Manzanilla

La Bota de Manzanilla 32 – 5 years later 

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Here is another interesting release by Equipo Navazos and one that is bang on trend.

Behold a bottle of excellent manzanilla – one of the top wines from Sanchez Ayala bottled by Equipo Navazos and one of the first of theirs that I tried. As the second band label makes clear, this bottle is one of six hundred that Equipo Navazos reserved at bottling in October 2011 and have only released again now in November 2011. These bottle aged wines are currently all the go (you may have noticed my own musings and even the new category on the blog), and indeed the stated reason for holding these wines back (five years ago) is to show that they are capable of ageing like any great white wine. The experiment deserves nothing but praise – these guys really have done as much as anyone to generate interest and debate about these wines, and this is another superb release on that score. (My appreciation also to Angelita Madrid – what a luxury it is to be able to have a wine like this by the glass.)

This wine is great. It was always a rich colour but now has an old straw complexion and a lovely yeasty, chamomile and acetaldehide nose, nutty, citrus flavours and zingy salinity. It has retained its biological character and is really top class.

But is it better than it was five years ago? Compared against my (admittedly fading) memory of the wine I first tasted it seems finer and has a bit more smokey flavour, an additional burnt edge and an even more elegant profile. But in my minds eye it seems a touch duller and blunter than it once was, and the additional edge of flavour makes it – to my imagining – slightly more bitter.

I fear I may be projecting my views about bottle ageing these wines. Do I remember this wine as zesty and fresh, or am I imagining that to confirm my theory? I will never know – I have a bottle in the fridge but evidently it is also five years in the bottle. And in the end, what does it matter? I am sure many others will enjoy this wine, which is excellent, and there is no doubt that that shade less punchiness brings it down nearer to the more accessible range of mortal wines.

But ultimately I am put in mind of that old sheep of the Lake District, Wordsworth, and his famous definition of poetry being “emotion recollected in tranquility”. Although I enjoy the poetry of these old wines, I generally prefer the emotion of the new ones.

Manzanilla head to head 

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Told my better half I fancied a manzanilla and went to get myself one – by the time I got back I already had one. I wonder if you can guess which one I brought to the party …. 

This Zuleta manzanilla is cracking after a couple of weeks open. Has that same metallic/chalky aroma on the nose, heavy salty texture, herbal citrus flavour, zingy salinity and a long, slightly bitter citrus finish. 

Way, way better than the other manzanilla. 

Manzanilla Solear en Rama, Autumn 2016

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A new instalment of this incomparable saga of seasonal sacas, with a new, streamlined and elegant label featuring the Little Bustard (Sison Comun). Very attractive too (even if the change in label wrecks the aesthetic of the family photo).

The contents are absolutely fantastic. I love the yeasty, salty haybale aromas, the ripe apple and bitter salad flavours and, above all, the spicey, saline finish. Above all the sensations in the mouth are astounding: first a fullness and creamy buttery texture, then the flavours, then the mouth is stinging for an age, then fresh and watering.

Another classic.

Lustau biological wines in Taberna Palo Cortado

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Finally getting around to writing up my notes – thumbs a blur across the iphone screen – of the fascinating tasting of Lustau biological wines at Taberna Palo Cortado last week. We got to try wines from all along the solera process – including the sobretabla and a wine from an intermediate criadera.

Anyway, here we go with my thoughts:

  • Sobretabla – one year old wine that has been fortified and will be used to refresh the La Jarana solera. As a wine you would find it alcoholic, rustic, unready and undefined, but it has personality alright – a really earthy, punchy little brawler. Whatever, I still appreciate the chance to try these whenever I can, because they can give you an appreciation of where the wines come from.
  • Fino Jarana – after the sobretabla you could really appreciate the fine quality of this and the work of the flor, of which it has had around four years. A very nice green apple and salty nose, and green apple on the palate too, with salinity giving it buzz and volume. A very decent young fino.
  • 1a criadera of los Arcos. This wine was not a successor to the last – from the first criadera of amontillado, but fed with manzanilla (I guess the Papirusa) rather than the Jarana. It had four years under flor and around two of traditional ageing. Like the sobretabla it was exuberant and a little unmade/undefined – fascinatingly so. Light in colour and slightly turbid, it had a slightly fuzzy, still pungent and salty nose with a little hazelnut to it. Again on the palate you noticed the salinity, which seemed to slightly overpower the nuttiness when it came.
  • Los Arcos itself is the real thing and showed some real benefit for its additional couple of years of traditional ageing (and of course finishing – whereas the previous wine was a bota sample this was a finished product). Four years under flor and four years traditional ageing this had greater clarity and sharpness. Refined hazel/apple or even tomato on the nose here – a sweet cherry tomato. Then a nice zingy bite on the palate and roasted nut flavours with a nice tasty finish.
  • Escuadrilla – now we come back to Jerez, and an amontillado with four years under flor (the Jarana) and a further eight years of traditional ageing. This was a cracking wine, crystal clear and a lovely chestnut colour, with a nose of hazelnut spread – really appetising nose. On the palate too it just seemed to have a bit more flavour and class than its predecessor – nice rich hazelnut and a long mouthwatering finish keeping the flavour going.
  • Amontillado VORS. It was followed by the senior amontillado of the range – a VORS (i.e., at least 30 years old in total). A rich red chestnut colour, again crystalline, this had a much more pronounced sawdust on the nose, then a palate that was more acidic first up, even dryer, concentrated flavour and then a very dry finish.

