Fino

Moriles Fino TB 

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Montilla Moriles has some fantastic producers – Perez Barquero, Alvear and Toro Albala – and in addition to the top class sweet wines some of the dry wines can be really good too (like this Fino Capataz and this Amontillado Marques de Poley – among many others, as This blog  will tell you). However more often than not I tend to find them a bit heavy in texture (like this Fino los Amigos) although that is not always a bad thing – I remember the texture working really well in an oloroso release by Equipo Navazos.

This is definitely in the heavy going category – it was a gift and a nice surprise but even the giver told me they used it to cook with. The colour is very very pale and the nose is very pungent with ozone and nutty and yeasty aromas (I will say that for them – they tend to be good on the nose). Then on the palate it is a bit of a brute – the heavy texture, pronounced bitterness and alcohol – a bit disjointed.

I wonder what one cooks with this … 

Fino Trocadero

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Picked this up at Reserva y Cata a couple of weeks ago out of curiosity. It is a fino named after the Trocadero railway station (not the Paris “rien arrive” terminus, but the one in Puerto Real, to the South of Jerez on the Bay of Cadiz (where you can also find the fort which the Paris one is named after, the French having taken it off the Spanish at some point)) at the end of the Jerez- El Puerto-Trocadero line and was once one of the key routes for wine exports from the region.

It is an original label, no doubt – industrial engineering and infrastructure don’t tend to feature that heavily on wine bottles in my experience. Diligent research on the web reveals that this comes from an outfit called uno53 but I haven’t been able to work out much more.

The wine is a fino with seven years under flor and is pretty good stuff. Has a pretty nice colour to it and an aroma of seaside docks – piercing and bracing. It shows its age on the palate – a big spike of almost peppery minerals, then bitter, wet salty seaweed, maybe just a hint of bready flavours and nuts. Pretty good, railway style fino.

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.

Fino la Janda

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This is fino La Janda by Bodegas Alvaro Domecq. I tried their very pleasant manzanilla La Jaca a while ago and the equally decent 1730 Amontillado too – seem to be a pretty solid little producer.

Not much detail on the ficha although they do make a point of mentioning that they harvest in September (one of the issues that comes up in learned debates is the issue of the Jerez harvest taking place in August in search of less mature, less concentrated fruit).

I like it. Nice gold colour (this was served in a chilled glass, would you believe, but you still get the drift) and quite a fragrant, almond and mineral nose. Then on the palate it is fresh and saline but with a bit of bite and a nice bitter almond flavour. Quite a character and not bad at all.

Fino en rama 2009, saca de febrero 2016, Williams Coleccion Añadas

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This is the second of these vinos de añada that I have tried “in the wild” (as opposed to the box I have captive at home) and another very interesting experience. (In fact in addition to being of interest due to its static ageing it also from an interesting spot of terroir: although it doesn’t have any indication on the bottle, a knowledgeable source tells me it is made with fruit from the oldest vines in Añina and Carrascal (Jerez).)

Anyway, whereas the previous example I had tried was an oloroso that had been statically aged – i.e., not included in a solera, but in a butt on its own – this is a fino and thus has been under its very own veil of flor for seven years (which is pretty good going without being refreshed). As such it would be comparable to other statically aged biological wines like the Williams Fiño de Añada, in particular, but also the Callejuela Añada, the Barajuela, and the Encrucijado on this blog (although they have had much less time under flor), or like a vin jaune, if you want to look further afield.

Had this at lunch in Restaurante Vinoteca Garcia de la Navarra with a good mate and the speed of conversation didn’t leave much room for note taking. However, as you can see it is a dark, evolved colour (although I think my pictures exaggerate the share a little) but then has a fruitful, sweet but “sherryfied” nose. On the palate it is rich and full bodied in texture – I had the sense that there was more glycerine than you would expect for a wine with seven years under flor (certainly more than I remember from the 2006 Vintage)- and again gave an impression of fruity sweetness, like the flesh of the grape, while the minerals were very refined.

Quite a delicate structure to it overall and in addition to being fascinating extremely easy to drink.

