Author: sharquillo

Palo cortado Vides

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The penultimate wine of our Almacenistas tasting was this Palo Cortado from Jerez de la Frontera, a 15 year old (of which one under flor), 19º palo cortado from a solera of 50 botas.

I clearly remember the spiciness of this one. Looks and smells really enticing: a dark, reddish horsechestnut colour and a nutty, slightly fruity nose. Then on the palate it is a racy style of wine, acid attack, a wider range of flavours, minerals and alcoholic heat and a nice crisp finish.

Not over long or full bodied but a really good example of what palo cortados are all about.

Fino del Puerto Jose Luis Gonzalez Obregon 

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One of the great things about this Almacenistas range is the variety of styles – Lustau famously have bodegas in all three centres of the marco, and after two from Sanlucar it was time for a fino.

I don’t need my notes to tell you this is a cracker. The yeast in the nose, raw macadamias and seaside aromas of low tide/rockpools. After the elegance that preceded it came across as a muscular nose, and big and full on the palate too. I remember getting back to it much later in the evening and noting it was one of those finos that you can drink after dinner.

Brilliant stuff.

Amontillado de Sanlucar Manuel Cuevas Jurado    

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There were some doubts about the order of play on order of play but no problem at all for me. This was a typically elegant Sanlucar amontillado – in fact particularly fine, which may have to do with the five years under flor and seven ageing.

Again light in colour, a yellowy orange, nice nutty, mineral nose to it. On the palate a nice caramel attack but then a little bit of a gap before the minerals at the back end.

Very nice components – just a little bit disconnected. 

Manzanilla pasada Manuel Cuevas Jurado

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I cannot believe I have lost my notes to this brilliant tasting – really unbelievable incompetence even by my poor standards. 

Anyway, from memory this was a pale straw colour – paler than you expect. On the nose this was green apples, lots of raw almond aromas, maybe just a little mineral background. The palate was fresh, mineral and punchy – again green apples – but elegant too. Lovely wine and a really nice start to the evening. 

Oloroso del Puerto JL González Obregón

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We continue with our Lustau Almacenistas tasting with this Oloroso del Puerto by Jose Luis Gonzalez Obregon. Yet another 12 year old here, but with none of those five years under flor and the result is markedly different than with the amontillado.

This one had a lot of sweet notes, sweet spices and woody flavours and some of the guys at the table absolutely loved it. For me, there was a slight over balance on the woody side: it was like a juicy chocolate sweet – like a Cadbury eclair – but the caramel flavours were a little burnt and the barrel flavours gave it a bitter finish.

A tasty wine though – maybe would have done better against other olorosos.

Amontillado del Puerto JL González Obregón 

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Next up in the tasting of Lustau Almacenistas was the amontillado from the Almacenista José Luis González Obregón in el Puerto. From a small solera of only 10 botas this, likes it’s Sanlucar cousin, is a 12 year old amontillado with five years under flor and seven years of traditional ageing.

This was slightly deeper and richer in colour, a touch of reddish horsechestnut to it. Comparing the noses, this was slightly more honeyed and nutty, and had that hint of burnt butter that I associate with amontillados (ever since it was pointed out to me by Tom Gauterin – thanks Tom).  On the palate it had more muscle too, nuts and caramel, a big explosioon of zingy salinity and alcoholic heat and then long, fine finish.

A bigger, tastier, more muscular wine.

 

Equipo Navazos

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A fella has a pretty decent supply here: 16 bottles and 11 different wines from this brilliant team. A fair few more have come and gone too.

I have written before about the contribution these guys have made to marketing these wines with their magic numbers and the resulting scarcity.

But more importantly, the wines are of a very high quality indeed. Even in the three years I have known about them I have had the pleasure of 23 different botas:

Between them they cover every category and style of wine: some classic and elegant, some extreme, museum pieces, some innovative wines and some pushing the technical boundaries. And to these you can add bubbles by Colet Navazos, table wine under the label Niepoort Navazos, brandies and who knows what next?

It really is a fantastic body of work.

Cata de Lustau Almacenistas in Taberna Palo Cortado

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Terrific tasting last night at Taberna Palo Cortado: Lustau‘s range of Almacenista wines (see this excellent post on Sherrynotes for background).


We had almost the entire range – the only one missing was the Jose de la Cuesta Fino del Puerto – covering the full spectrum from fino to oloroso and the whole region from Sanlucar to el Puerto. There were some real gems – the Fino del Puerto and the Oloroso Pata de Gallina were my favourites – but the overall level was excellent.

