cheers and marching bands their majesties were received by civil, military and ecclesiastical dignitaries as well as the most prominent citizens who awaited them at the end of the platform. After a few brief words of welcome from the mayor, José María Izquierdo, the tightly scheduled programme began.

Isabel II (foto:slideplayer.es)

Before a huge cheering crowd which surrounded the station the royal party boarded a coach drawn by six handsome horses in richly adorned harness and set off for the Collegiate Church. They were followed by a cortège of no fewer than sixty coaches all beautifully adorned, and it was said that the scene of streets, public buildings and church towers bedecked with coats of arms, flags and other decorations was almost too impressive to describe.

The Queen entered the city by way of the Calle Porvenir, at the start of which had been erected an arabesque archway. Hundreds of flowers and sheets of paper bearing poetic compositions rained down on the royal coach, while thousands of doves with coloured bows flew above the procession. On arrival at the Collegiate Church the royals could hardly get through the crowd and the noise of all the bells, bands and cheers of “¡Viva la Reina!” was deafening. They were greeted by the abbot and the collegiate chapter who ushered them to the main altar where they gave prayers of thanks.

Next the royal party headed for the Alcázar and after greeting the multitude from a window of the Ponce de León tower, they proceeded to the dining room luxuriously appointed with fine paintings. Her majesty was joined for lunch by various dignitaries at a table laid with the finest lace cloth, candelabra and silver cutlery, and the most exquisite meal was served from the finest china and glassware. With dessert the Queen was given commemorative medals in gold, silver and bronze, struck for the occasion. Four thousand more – presumably bronze ones - were thrown from a window to the crowd along with poems printed on silk.

Commemorative medal (foto:todocoleccion)

After lunch her majesty went to the throne room of the beautifully adorned Palacio de Villavicencio where the great and the good could pay homage. She granted the mayor an audience where he begged her to become a patron of the company formed to bring a water supply to the city from the Tempul springs which she granted, instructing the minister of development to do everything necessary to this end. After greeting the cheering crowds at a window the royal party set off for González Byass (González Dubosq as it was known then).

At the entrance to the bodegas the firm had built a triumphal arch in stone, which still stands there to this day. The royals entered through it and were welcomed by Manuel María González Ángel, the founder and director of the bodega, who invited them to watch the treading of the grapes. Luckily he knew of the royal desire to see this beforehand as the harvest was long finished, so he had sent people out to buy as many grapes kept back by people for pasas as they could obtain. They obtained no fewer than 23,000 kilos!

The arch at Gonzalez Byass (foto:elperiodico)

Treading over, their majesties were shown round the bodegas where the finest soleras were kept and here a young venenciador filled two crystal glasses with very old PX from a silver venencia so they could taste the nectar of Jerez. On taking their leave the royal party thanked Manuel María for a wonderful visit and stressed how important the Sherry industry was. Poor Manuel María, however, was out of pocket to the tune of 30,000 duros. He was offered a dukedom by the Queen but he politely refused. The wine produced by such unusual means turned out to be excellent and he commissioned a massive barrel to contain the 33 butts worth of it. As Christ died at the age of 33 the barrel was christened “El Cristo” and still sits in the bodega alongside twelve others named the Apostles. Judas is kept in the vinegar store. Manuel Maria dedicated the bodega La Concha, built in 1869, to her majesty in honour of her visit.

The triumphal arch at C/Lenceria (foto:jerezintramuros)

The Queen and her party now set off to visit Garvey’s bodega in Calle Guadalete via the Calle Lancería where a triumphal arch had been constructed in the Doric style. Having passed by more cheering crowds they arrived to the sound of the royal march and were greeted by Patricio Garvey, son of William the founder, and his two elder sons. Here the royals tasted their wines which would include their famously fine Amontillados and probably their Fino San Patricio which was  quite new to the  market. They went on to enjoy a tour of the bodega San Patricio which was the largest single bodega in Jerez, before setting off again to Visit the hospital.

At the Hospital de la Merced, which was renamed Santa Isabel de Hungría in the Queen’s honour they met the senior doctor and the nuns while visiting the wards and chatting with patients. Then it was back through the cheering crowds to the station where the Queen thanked the mayor in words of real affection and satisfaction for the wonderful reception she had received from this “Most Noble and Most Loyal City of Jerez”. At five o’clock the train pulled away from the cheering crowds in the direction of Sevilla. For many days afterwards the royal visit was the only thing people talked about, after all it had been 66 years since the last royal visit, that of Carlo IV in 1796.