Amontillado

Marqués de Poley Amontillado Selección 1951 

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A fantastic night at Taberna Palo Cortado started with this 1951 Marques de Poley Amontillado. All of the wines were single vintage “añada” wines but not “statically” aged – the “merma” or evaporation of the wines had been replaced by wines from the same añada (and it wasn’t clear whether the wines had been “moved” between barrels in addition to that).

Anyway, moved or not, this is a 65 year old dry amontillado (Montilla amontillado, as Antonio Barbadillo pointed out) that is 100 pedro ximenez but unbelievably fine and light. I have written in the past about how elegant single vintage wines seem to remain, but this one was really amazingly excellent given its age and cepage.

You can’t really see the colour above because I didn’t get hold of the bottle until the glass was nearly gone, but it was crystal clear and a really lovely amber colour,  extremely appetising. The nose had a spirit quality that was nearer to brandy than petrol fumes, a really fine nose of caramel and alcohol. Then on the palate it had a combination of acidity and zing, that didn’t so much burn as freshen, followed by notes of caramel then quickly tobacco and leather, before a long, long bitter almond finish.

A really exceptional wine. One of the best 65 year old wines I have drunk, without doubt. (Seriously, one of the wines of an exceptional night – and what a start.)

Fino Coquinero

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This is pretty intriguing – have seen it a lot on twitter lately and picked it up this week to have a go myself. It also has a pretty interesting profile as you can see on its ficha – a fino amontillado with four and a half years under the flor and two in the open air at a pretty punchy 17 degrees. (Although the ficha doesn’t say so I am assuming we are talking a fino del Puerto.)

Just looking at it you could mistake it for an older fino – a darker shade of gold and very very clear – like a sort of gold alpine see. At first I find the nose slightly tinny – but it is opening out a little and the apple and nuts of the ficha are there alright. Tasting it I find it very zingy on the tongue, full of minerals and quite punchy, and then the nuts again in the aftertaste, but a kind of refined seaside bitterness, then quite a long smooth, nutty finish.

Punchy and pretty tasty.

 

 

 

Williams Coleccion Añadas

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This is a fantastic project by Williams & Humbert featuring six añadas wines from the 2003, 2009 and 2012 vintages – finos and olorosos for 2009 and 2012 but for 2003 an oloroso and an amontillado. I was able to get my hands on one of a small number of cases through Coalla Gourmet a little while ago now but haven’t yet had an opportunity to taste them all together.

Really looking forward to doing so however. So far I have come across the 2009 Fino and the 2009 Oloroso in the wild and they have been really impressive. Before that, of course, Williams was responsible for the brilliant 2006 Vintage Fino (tasted not once, or twice, but three times – the third against a really high quality solera fino) and is also the home of the redoubtable 9 year old el Pando, amongst others.

La Bota de Amontillado 61 – “Bota NO”

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Acquired this little beauty from Coalla Gourmet and have been enjoying it little by little (started at Easter and finishing at the final round of the Masters).

No ficha for this one but based on the information on the Coalla site this is from one of a number of soleras in the La Guita bodega that have been untouched since the 1980s – Manzanilla Pasada, Manzanilla Pasada Vieja and Manzanilla Pasada Viejísima. Specifically, this is from the Solera 1/10 of Manzanilla Pasada Vieja but is in reality a very old amontillado. It is the second time they have released a wine from this solera – the first one being Number 31.

Don´t be deceived by the photo above – this is a lovely crystal clear dark orange amber. On the nose there are quite remarkable cigar box, tobacco, and woody aromas, some honey and burnt butter, and curry type flavours.

On the palate it has a beautiful zingy feel. The woody, cigar box flavours are there but so are those sweet flavours that hold them together and it doesn’t seem acidic or astringent. There is a tobacco like singe at the back end and it leaves you with those woody flavours for a long time.

Another really unique wine from Equipo Navazos – they really are remarkable.

 

 

Fino Imperial (in Taberna Palo Cortado)

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Madrid is fortunate indeed to have a place like Taberna Palo Cortado, which has a fantastic list of wines by the glass that includes (apart from the reds, whites, champagnes, Tokay, Jura, etc. that are not within my jurisdiction):

  • 19 finos
  • 17 manzanillas
  • 22 amontillados
  • 13 oloroso
  • 15 palo cortados
  • 2 cream
  • 6 pedro ximenez (not counting the finos, amontillados, etc) and
  • 2 moscatels

Not just any wines, either: you can come here and have a glass (or two) of truly special wines like this Fino Imperial, a 30+ year old VORS amontillado fino from Diez Merito.