  • First up was the Manzanilla Pasada by almacenista Manuel Cuevas Jurado in Sanlucar, a relatively young and delicate example of a manzanilla pasada, with notes of apples and almonds, and a great start.
  • That was followed by the Amontillado de Sanlucar from the same Almacenista, a typically elegant and mineral Sanlucar amontillado that was just a little hollow in the middle.
  • Then we moved to El Puerto de Santamaria and the Fino del Puerto by Jose Luis González Obregón, a brilliant, muscular seaside fino with notes reminiscent of rockpools.
  • That was followed by an Amontillado del Puerto by the same almacenista, again a more muscular effort than its Sanlucar cousin and a big and tasty wine.
  • The last wine from el Puerto was the oloroso, again by Jose Luis González Obregón which was richer in texture and intense in flavour but a little woody for my taste.
  • Then to Jerez de la Frontera, and a palo cortado by the almacenista “Vides” (owned by a Domecq, but not one of those Domecqs) which was a spicey, racey wine and a great example of the style.
  • Finally, and still in Jerez, we finished with a little gem of an oloroso, the “Pata de Gallina” by Juan Garcia Jarana, a smooth, tasty, complex, gem of a wine

It was a brillian sample of styles and locations, Carlos and Claudia from Lustau were engaging and good company and the cata was also high quality in terms of the information and content: straight to the point, most of the facts (not the vineyards, unfortunately, but otherwise very good), and thankfully not too much blarney.


And to be fair there would be scope for a fair bit of blarney here since it is a pretty good product concept (as one of my colleagues pointed out): the identification with the almacenistas gives the wines a bit of identity and context. I for one would prefer to see some vineyards referenced and even some vintage wines (like the excellent 1997 Oloroso) but this is definitely  a step in the right direction.

I am going to allow myself one gripe: the packaging is elegant and quality but ¿it is really necessary to have a unique bottle shape? This one isn’t as bad as some but still plays havoc with my limited domestic storage.

What can I say about La Taberna? The supper was fantastic and the atmosphere was superb (increasingly boisterous as the wine flowed). Really great to be there and looking forward to my next excuse.

Forlong Blanco 2015

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Back to this unfortified dry table wine from Palomino and PX over lunch at the Chula, this time the 2015.

Very pale but rich yellow in colour (lighting above is slightly moody due to high spec camera). Has a fruit on the nose – more exotic than an apple but not quite a pineapple – and then a herbal juiciness and minerality about it. There is sapidity there at the end – not long but it is a table wine after all.

Nice characterful stuff. 

Manzanilla Entusiastica

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Advertised as the first “ecological” manzanilla (strikes me as surprising but if they say so). Has bright, modern (clear glass) and cheeky packaging – a naked chap on the (natural) cork no less. He doesn’t look all that enthusiastic to be honest, and I would admit to misgivings myself when picking this up from Vila Viniteca last week, if only because I tend to be a bit suspicious of anything gimmicky.

I soon overcame any such doubts tasting it however. This is a subtly floral fruity manzanilla that is right up one of my many streets and different enough to be interesting.

The colour is a rich gold, and the nose is like a palomino table wine: less aromatic than I expect from a manzanilla, fruit with a hint of herbs and cheese. On the palate too it is less mineral and more organic than many. The minerals are there – a little buzz on the tongue – and so are those same flavours, but maybe it is a little underpowered in punch and length. More interesting and different than I expected – and nice flavours too.

…. Coming back to this a day later I have now located this interesting piece by Cosasdecome.com (which also seems to be cosasdebebe.com) with some excellent detail. Ecologically grown, single vineyard palomino from pago Burujena de Jerez  (where he also apparently is growing some “castellano” – one of those 40 odd varieties). The first harvest was 2012, refreshed in 2013 and 2014 and this is the first saca from October 2015. What is fascinating is that the first year was presumably the solera, 2013 provided a first criadera, 2014 a second, etc: the criaderas would have been literally stacking up as the years go by. This may of course explain why this tastes so fresh and raw – not only if the wine only three years under flor but the solera is brand new, so the average ages will be well down. I am not sure I have ever had a wine from a new solera before.

In fact a day later as a wine it has lost the element of surprise a little – it still has the fresh, raw character I mentioned but the fruit doesn’t stand out to me quite as much (the nose actually seems a little alcoholic), and I find myself missing some of the mineral freshness on the finish of a classic manzanilla.

Nevertheless, it is a rare example of a really new solera (new and proud of it) and for that alone worth trying – and coming back to over the years to see how it might evolve.