Espumoso Fugaz 2017 12.5%, Bodega Muchada-Leclapart

Appearance
Slightly hazy mid strawy gold with golden glints and a very gentle mousse.
Nose

Fresh and appealing with notes of orchard fruit like apple and apricot along with hints of flowers with a certain natural rawness underneath of pure Palomino and a faint salty minerality. It smells a little like mosto only more sophisticated than some and very ripe with a trace of sweetness.

Palate

Despite fairly low acidity and that faint hint of sweetness there is a modicum of crispness coming mainly from the fizz (carbonic acid). There is a lot of flavour of ripe apples, possibly pears and quince jelly which is offset by a slightly salty feel, so it starts with a hint of sweetness but finishes dry with a slightly chalky texture. It is quite unusual, but is not lacking charm, or length.

Comments

One might say this super interesting wine is a sparkling wine bottled en rama: without filtration, yes, but without disgorging either, so the lees remain in the wine which may be unsightly but they are adding to the flavour all the time till you drink it. I kept the bottle chilled for nearly two weeks and it was still cloudy, but that just isn't a problem. The wine is best described as half-sparkling, having presumably been bottled half way through the fermentation with no licor de tiraje or dosage used: the "ancestral method". With this process the timing of bottling must be very carefully judged, so it is as well that David Leclepart is a Champagne producer, although this process is not used in Champagne. Personally I feel the wine could be drier if, as they state, they want to express the vineyard character, but it is nonetheless very attractive, and I found myself half way through the bottle just writing this. The word "fugaz" means "fleeting or momentary", perhaps referring to the bubbles, but the wine leaves a more lasting impression. Anyway, it is only the first release so who knows what we have in store?!

Price
27.30, Licores Corredera

Manzanilla Deliciosa en rama 2018 15%, Valdespino

Appearance

Amber tinged strawy gold with golden reflections.

Nose

Most attractive with a trace of oxidation adding to the complexity of the yeastiness of the flor and all those classic briny maritime aromas. There are notes of straw, sourdough, bitter almond, an almost creamy/buttery hint, surely from autolysis, and a fresh wild saline note giving zip to an already complex wine.

Palate

Quite full and bone dry with lots of flavours from both the top and bottom of the butt balancing perfectly. There are traces of apple and that gentle oxidation with a fresh zingy acidity. It could only be Manzanilla, and one which is close to pasada; intensely flavoured and savoury yet light, crisp and vivacious. Deliciosa!
Comments

This excellent wine is made from grapes from the pago Miraflores and comes from selected butts in the solera Misericordia in the XVI century bodega of that name belonging to La Guita in the Barrio Alto of Sanlúcar. It passed through 6 criaderas and a solera before being bottled in April 2018 at over 6 years old with no stabilisation or filtration. Only one saca is made each year in spring when the flor is at its most vibrant, and this is a particularly good one.

Price
9.00 euros per half bottle, Licores Corredera

Ibargüen Crianza 2014 14.5%, Bodegas Ibargüen

Appearance

Very deep blacky red with a ruby rim showing the slightest trace of maturity.

Nose

Big and and ripe with cherry, plum and blackcurrant fruits and traces of smoke and spice, partly from the oaks, which also impart traces of vanilla, toast, clove and cinnamon. There is a great balance of fruits and spices giving the wine good complexity and an interesting and attractive  nose.

Palate

Full bodied and characterful with a real southern air. The fruit shows full ripening under a hot Andalusian sun yet, while good and ripe, it is good and fresh, and enhanced by the oak. Decent acidity gives it a certain freshness and the tannins are ripe and unaggressive, so it has a nice, fairly rich texture and a gentle chewiness. length is good and satisfying.

