Author: sharquillo

The wide world of wine (67 Pall Mall)

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One of those lunches that was highly enjoyable, alcoholic, and sobering. Coming face to face with the wide world of wine and not meeting many sherries. Wonderful place this – and the world of sherry needs to do more to be here.

67 Pall Mall is a (the) private members club in a (the) prime location in London: if the window was open a practised arm could lob an empty wine bottle into the garden at St James’ palace. It is an absolutely top class neighbourhood – I won’t go through the full list of local establishments but suffice to say that it is just down the hill from Economist Towers and around the corner from Lock’s hatters.

More importantly once you get inside you have the world of wine at your feet. The wines displayed above represent only about 75% of the wine list (if you include the stuff on the lower level that you can’t see). Literally hundreds of bottles, and even more impressively they have an outstanding range of wines by the glass. I was unable to count them because the list comes on an ipad, complete with short cuts, and I am hopeless at counting and scrolling. Our lunch was based around the wines of burgundy and there was a frankly stunning selection of St Aubin, Corton Charlemagne, Meursault, and Volnay by the glass, so just imagine the possibilities if you choose to range more widely.

There was also the definition of expert guidance on hand: a top team of sommeliers lead by top man and madrileño Roberto Duran – a top bloke and one of the very few to have passed the Advanced exam of the Court of Master Sommeliers.

And the sherry presence? I must admit I didn’t study in much detail but it was good alright – some very solid wines from Equipo Navazos, Tradición and Hidalgo la Gitana by the glass, probably a few more by the bottle.

But it was another of these occasions where I was struck by how much the wines of Jerez and Sanlucar lose by not paying more attention to terroir and vintage. The sherries there were good alright, but some of the burgundies and clarets, and indeed many others, cost more by the glass than the finest sherries did by the bottle. Now I may spend my life swigging down sherries, and have got through a ridiculous number in the last couple of yeards, but even I was just struck by how many more possibilities there were elsewhere on the list: there were multiple vintages of some wines by the glass, for a start.

But those are really just symptoms of a broader issue. The wines on this list reflect, to an extent, the tastes of the members of this club, and whatever else is true that is a group of highly sophisticated wine lovers. The fact that there were relatively few sherries suggests to me that for all their quality and qualities, the wines of Jerez and Sanlucar have a bit more to do if they are to get back to the place they deserve.

 

Fino Una Palma 

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The Palma range is a special selection of special wines by Gonzalez Byass – for background see this piece from April 2015 amongst others – and this is the first of the four, a nice fresh six year old fino (available by the glass in Territorio Era).

One of the defining characteristics of the range is the refined elegance of the wines and this is no exception. Nice punchy potency, almond flavours, just a touch of herb but all restrained and in a fatty, silky profile. 

A very easy sup.

Palo Cortado Cruz Vieja 

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After a frankly demoralizing salad at my desk I have escaped my bonds for a quick refreshment in my local hostelry of choice and in the form of this sharp, racy version of a palo cortado by Faustino Gonzalez.

These guys label everything as en rama – which strikes me as odd for these older wines – but for whatever reason it does come across as a smidgen dull and cloudy to begin with. It is defined on the nose alright. Has a piercing, sawdust and tomatoey vinegar nose – really sharp. Then sharp again to start with on the palate, followed by dry, woody caramel flavours (notes of amontillado, as the back label says) and a bitter, zingy, mouthwatering finish.

Sizzling, acidic stuff but maybe lacks the depth of flavour to balance that sharpness.

La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada 60 – Bota Punta 

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An absolute masterpiece. Of all the high quality wines that Equipo Navazos have released, I think the releases I have most enjoyed (with maybe one exception) are the “noughty” manzanilla pasadas. They have released wines from this one solera as Botas 10, 20, 40, 50, 60 and 70 and the ones I have tried (40, 50, 60 and 70, and no more than a glass of 20) have been absolutely outstanding wines.

You can read all about this one on the excellent ficha on the web and it is not the first time I have had it. In my experience, each new bottle I have tried (see here for bottle one and here for bottle two) seems to be more aromatic, silky and intense. As you can see, it has a beautiful deep rich gold colour. On the nose there are sweet herbs and esparto grass (the stuff they sole your espadrilles with) and then on the palate it is a bomb of flavour and buttery salinity.

Elegance personified – lovely stuff.

Colet Navazos 2011 – Extra Brut

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Having picked this up from Coalla Gourmet as a wine of the week lately (despite a moratorium being in place) I had the chance to crack this open after lunch yesterday at the home of a good friend and I thought it was brilliant. It is from Equipo Navazos and in particular their JV with cava producer Colet. According to the (as always) excellent ficha it is a 100% Xarel Lo with 30 months in rima and dosage with palo cortado and amontillado.

It is a big exuberant cava: yeasty, floral, roast apple and a touch nutty on the nose. Then a nice full, moussey texture with crisp carbonic bite, nutty flavours then heavy metal and grapefruity citrus on the palate.

A serious wine – bubbles to savour.

Bubbl

Cuatrogatos Wine Fest 

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Have been waiting to plug this event for ages but have not managed to get any kind of publicity material out of the promoter (Federico Ferrer of the Cuatrogatos Wine Club, beloved of this parish) so I was very grateful to come across the above photo, which I have blagged from Lorena Costas’ twitter time line. (Since I first posted this the official website is now available – and here it is.)

