Author: sharquillo

Palo Cortado Cayetano del Pino y Cia, Lustau Almacenistas 

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The Almacenistas collection is excellent.  The concept is absolutely right. It pays homage to the traditions of the region while recognizing the variation and uniqueness that is possible. More importantly the wines are top drawer – some of them are amongst my very favourite sherries – and they were the stars of one of the most enjoyable tastings I can remember.

So when the guys at Vila Viniteca tipped me off to this new addition to the range I couldn’t wait to have a go at it. (In fact, I believe I may have tried this wine in different packaging for the UK market but I am not 100% sure – it was at the end of a long day and looked very different, and although it seems very familiar I have no photo or notes ).

I definitely have tried it now, anyway, and it is another cracking wine. Lovely, vivacious colour and clarity to it (photo deliberately blurs the bottle because I wanted you to see the liquid). The nose has a little bit of brandy-light volatile to it with a citric/gingery sweetness – reminiscent of a liqueur from one of these mountaintop monasteries. Maybe a bit more volatile than I thought, with varnish like aromas as it opens out. Then on the palate it is dry, zingy, a sweet to bitter sensation of nuts and then an ashy, mineral finish. Very long at the end – bitter citrus flavours and salty chimney ashes hanging around for a long time.

Another racey, enjoyable wine from this brilliant series.

Fino de añada 2009, Williams Colección Añadas 

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This was a nice surprise today in Angelita Madrid – one of the Colección Añadas and a rare wine by most standards, but here you seem to be able to get anything at any time.

Not the most scientific of tastings – was having a very pleasant lunch with friends – but my impression was of a juicy, full flavoured wine that hangs together well even if it is not quite compact as such. Zingy salinity up front, then salty hazelnut flavours, maybe a bit spirity/alcoholic. It was paired with a fantastic roast sucking pig with a touch of orange and star anis and the wine stood up to those flavours admirably, although for me the anis and orange may have taken away some of the impression of hazelnut from the wine.

Nevertheless, an interesting, flavourful vintage wine with a bit of character to it.

 

Manzanilla de añada Callejuela 2012, 2/11 

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During the latest of many brilliant lunches yesterday at Madrid Angelita we were served this little beauty. It is not the first time I have had it – and it is not the first one of these wines I have had – but it surprised me in a number of ways.

I remembered this second volume of the series as a proper manzanilla with an edge of zingy salinity, but this had more green apple fruit and mountainside herbs – oregano and rosemary – than I remembered, adding up to a really lovely, characteristic chamomile tea nose. Then on the palate it packs a little punch of fresh almonds and juicy herbs – really flavourful and tasty – and compared to the añada finos that I have had recently it had a noticeable elegance and silky fine quality to it. I found it a little warm at the end with the salinity but a pleasant finish nevertheless.

A bit more than just a proper manzanilla – a very good one – and of course much more even than that.

 

Era Espacio Gastronomico 

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This place is really top quality. Have wanted to go for a while but the opportunity hadn’t come up so seized my chance this week. We made it hard for them – we rocked up on a Monday at 22:30 without warning in a group of 16 – but they took it in stride with style and we just had a blast. 

The surroundings are trending to bizarre (the second floor of Mercado Barcelo, which at 22:30 was all absolutely closed and deserted) but there is no doubting the authenticity, the bar itself is comfortable and frankly it even felt pretty cosy once we got in there. 

The provisions on offer are top drawer – the masses were quite happy with the mejillones, queso, and mojama to be honest, but those were followed by some outstanding callos a la tailandesa and huevos rotos (we took all the huevos they had). Really good stuff – light but really tasty and some fun flavours – and loads more stuff to try if we had had time. 

Even better, the wines. We had some Socaire, Callejuela Manzanilla Madura, Barbiana, Sacristia AB (2a saca de 2015), Fino Santa Petronila, and an oloroso I can’t remember, in addition to some Trenzado, and some pretty nice albillo from Madrid – I am not going to attempt to remember the red wines but the group was pretty into them. 

A really fun night too – David behind the bar seems the kind of bloke you can have a few laughs with and the regulars were a friendly and knowledgeable crew. A really top top spot all round. 

Surtopia

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Surtopia was until pretty recently the only place in Madrid with what you call a “sherrylist” (even if they were mostly manzanillas) and although now it has more competition in some respects it has no rival for lovers of all things Sanlucar.

The wine list has always been excellent and the food just seems to get better and better – the ensaladilla de langostinos and calamares sin tocar above were just superb, as were the huevos rotos that I forgot to take a picture of, and we washed them down with some manzanilla (the lovely atomatic 11540 from Sanchez Ayala), fino (La Panesa) and medium (again 11540, with a nice touch of manzanilla freshness). 

Throw in a few laughs with Jose and the top service of Ruth and the team and a fella can’t have any complaints – as good as it gets. 

Sherry Boutique

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Happy news for fans of the wines of Jerez in the UK – as of today you can get the wines of Bodegas Urium and Cruz Vieja from sherryboutique.com

It is the project of Helen Highley, aka Criadera, a certified sherry educator and one of the friendliest, most enthusiastic members of the worldwide sherry blogging fraternity. There is no doubt whatsoever about her passion for and knowledge of these wines and the wines and the bodegas involved, both relatively small, family run and high quality,are a testament to that.

Bodegas Urium is run by the Ruiz family, Alonso and his daughter Rocio, who fulfilled a lifelong dream by acquiring an old bodega with some old, old wines, where they produce a cracking, well priced range with everything from Fino En Rama and Manzanilla Pasada to an extra special 100 year old Palo Cortado. I had the chance to try the wines and meet Rocio back in June and it was a great night – these are fun wines and I can recommend them without exception.