 

 

Fino Inocente 

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Macharnudo power in Surtopia today. I have had this many times in the past (here is one) but I really look at this in a different way after my day on the pagos. Not looking for acetaldehide here – the haybales don’t come out even when the glass is empty – but rather the muscle of the albariza and the sapidity and those two qualities are certainly there. It is incredibly compact and austere, elegant/horizontal in profile and leaves a mouthwatering tingle that lasts and lasts (I am reliably informed that this is the effect of the caliza), giving it an incredibly fresh and refreshing finish.

I see that back in the day I was ahead of my time and compared this one with the Bota de Fino 54 “Macharnudo Alto” (which does after all come from the same neighbourhood). Reassuring to see that those notes and those of the day before correspond roughly to my thoughts now, so I am not imagining these qualities. More interestingly, a clear demonstration of the different profiles of fino that can be produced from the same grape and on the same pago (and by the same chap now I think about it) using different techniques in the solera: this stark, compact, sapid style or the big, expansive, almost fruity 54.

Delicious, classic, and illuminating. I have since been told by none other than Alvaro Giron that this (and other macharnudos) is a prime candidate for cellar ageing – “at least” five years. See you in 2021 for that one!

 

Fino Tradicion Saca de Octubre 2013 

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So here we have bottle number 74 of the second saca of 2013 from this fantastic bodega. On the blog I have previously tried the May 2013 saca, the May 2015 Saca (not once but twice) and the November 2015, and pre-blog I had also had the October 2014 and my impression is that for whatever reason these are getting better as the years go by.

This one looks a shade darker in colour to me, and although this stemware is not quite the best it also doesn’t look quite right in terms of brilliance – maybe not cloudy but slightly dull. The nose is quiet and jura like but not all that cheesy, and on the palate it doesn’t seem to have the nutty, umami solidity of some of the later versions. As a result, the grapefruit flavours I noticed in the May 2013 come across as almost sour in this one. There are nice minerals, it makes the mouth water and there is a long, bready aftertaste, but just not enough on the front end.

Chalk it up to the old ones not necessarily being the best I guess.

Fino la Barajuela 2013

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I have been after this wine by Bodegas Luis Perez for a good long while and am glad to say it was worth the wait.

It is a wine from some of the most famous real estate in the area: Pago Corregidor in Carrascal – the Northernmost and furthest inland of the great pagos of Jerez (dead North of Jerez on this map). The vines are on Albariza “Barajuela”, which is characterized by visible sedimentary layers, like a deck or “baraja” of cards and for producing fruit capable of wine with a muscular, horizontal quality. It has been statically aged and is still a baby compared to many finos around at only two years under flor, but there is no doubting its force of personality.

As you can see, it is a crystal clear, slightly golden colour and this might sound odd but I would describe the nose as “compact” – not a yeasty/acetaldehide nose but punchy almonds, melon, herbs and maybe just a bit of salinity. On the palate it is indeed big and muscular – with a punchy yeastiness, maybe some very mellow fruit like melon or pear, almonds, and some sapid zing. It is an intense experience, with a lot of body (still a high glycerin content you would say), structure and flavours but also a long, pleasant, fresh finish.

“Old school” stuff: it is said that back in the days when the wines of Jerez ruled the earth they were wines such as this -big, solid, wines quite distinct from today’s lighter styles. Drinking this you can absolutely believe it. Magnificent.

 

Fino en rama Fernando de Castilla Noviembre 2014 

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Had this with an excellent lunch at La Buena Vida and found it a very zingy, lively fino. 

As you can see the colour was a beautiful gold. The nose was in the citrus/almond line rather than big hay bales, refined but enticing, with just a bit of toasted honey or something. Then on the palate I found it big in volume and texture and quite zingy/spicey, particularly on the finish. 

A lively effort in keeping with the elegant, full flavoured wines you expect from this top class bodega. 

 

Fino los Amigos 

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At a work conference far from home but among friends with this very decent 100% pedro ximenez fino from Perez Barquero. It is 3-4 years under flor and very pleasant. 

Yellow-green in colour, rich colour too. Nice punchy almond nose, slightly heavy bodied but nice nutty, herbal flavours.

Not bad at all.