A really interesting group of wines and the kind of tasting that can be really instructive. I think my favourite was the Escuadrilla but there was no doubting the power and class of the VORS or the spriteliness of the Arcos. Excellent range of wines.

But there was more to come – a bottle of East India Solera was produced with the deserts, and although I am not in general a fan of creams and mediums this one struck me as most opportune and went down very nicely indeed.

And in fact there was even more to come because Abel Valdenebro, a genial chap and genius photographer, had brought along a lovely old Lustau amontillado from the 1960s, which was then followed by another couple of vintage bottles purchased by popular subscription (a whip around) from Paki’s fantastic collection, including a sublime Inocente that had been in the bottle at least forty years. (I rather cheekily asked Paki for a 2016 Inocente as a comparison and it was as stark a comparison as I can remember – will write on that anon.)

So many thanks once again to Carlos from Lustau and to Paki for a cracking evening, and to Abel and the other subscribers to the other wines. Top class all around.

Manzanilla Zuleta, Spring 2010

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A gift from my good friend Guille – one of the most generous guys around, whether with his wine or his time – this is a bit of a treat during a week of hard labour. And it is a lovely sup too – has that chalky/metallic, citrussy flavour that seems to be accentuated and broadened out by a slight oxidation.

Of course I now realize I should have lined up a new bottle of the same so I could tell the differences – must see if I can rectify that in the next couple of days. For the time being there is certainly nothing wrong with this – very nice indeed.

Manzanilla la Kika

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Not entirely by accident things are coming along in bunches. Here we have la Kika, the manzanilla flagship of the Yuste fleet, with its touching homage to the owner’s mother and it’s outrageously unrackable bottle – not to mention the stopper!

More importantly this is a cracking wine – and a close relation of the Manzanilla Sacristia AB of recent releases (of which I had a glass of the Spring 2016 just last week and the Spring 2015 yesterday), which I believe are taken from the first or second criaderas.

A manzanilla from palomino sourced in Balbaina that has passed through nine classes located in the bodegas of the group in Miraflores, Los Angeles, and Santa Ana. At the end the average age under flor is about 10 years and it is bottled unfiltered and by hand .

I am a bit surprised at how bright and fresh it is compared to my memories of other bottles. It is a bright, sharp gold and has more green apple fruit than I recall. Nice seaside and esparto grass aromas and raw almonds, then similar richness on the palate – very smooth and creamy, punchy yeastiness and a bittersweet, mineral finish: really zingy and fresh. Really quite different to what I expected – I remembered it as more evolved and cheesy – maybe a variation due to spring and winter sacas or time in the bottle? (Wish I had taken better notes.)

Anyway, available by the glass at Territorio Era but hurry – the bottles are small weeny and I am not sure how many they have.

Manzanilla Maruja

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Was in Territorio Era at lunchtime and couldn’t resist a glass of this as a comparison to the palo cortado from the other night. It is by Juan Piñero and is their flagship manzanilla, from palomino fino on Pago de Hornillos, with an average age of 8-9 years from a solera with 8 wines (solera and seven criaderas) and 8-10 sacas a year – highly dynamic you would say.

The result is a classic manzanilla with a rich gold colour, nice herbal seaside flowers and sea air on the nose and buzzy, burning salinity, nice herbal flavours and just a touch of green apple on the palate.

Very drinkable stuff and to me it is fascinating to see how the oxidation transforms it into something utterly different. In fact it would be great to line this, the manzanilla pasada and the palo cortado together.

Manzanilla Sacristia AB, Spring 2016

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My last glass of wine of an enjoyable lunch – this one at the bar of Territorio ERA and a saca that I hadn’t tried before. A really nice, elegant manzanilla no doubt – a nice bright entry, sapidity, flavour and nicely integtrated salinity, even a bit of creaminess, and a long mouthwatering finish.  I will be honest I was in a pretty good mood when I had it – may have to try it again with my game face on.

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.

 

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.