Bodegas Faustino Gonzalez was founded in 1971, when a local doctor bought soleras dating back to 1758 and moved them to his wife’s bodega in the part of Jerez known as Cruz Vieja – the old cross, but have only been on the market since 2014. The wines are en rama and very small production – runs of 1000 bottles each year – but they have already achieved quite a following. The wines I have tried are full of character and the owner seems a good bloke too – he runs la Casa del Jerez, a brilliant store in Jerez itself, and really knows his stuff.

So there you go. No need to worry further about Black Friday, Christmas shopping or whatever, just get on sherryboutique.com and get clicking.

 

 

 

 

End of an era

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Very sad news to share today because this Friday, September 30, will be the last day of Ana Losada at la Chula de Chamberi.

I found the Chula in May 2012 when my proper job moved into the neighbourhood and since then it has been top number one on my list of happy places (as the half dozen regular readers of this blog may have noticed). The food is really excellent, the atmosphere noisy and relaxed, the people are fun and they have a great, fun selection of wine of every kind. It is no exaggeration to say that I love the place: when I am asked by colleagues in London if I would ever consider moving back I simply describe the Chula to them.

Ana has been a big part of that. She is a brilliant sommelier and the wine list she built up, the rotation of wines by the glass  (La Panesa, El Tresillo, Fernando de Castilla, Gabriela), the pairings she suggested (oloroso and navajas, fino de montilla and steak tartare … trust me on this), the new things and special wines she brought me to try, the wine folk she introduced me to, not to mention the world class banter … without them the last three years would have been an altogether less happy time.

Nowadays I can generally be found minding my own business at the bar, writing a blog post on my iphone with a glass of something nice, but before I met Ana there was no blog and it was all too rare that there was anything nice in the glass. It was Ana that told me I ought to write a blog about sherries (at the time I thought it was a subtle hint that I should stop banging on about them at the bar) and I have learned more from her about the reality of wine (anyone can pair a Meursault, as she memorably pointed out once in more or less those words) than I would ever let on.

Since then she has been a primary enabler of my habit – all kinds of special bottles have been produced and entire ranges of sherries have been sampled, and most memorably the Chula was the scene of the Night of the Pitijopos  (Volume I). I was very touched that Ana saved me the last of those six bottles for further study, and am very grateful too.

I am sure Ana will be a success wherever she goes next, and provided it is within the M40 I will probably end up being a regular customer. It certainly isn’t the end of Ana, and neither, I should add, is it the end of La Chula. But it is the end of an era that I will look back on with great fondness and much gratitude. So please all join me in raising your glasses to Ana and her next adventure. See you all there!

 

 

 

 

 

Manzanilla Sacristia AB – 2a saca de 2015

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Pictured here with a nice bottle of 2008 Arbois Pupillin on the bar at – where else – Angelita Madrid. (The blurring is not intentional.) The reason I ordered this was that on another visit to Angelita in the summer I incorrectly identified (a different saca of) the Sacristia AB as a Jura and I was curious to try them side by side to see how bad my error had been.

As it turns out it was a pretty bad error – there is not a lot in it colourwise but the hay bale aroma and savoury salinity of the manzanilla is unmistakeable and set it apart from its trans-pyrenean cousin. On the other hand, the difference in terms of fruit qualities was not as marked as I expected – there was less acidity but still plenty of juice in the manzanilla.

In fact I thought the manzanilla was a really excellent wine overall – potent and tasty but elegant, with a lovely silky texture. One of my favourites of this series and I will have to seek out a bottle for closer study.

Campeonisimo 2014

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Had a cracking late supper at Angelita last night and tried a few interesting things, none more so than this. It is yet another of the many wines by Alba Viticultores (by my count it is the 11th different wine I have tried). It is a 100% listán sanluqueño (palomino fino) from a vine called “Campeonisimo” or “superchampion” in Pago Miraflores. This is the 2014, which spent 10 months in tinaja – apparently four of them under flor – and is 12.4% with no sulfites etc.

It is dark in colour for an unfortified palomino, looks for all the world like a manzanilla pasada. On the nose it had a sharp edge and pungency. On the palate it had relatively good acidity and while it wasn’t full bodied as such it was tasty  – ripe apples and savoury, herbal touches – and with a nice sizzling chalk effect at the tail end of it.

Another little gem.

The other place

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After a really intense week I am only now getting around to reading this fascinating piece by Paco del Castillo on what he calls Spain’s hidden gem: Montilla Moriles. It follows on from an absolutely stratospheric tasting a week ago where the panel at elmundovino.com gave no fewer than three wines 19/20 and a further five 18.5/20 – and that in a tasting with no Don PX. 

For my part, I can only agree with the scores of the wines I have tried – the Toro Albala 1951 Amontillado in particular is an absolute delight and, while I only tried them on the fly, the 1955 Solera Cincuentenaria range by Perez Barquero and Abuelo Diego by Alvear also struck me as absolutely excellent. 

In general, I have a feeling that while not quite as expressive as young wines, these px tend to age even more gracefully than their palomino counterparts – maybe it is the higher glycerine content – and really benefit from a bit of additional time. The same applies to the finos even – the Capataz and the Gran Barquero en rama really gain from more solera. That glycerine also mitigates the extreme dryness and acidity that can be there in the real dinosaurs so they win every way up. 

So well done again Elmundovino.com – they may not be the only distinguished critics to pick this up (Don Luis was very keen earlier this year) and indeed none of the top wines in this tasting are being given away, but it is a timely recognition of another corner of excellent Spanish wines.