Pretty shambolic blogging effort here – note how I cut one of the four bottles out of the picture. The Pandorga 2015, no less.

To be honest though I was most interested in the new UBE Maína 2016. The original UBE, the exceptional unfortified 100% palomino (the 2014 pictured in the centre above)  is from Miraflores, probably the most reknowned of the pagos influenced by the Atlantic. This wine, which will only have had a few months in the barrel and has a good way to go yet, is from Maína, probably the most reknowned of the river influenced Sanlucar pagos. Really interesting to try them together.

Although the Miraflores is vertical and fresh for me one of its strengths is how aromatic it is – particularly after a little while open – and the potent little bomb of sapidity. Compact and refined but full of almost savoury flavour.

By comparison the Maína seems heavier (but has only had a few months in the barrel after all) and has a lot more structure and upfront power – whereas the Miraflores slips in this seems to kick the door down. Bags of flavour there too – this has the potential to be a quality wine alright.

And after that it would have been rude not to try the Encrucijado 14 that was available, and if I thought it was elegant and defined before, after the young Maina it was positively silky (to be fair it has had a few months under flor).

Fantastic stuff – going to be a long wait for the UBE Maína 2016 but looks like being worth it.