Comments

Located in the foothills of the Sierra de Grazalema, about 15 kilometres east of Arcos, this chateau-like bodega is producing very good red wines. This Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz is made from estate grown, hand picked, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon which are vinified and aged separately for approximately 12 months, the Cabernet in American oak and the Syrah in French. The wines are then racked and blended before bottling. The precise ageing period and blend depend on the vintage, but there is slightly more Syrah than Cabernet in this one. Good value.

Price
7.00 euros, Licores Corredera

The Oldest Bodega in Jerez

This ancient bodega is thought to have been constructed between 1480 and 1490, before the Moors were definitively expelled from Spain and before Columbus sailed to the Americas. It is located in the parish of San Mateo, the oldest in Jerez, from where the population grew and began to spread, towards the old mosque which is now the site of the Cathedral.

The "tablao" or dance floor for Flamenco in the old bodega.

The history of the bodega is linked to that of the magnificent Palacio del Campo Real in the Plaza Benavente which it adjoins. The palace was built in 1545 on the site of an old Islamic building by Pedro de Benavente y Cabeza de Vaca, a knight and governor of Jerez. He was a man with great political and military power who owned profitable sugar refineries in the Canary Islands among other enterprises. The 5,000 m2 palace, which is rectangular in plan, is built round an arcaded patio with a central fountain and a beautiful garden through which access is gained to the bodega.

The patio of the Palacio del Campo Real. The earthquake and tsunami of 1755 left one or two of the pillars slightly squint.

Being well over 500 years old, the bodega is naturally small by today’s standards, and was probably used for the storage of Don Pedro’s personal wines; certainly no commercial history has been found. There is an ancient buttress, which leads architectural experts to believe it could be even older, but nobody can be sure. Inside, it has a vaulted ceiling and, even more unusually in Jerez, has an upper floor which would have been used as a granary and which is reached by a steep stone stair. The floor is albero, the yellow coloured sandy grit which one sees in all bodegas. Today it contains just a few butts which are for the personal consumption of the owners and their guests, along with a handful of ancient ones which are empty but are there for effect.

Don Manuel and Dona Carmen

Although the palace and its bodega have been in the family for centuries it is only since the 1980s that they have belonged outright to Manuel Domecq Zurita, Viscount of Almocadén and long-time ambassador for Sherry in general and Domecq in particular, and his wife Carmen Cristina López de Solé Martín who have proudly restored it to its former magnificence at great personal cost, and without any financial assistance. While they won an award for conservation of heritage, they lament the current state of the historic centre of Jerez, but understand that the protection of its heritage costs money which is simply not there.  The use of the palace and bodega on various occasions as a film location, and their possible future use as a venue for fiestas as well, will hopefully provide the funds to keep this architectural, historical, cultural and viticultural treasure going.

This article by Jorge Miro appeared a couple of years ago in La Voz del Sur.

Oloroso Castillo de Guzmán 18.5%, Cooperativa Albarizas

Appearance
Fairly deep mahogany fading to amber with copper highlights.
Nose

Forthcoming, fresh and attractive with lots of toasted almond and walnut and hints of caramel, garrapiñada (almond cooked in sugar), toasted bread and oak barrels. The toasted and woody notes, while gentle, give a hint of seriousness to a wine with a bit of charm. It's much better than some coop Oloroso for bars or further ageing, it has character.

Palate

Mid to full bodied with a decent attack which quickly mellows and all those toasty, oaky, nutty and caramel flavours come through. It is dry but nicely rounded and not too intense. It doesn't assault the palate with tannin or volatile acidity, it has decent grip but just gives pleasure, and has amazing length. Not super complex but super drinkable.

Comments

This attractive wine is made by the Cooperative Albarizas at Trebujena, which is in the production zone and therefore can't use the word Sherry on the label. That is what is though, and this is the first time it has been bottled, to celebrate the coop's 40th anniversary in 2017. It is a limited release and is a blend of wines from selected butts in the solera. The coop, which up till now has only sold its wine in bulk to bars and other bodegas, feels there is a retail market for well priced bottled wine, and has even opened a shop. The wine is not particularly old or strong so it is very useful everyday wine of decent quality and is very good value. I can see it selling well.

