Another very enjoyable, clean and elegant oloroso here – you would have no difficulty spotting the relationship with last week’s palo cortado. In fact I think this might be even better.

First, a whinge: for such a modern, high quality and forward thinking bodega I am extremely underwhelmed by the fichas (and you know I don’t enjoy having to research my posts). However, after some scratching around on the internet I gather that this is from a relatively young solera started in 1972 and the wine too is not overaged – around 20 years old. Interestingly, the palomino grapes involved were apparently “soleada” (literally, left in the sun” ) for a few days before fermentation – something that wasn’t uncommon back in the day but you don’t see often now.

The wine is a beautiful clear, auburn in appearance and has a nice, sweet nutty nose. On the palate it has very nice compact profile, toasted nut flavours, nicely integrated acid and touches of nutmeg spice and sweetness that lift it out of the caramel/burnt caramel run of the mill. Very clean – no astringency or dustiness about it – but nice and long, a really pleasant sucked toffee taste that lasts nicely.

What I love about these clean, balanced and elegant wines is how versatile they can be. I had this in La Chula and I have to say it was perfect with a range of dishes – navajas a la plancha, corvina and chuletitas – it didn’t intrude on any of them and really added to the corvina and the chuletas.

Elegance personified – give me more olorosos from youthful soleras!

The last wine of the Almacenistas tasting was this lovely Oloroso by Juan García Jarana. It was the only wine of the cata that I knew of beforehand and one I was looking forward to seeing again and learning more about.

It has been aged for an average of 15 years, is about 20º proof and comes from a solera of 38 butts. Apparently the name “pata de gallina” is a distinction given to wine that has a higher than average amount of glycerol – making the wine seem rounder and fuller than it might otherwise be. Whatever the reason, this is a little gem.

It is a crystal clear chestnut colour with a little more red and a touch less brown than its predecessors (this would have been a good cata for a side by side photo of all seven, had it occurred to me at the time). Almonds were a bit of a theme in this cata and here again there were almonds on the nose with sweet notes too and mineral smokiness underneath. Then on the palate it is full of flavour – zingy buzz to it and nice caramel, almond flavours, but spicey rather than bitter or astringent – very nice harmonious shape to it.

A really beautiful little wine – and my favourite of a very strong lineup.

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.

A VOS (20 year old) oloroso from Valdespino. Not a lot of information on the Grupo Estevez site other than that it is from wine sourced from a mix of vines from Macharnudo and Carrascal.

It is a darkish hazelnut colour and has that extreme gasoline nose of the really old sherries – intense solvent/furniture polish. On the palate it is dry, intense, acidic, and concentrated, but above all bitter. Has the character of a much older wine – but essentially bitter flavours, from black burnt caramel to tobacco and cedar wood.

Not absolutely my cup of tea – a little harsh, astringent and agey but it is good stuff nonetheless.

One of Lustau’s “Almacenista” bottlings, this one Juan García Jarana. As you may have seen, I tasted this in the presence of callos, and some really good callos too (the smokey chorizo gives them a really meaty flavour) so you would say this tasting didn’t exactly take place in “laboratory style”conditions.

The superb palo cortado I love best by Equipo Navazos is also called  Pata de Gallina and was also sourced from botas at this same almacenista – in fact I wonder if it was sourced from the same botas. Hard to compare at a distance but this has a lot of the same characteristics.

For a start, it has a lovely dark chestnut colour – maybe slightly darker than the Equipo Navazos bottling – and a very nutty, deep caramel nose, with that come hither smell of sweetness. On the palate it has an intense but pleasant acid buzz (here in particular the callos may have helped) and then it is very tastey and concentrated, with a deep caramel flavour, no stickiness (all the stickiness came from the callos) and no astringency. Very elegant in fact.

Really an excellent oloroso.

Thanks to a tweet by el Colectivo Decantado recently I was lead to a review of this by the guys at http://www.enoarquia.com and when I went to check it against my own post was shocked to find I hadn’t done one. Been a priority since then to make good this omission.

It is a beautiful crystal clear mahogany brown – not really a great picture above (poor background, poor focus) but there are red and orange hues in this that really stand out in the light. The nose is big and imposing – concentrated, some alcohol but aromas of toasted nuts and burnt toffee. (Compared to some younger olorosos the absence of overripe fruit is noticeable – in fact I find there is a real nutty, savoury quality to these Emilio Hidalgo wines in general).

It is acidic and concentrated on the palate and really follows through on the nose. It is actually a gentle, elegant beginning but then the acidity takes over in a big big wave of intense toasted nut and burnt caramel. Then a long, long finish, in which the burnt and toasted flavours come through even more. That burnt, toasted character gives it almost a mineral finish in fact.

A class wine. I cannot believe this is my first bottle since Easter.

Tasted this next to the last glass of the Cruz Vieja “oloroso en rama” and as you can see there is quite a difference in colour and clarity.

To be honest I prefer the cleaner look to the Maestro Sierra – a nice chestnut red-brown. On the nose it is nice and bright, a sweet woody oxidated aroma (maybe overripe fruit) with a touch of polish and alcohol.

On the palate it has some acidic, alcoholic buzz and then intense fruity (again, there is a flavour of raisiny, oxidated fruit that reminds me a bit of an over-ripe Chateauneuf or a big jammy Douro red), woody, caramel flavours – medicinal and slightly bitter.  Not too astringent or drying, but although it lasts in the mouth the sweeter tastier notes seem to fade quickly.

A bright, sharp oloroso – this would be great with a spicey stew.