Manzanilla

Manzanilla Deliciosa en rama, May 2016

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Look at the colour of that. Rusty water, with a touch of rusty nail on the nose and palate (or is it suggestion?). Couldn’t help but think of the manzanilla en rama la Guita when I saw it, although unlike that second cousin this wine has acquired its colour from two years in the bottle – as you can see if you compare it to how it was two years ago.

Interesting to compare that note with this wine – this is still aromatic and yeasty, but a touch sour, slightly more mulchy haybales on the nose and a lower register in fruit flavours. Very enjoyable with the oxidation and a fun thing to try (here in Zalamero Taberna by the glass).

Delicious little bottle.

Manzanilla Solear en Rama Autumn 2017 – the Iberian Lynx

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Back in Madrid and back in business with this superb little bottle. I remember being slightly underwhelmed when this came out – the wine not quite living up to its majestic label – but after a year in the bottle and a few weeks in which the sherry levels in my bloodstream have dropped to dangerous low levels this is absolutely delicious.

Aromatic like a hayloft after a rainstorm, zingy and sharply saline, packed with vegetable flavour and spice. Love it.

Manzanilla Viva la Pepa, de los 50

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A sip of something fine, elegant, mellow, dry and just slightly peppery, like the refined idea of a manzanilla, or maybe the idea of a refined manzanilla.

It really was a beautiful thing to drink, and even if some of the other wines we had during a fantastic dinner at A’Barra may have had more complexity, the purity and elegance of this, and the clarity with which it was presented was truly memorable. This kind of thing is usually is a long way from my personal preference (I tend to enjoy a punchy, corpulent older than average fino or manzanilla pasada) but I would drink this any day of the week and what a testament to the skill of the sommelier and his staff.

Magical stuff. Viva la Pepa!

Los dos ma’res again

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Another crack at these, this time at the bar of Angelita. They are two wines sourced from the same solera (none other than the Solear en Rama) but at opposite ends of the building (the famous Arboledilla bodega), the idea being to demonstrate the effects on the wine of the microclimates within the building itself due to the different prevailing winds (poniente the sea breeze, levante the land breeze). (By the way the “two ma’res” reference is to a cracking joke by Primitivo Collantes which would take so long to explain it would lose its spontaneity.)

Big difference in colour, open a little while and the difference between the two seems to have yawned wider. The Poniente finer and sleeker, the Levante more boisterous. I bitterly regret not trying to find a contemporaneous saca of the Solear en Rama itself to complete the comparisons.

Nevertheless it is a fantastic little bottling and fascinating for any self respecting sherry nerd (and if you are reading this, well I suppose there is no guarantee of self respect but …). Brilliant stuff and a recent prize for Barbadillo as “most innovative bodega” is well earned imho.

 

Manzanilla de Añada 2012 – 4/11

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The fourth episode of this awesome saga comes with a darker colour, a richer nose and a softer feel. A real change from its three older (or younger?) siblings.

The series always promised to be an education in the effects of static ageing on the wines but it has also been a delight. The first wine had fruit and body resisting the biology: it was frankly a revelation at the time, and a glimpse of what could be possible with the minimum ageing under flor. The second was sharper, finer and the apple fruit and salinity marked it out as a real manzanilla. The third was a manzanilla with purpose: heavier with ozone and salinity. Now number four has oxidation and the resulting wine is enticing on the nose and full of mellow fruitfulness on the palate.

Nothing will ever repeat the emotion and excitement that accompanied that first wine or its significance – I remember it getting a standing ovation the first time I shared it with the guys-, but as a wine itself this may be the most enjoyable yet. It is a little beauty.

 

 

 

Solear en rama Spring 2015 in Corral de la Moreria

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After three years in the bottle this little beauty is like a day old child – nothing wrong with this at all.

It was one of several really top wines that the marvellous David Ayuso opened for us at the lunchtime party to celebrate Juan Manuel del Rey’s big prize: Premio Nacional de la Gastronomia for best service (sala). It couldn’t have been more deserved – this is without fail one of the happiest of happy places – and it was a fantastic occasion, with Juan Manuel calling the whole team up on stage to a ringing ovation, superb finger food by the star chef David Garcia, “mucho arte” from Perrete, Bocadillo and the boys and girls, a bravura performance by Juan Andres Maya and a really joyful finale with Blanca del Rey herself. A chance to celebrate wine, food, music and dancing, and all before

Maybe it was the happy occasion, the music or the three earlier glasses but for whatever reason this struck me as as good a manzanilla as I have had in a long time. As aromatic, zingy and juicy as any that I can remember, and very expressive of those salty, peppery bitter salad flavours.

Absolutely top stuff. Congratulations once again to the crew at Corral de la Moreria … and the crew at Barbadillo!

The flock again

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A growing obsession with these perfect little bottles, packed to the brim with zingy, zesty manzanilla (pasada) and emblazoned with beautiful creatures of fur and feather.

This was the pioneer in the en rama stakes, and in the seasonal saca stakes – they started these in 1999 (my little collection representa only four and a half of the nineteen years of sacas). More importantly it is one of the very top manzanillas around: full of character, ageworthy and subtly different as each season comes along.

Looking forward to the 20th anniversary celebrations next year (hint)!

Lustau 3 en rama 2018

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These were very generously sent to me by Lustau but be not afraid: this largesse will not affect the low standards of professionalism and objectivity for which the blog is barely known.

It is a terrific gift to receive. The 3 en rama set is a great idea by Lustau: three selected en rama wines from each of the three centres of el marco: Sanlucar (manzanilla), Jerez de la Frontera (Fino), and El Puerto de Santa Maria (Fino del Puerto). The wines are distinct and, in my limited experience, a good introduction to the characteristics of biological wines from the three centres.

The Manzanilla de Sanlucar de Barremeda is all fresh green slightly salty apples on the nose and the start of the palate, a nice bite of zing then again a fresh, apply finish. Very inviting indeed.

The Fino de Jerez de la Frontera is slightly more serious, more tangy vegetable than apple and a more intense, peppery zing. It seems to have more metals in the minerals more weight and a metallic tang on the finish.

The Fino del Puerto de Santa Maria is my favourite every year and yet again it stands out. It has a brilliant nose of sweet rockpools and is as complex on the palate – with sweet and herbal touches and a zingy, fresh finish. Really a top, top class fino.

Manzanilla Entusiástica in Zalamero Taberna

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Just look at the colour of that manzanilla – en rama and a year or so in the bottle and it is a lovely dark straw colour. Rich and mulchy on the nose too and a nice sweet/savoury character to it on the palate: hints of juicy sweetness at the start, then zing and savory, bready flavours in the middle and a salty fresh finish.

This is a really interesting wine – the first ecological manzanilla and as such a brand new solera when the wines were first released in 2016. If I am reading the codes right this wine appears to have been bottled at the end of 2016 and it has really gained from that time in the bottle. Maybe lost some floral notes but has broadened out on the palate (almost like a palomino white wine) and all the better for it.

Nice one.

Solear en rama winter 2017- the Marsh Harrier

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Has warmed up in Madrid of late and out for a stroll I found myself in need of a pit stop. As luck would have it, I was in the vicinity of Surtopia, a spot which is never short of the good stuff.

And this is very good stuff: the seasonal saca of the legendary Solear. This edition has all the characteristics of the legendary series. Gorgeous old gold colour, intense aromatics and powerful zing and flavours. The definition of an intense wine and for me the definition of an inland manzanilla (or manzanilla pasada if you must).

Superb stuff – I picked up two more to take home from a local retailer.