Price

4.50 euros per 50cl bottle, Licores Corredera

25.7.18 More News on the Harvest

Growers are beginning to worry about the lack of the Levante wind. Nobody likes it as it is very hot and dry, but it is just what is needed to dry out the vineyards. Yesterday the Consejo Regulador issued a forecast predicting a possible crop increase of 10% over last year which could amount to 82.5 million kilos and be considerably above the average of 70 million kilos over the last decade. This would suit the growers, who are paid by the kilo, but only if they don’t lose their crop to rot.

(foto:Vanesa Lobo/Diario Jerez)

Curent conditions of excess humidity and lack of Levante create the perfect recipe for the spread of cryptogamic problems such as mildew, oidium and botrytis which are already in evidence in the coastal vineyards. The mild temperatures and overnight dewfall are not helping and the harvest is behind the average by 15 – 20 days and ripening unevenly, while the meteorologists are forecasting more of the same. It is not only Palomino which is affected, of course, but also all the table wine grapes, PX and Moscatel. The situation is tense, and though the alarm bells are not ringing quite yet, everybody is anxiously waiting to see what happens.

Bodegas: Muchada-Leclapart SL

Jerezano Alejandro Muchado Suarez met the pioneer biodynamic Champagne producer David Marcel Léclapart in 2011 when he helped with the harvest. To an architecture student this was an eye opener and he returned the following year. David is the 4^th generation of a small family Champagne business in Trépail in the Montagne de Reims area using traditional and natural methods in their 3 hectares of vineyard. David was impressed when he visited Sanlúcar and since the Jerez and Champagne regions have a great deal in common, particularly soils, and the pair was fascinated by their similarities and differences, they decided on a joint project to produce wines which would demonstrate their own take on the unfortified wines of the Jerez area. Alejandro by now had some experience in wine working with Viticultores Alba.

They work a total of nearly 3 hectares. Alejandro owns old vines in the 1.7 hectare Viña La Platera in the Pago Miraflores which he bought in 2017 and cultivates biodynamically. Some vines here are 60 years old and the youngest 20, all of them Palomino California. They also rent a 0.7 hectare plot in the pago Abulagar near Chipiona planted to 40 year old Moscatel vines. All the vineyards were in a rather poor state and he has been working hard to recuperate them. They rent a small bodega in the Barrio Alto in Sanlúcar and formed their limited company in February 2017. The plan was to show the soils of the vineyards in all their glory.

Vinification is simple. The grapes are hand harvested in the early morning and after pressing are fermented in tanks made of steel, not stainless steel but painted inside with a special ceramic paint, and without refrigeration equipment. Fermentation is kept cool simply by a pair of air conditioning units, and only the absolute minimum of SO2 is added. Barrels are kept full to avoid flor and the wines are bottled unfiltered after brief ageing in old Manzanilla and Amontillado butts as well as other types.

Although their first vintage was 2016, with all the wine vinified in butts, they chose to wait and release the 2017. Their first release was Muchado-Léclapart Univers 2017, made from Palomino Fino and Palomino California from La Platera, but by spring 2018 they had released a total of 6 wines, one sparkling (Fugaz). Production totals over 16,000 bottles – nearly double David’s production of Champagne.

The wines are:

Univers 2017: From the 20 year old Palomino vinified in steel tank

Lumière 2017: From the 60 year old Palomino vinified and aged 9 months in Bordeaux barrels

Elixir 2017: 45%Palomino/55%Moscatel vinified in Bordeaux barrels

Étoile 2017: Old vine Palomino vinified in Manzanilla butts

Vibrations 2016: Palomino vinified on skins and barrel fermented

Fugaz 2016: Sparkling Palomino made by the ancestral method.

Address: Calle Dorantes, 1, 11540 Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz

Website: www.muchada-leclapart.com