It has a pretty complete ficha: fruit from pagos that are classified as Jerez Superior (the precise pago is not identified, however), five years under flor then 25 years of oxidative ageing in a solera with five criaderas.

It is a really beautiful colour – slightly reddish amber and seems to glow – beautiful the way the sunshine emanates from it. On the nose there is a touch of volatile (which I love in moderation) then caramel and hazelnut, and even vanilla, with maybe just a bit of residual hay bales at the end from those five years.

Despite the volatile on the nose it doesn’t seem acidic on the palate: tingly more than zingy. A silky texture, in fact, pleasant caramel, hazelnut flavours first up then under cover of that silky caramel “old wine” notes of tobacco, wood and bitter walnut skin – all nicely balanced and a long slightly peppery finish.

Smooth, elegant, tasty and spicey at the end. Really good.

Tres Palmas (2013)

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This wine is class personified – elegant, balanced, beautiful buttery and toffee flavours. An amontillado fino from the old school – around ten years under a layer of flor that is just getting patchy. 

The guy who brought it to lunch is class too: an incurably optimistic Scottish rugby fan who made a bet against the wrong team, but who paid up in extremely handsome fashion. 

Here’s looking forward to next year’s Calcutta Cup!

Age before beauty?

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Not long ago I was lamenting the fact that the most expensive sherry I could find on a top class wine list was only the 345th most expensive wine on there. As if on cue, Barbadillo have just released a monstrously old, rare wine, with a wonderful back story (and name) and a strictly limited production amontillado called the Versos 1891 and have slapped on it the eye watering price of £8,000 – just over €10.000. (A look back at that same list puts this wine much higher up the pecking order – in the top 20 indeed.)

600x300versos

Now you don’t need me to tell you that this blogger won’t be getting within a mile of this nectar (although I would be happy to have a crack) but, knowing the exceptional talent of enologa Montse Molina and the fabulous wines they have down there, I am prepared to bet it is absolutely top class. I am also prepared to bet, however, that it is somewhat challenging, to use my favourite euphemism. Indeed, in this entertaining post by Victoria Moore in the Telegraph she notes that: “The wine itself is insanely intense.”

It worries me. Is “insanely intense” the definition of excellence for the wines of Sanlucar? Not for me. I must admit when I started taking a serious interest in sherry I was fascinated by these really old, big beasts, but the more sherry I drink the more disconcerted I am by the concentration in them. These very old soleras definitely gain in character as the years go by, but with a few exceptions I find a lot of the very old wines difficult. Not just the concentration either. I find the flavours can turn a corner – from chocolate, pine forests and fresh pipe tobacco to dusty leather and stale cigarettes. (Recently I find the super aged wines easier to deal with in the sweeter styles – the very old PXs and moscatels can be absolutely outstanding.)

It brought to mind a comment by Pitu Roca in the Mystery of the Palo Cortado where he talks about the possibility that Jerez gives you of drinking “history”. I wouldn’t dispute that, but by choosing to make a bottle of “history” the most expensive bottle of sherry ever, is there a risk of sending the wrong message? I for one would rather hear that it was the most exceptional bota of all the many thousands the Montse has tasted during her illustrious career – and that is not something I have read so far.

It is just a minor worry – I for one hope that Barbadillo sell all 100 bottles and that their purchasers treasure them. In fact when discussing this issue recently someone made a comment that made me giggle. They reckoned that the way to approach these concentrated wines is to give them a good spell of bottle conditioning to soften the effect – say twenty or thirty years!

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. 

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.

 

Amontillado Micaela

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I first had this ages ago, pre-blog, in the Chula, and finding myself at said locale once more (first time this week) I thought I would continue my mini-streak of Sanlucar amontillados and palo cortados .

It is a young amontillado (4-5 years old) from Bodegas Baron in Sanlucar. (Bodegas Baron produce no fewer than 4 amontillados under their different brands: this and the Pino Viejo are 4-5 years old, then there is the Xixarito at 14 years and the Soluqua at 30 years.) Like all the Bodegas Baron wines this one is nicely presented, with a kind of antique floral label.

As you can see, the wine itself is darkish amber in colour – more yellow than orange – and it has a quite baked apple/mineral nose. I would guess it was under the flor for at least a couple of those 4-5 years because it is really zingy, the salinity makes the caramel flavours seem intense, then there are smoky minerals and burned sugar flavours that seem to last a long time.

Maybe not quite as full flavoured/varied in the middle but plenty tasty alright.