Wine and laughter, or vice versa

As you can see it is on February 25, 2017, is to be held at the Plaza de Toros in Puerto de Santa Maria and will be a “wine fest”: in return for a modest entry fee participants will be given a wine glass and license to roam around a bullring packed with top class, independent wine makers. You will be able to meet and chat to the afore-mentioned and, who knows, maybe even drink the occasional glass of wine.

In fact the list of winemakers that will be on the premises is pretty cracking:

German R. Blanco (Quinta Milú, Casa Aurora, Altos de San Esteban and his new project in La Rioja “La Bicicleta Voladora”); Eulogio Pomares and Rebeca Montero (Zárate y Fento Wines); Miguel Montoto and Inma Pazos (Vinos de Miguel: Coto de Gomariz, Ailalá y Vinos de Encostas); Jose Crusat (Entre os Ríos); Xurxo Alba (Albamar); Beatriz Herranz (Barco del Corneta); Charlotte Allen (Almaroja); Verónica Ortega (Verónica Ortega); Javier Castro and Sonia López (Bodega Ziríes); Armando Guerra (Zerej!); Cristina Carrillo (Bodega Finca Fuentegalana); Primitivo Collantes (and his eponymous wines); Ramiro Ibañez (Cota45), Willy Perez (Bodegas Luis Pérez); Alejandro Narvaez and Rocío Aspera (Bodega de Forlong); Lucía, Olga and Desirée (Cuatro Ojos Wines); Paco and Pepe Blanco (Viña La Callejuela); Ramon Parera (Celler Pardas); Mayetería Sanluqueña; and Xabier Sanz (Viña Zorzal)

And that is not all, there will also be additional wines available including:

Casa Castillo; Suertes del Marques, Clos Lentiscus and Fil’Oxera & Cía

There will be cooking by Eduardo Perez of Awita Taberna Ambulante, tastings throughout the day and an official store from whence to acquire the goods.

All in all, the wines are top class, the people involved are a good laugh and the first edition was a real blast, by all accounts. I have no doubt that this one will be too. I will do everything I can to get down there and I encourage anyone with the chance to do likewise.

The search for the lost butt of wine

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en-busca-de-la-bota-perdida

I am pretty sure the title of this nice piece (in Spanish) in Metropoli is a reference to the great series of novels by Marcel Proust (which I always associated more closely with little cakes and involuntary siestas) but you never know it may be a literal reference to people searching for “forgotten” butts of wine. In any event the article certainly covers a phenomenon in the wines of Jerez which has always struck me as fascinating: the guys that go hunting in other people’s bodegas to find special barrels for release to the public.

The usual suspects are here: Equipo Navazos, who have probably been operating longest and have released an ever wider variety of wines, some of which are really extreme and exotic; and Antonio Barbadillo’s Sacristia AB, also long established but more focussed, you would say, on classic styles and profiles. But the article also references some of the fresher faces on the block: Alexander Jules, the collaboration between Lustau and Juan Ruiz Henestrosa of Aponiente (which reminds me that I still haven’t tried that wine) and Federico Ferrer’s Cuatrogatos Wine Club.

I really think these limited bottlings help to generate interest in the wines of the region as a whole and the concept of the “lost bota” is definitely a good one in marketing terms. But if I were to criticize the piece at all it would be that they in fact don’t give enough credit to some of th winemakers involved. The Equipo Navazos “Florpower” white wines and Socaire and Golpe Maestro involved far more than finding old disregarded botas. Rather, these are top class wines being made in innovative ways. Indeed, Sacristia AB and Alexander Jules also do a bit more than just snaffle up botas that they find: as Alexander Jules’ excellent website explains, their wines are often from intermediate criaderas, specific sections of soleras and bodegas.

Nevertheless, bravo to all concerned, and in particular Metropoli!

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Manzanilla Velo Flor 

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This is one of the wines of the moment and one I have seen in countless instagram, twitter and facebook photos lately. Even worse, on more than one occasion I have rocked up to find a group of friends and acquaintances with a recently finished bottle. If not actual mental anguish it has been mildy vexing.

It has been worth the wait though. I finally caught up with this in Territorio Era and was most impressed. Beautiful label for starters (although points away for the vinoteca defying non-standard bottle shape), then a luscious old gold colour in the glass. Has a nose of yeasty haybales, roast almonds and above all a big dose of sea air, with iodine and sea salt, verging on rock pools. Then on the palate it is zingy and intense, full of bitter almond, curry and spice flavours. Long, spicey finish.

This is a manzanilla from Bodegas Alonso, one of the more exciting projects in Sanlucar at the moment. You can read all about it here in this excellent piece by Paula Maclean, but for many the words “Pedro Romero”, “Gaspar Florido” and “Ansar Real” sum it up  since these guys have managed to get hold of some of the most coveted botas in the region.

And happily, they are also producing an excellent manzanilla. A really excellent manzanilla in fact, and one worth chasing after.

El Amontillado Olvidado 1/5 to the rescue

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A fella is suffering here – an inflamed nasal passage (sinusitis like but less runny) and a pounding head and the certain knowledge that tomorrow will be even worse. 

But this is just the job. Deceptively golden amber in colour, real walnut polish on the nose and the bags of flavour and punch on the palate. Top class, sizzling finish – real spice and bite. 

My symptoms are the same but the mood is substantially improved!