On a visit to Surtopia and despite their having no fewer than 19 manzanillas y finos por copa, the star of the show is this, the 11540 – a special bottling for the house. It is a very smooth, well integrated manzanilla – more fruit than hay bales, very pleasant rich mouthfeel and very nicely integrated salinity. Was absolutely cracking with this tortillita de camarones.
Coming back to this a good while after I last tasted it.
The first impression is the colour – it is a light brown, orange amber – and the second is the sweet honey in the nose. To be blunt tonight the nose reminded me of a Crunchie Bar – albeit a Crunchie Bar with a bit of background alcohol. On a deeper inhale there are also notes of the fruit of a dessert wine (not a PX either).
On the palate the flavours are a bit more black treacle/toasted caramel – some nice acidity and heat. I don’t get the honey or fruit at all on the palate – although maybe a little bit in the texture – all in all it is a juicy mouthful.
After the two slightly older than average finos of recent days I had a hankering to try a classic fino – and this is a classic fino.
In colour it is a pale straw – with maybe just the tiniest tinge of green. On the nose there is a bit of hay bale but it is definitely more wet grass than dried grass, some muted green apples in the background and a bit more alcohol than I expected. It feels oily in the mouth and it has noticeable salinity – a real mouthful of pure seawater – then the yeasty, vegetable power catches up in a hurry – maybe just a hint of lemon and a real tingle on the tongue.
Overall a classic aperitif refresher – I can imagine drinking barrels of this if I am not careful.
I am all over these funky labels from Bodegas Baron – love it.
The wine inside is tasty too – a mellow, meaty oloroso with a lot of (dry) burnt brown sugar and not too much acidity or alcoholic heat. Maybe a little bit underpowered, if one was going to be critical, but full of black treacle flavour. Went superbly with a meaty stew.
All in all a really enjoyable glass of wine and one of the more drinkable olorosos around.
A lovely light but fruity manzanilla from Bodegas Baron.
It is a pale pale yellow in colour – very much the epitome of sunshine in a glass. It has a very interesting nose too – between fruit and fresh sweet herbs maybe (I had just had a more classic manzanillla and the difference was marked). It is very fine in the mouth and had just enough salinity – in fact less than I expected. The fruit, herbs were not quite as prominent on the tongue but It is excellent and was a really refreshing way to start a meal.
2014 on the left, 2009 on the right – just look at the colours. It is immediate on the nose, and on the palate too.
We started with the 2014 and it was light, fresh, dry, fruity, saline and refreshing – a lovely drop (15/20). Next stop was the 2009 and the oxidation was really interesting. The fruitiness had become nuttier – it had maybe lost a little of its freshness while gaining a bit of power (16/20). Last, the 2011, which unsurprisingly had gained some complexity while maintaining more of the fruit and lightness of the 2014 (16/20).
Not sure which is “better” but they really are different wines and it was an excellent experiment (made possible, it must be said, by the guys at Coalla Gourmet who somehow got their hands on the 2009 and 2011). My own favourite was the 2011 – maybe I will have to keep some en ramas after all.
This is a lovely, fruity amontillado fino that was a speculative purchase at Reserva y Cata.
An old slightly rusty gold colour, there is a lot of fruit and mosto, and also dried herbs – oregano even – on the nose. In the mouth it has a nice feel – not as fatty as a fino en rama but a soft feel. Nice flavours – caramelized fruit – and then really zingy at the back of the tongue.
Nice tipple – disappearing quickly!
Sunshine, tapas on the way …
I love them and they are sometimes really great but palo cortados are probably the most overhyped of sherry wines – they bring the blarney out of makers everywhere. They get their name from the heiroglyphics that the cellarmen put on the barrels in the bodega. Specifically, they are selected as suitable for making fino under flor and therefore marked with a straight line or “palo” (literally, stick). However, shortly afterwards the barrel is chosen instead for “traditional” oxidative ageing (perhaps because the flor doesn’t develop as it should) and so the cellarman (“capataz”) strikes a line through the first one to make a cross – a cut stick, or “palo cortado”. The wine is then fortified to ensure the flor does not grow back and then the wine is traditionally aged.
As a result, what you get is a creature with a little time under flor – compared to an oloroso with none and an amontillado with plenty (amontillados are allowed several years under before the wine is fortified to allow oxidative ageing). The resulting difference in character can be amazing: palo cortados can be much lighter than an oloroso and punchier than an amontillado.
This one is Gonzalez Byass’ 12 year aged palo cortado – a young and mellow example of the class that would be an excellent dinner wine – could go anywhere a full bodied red wine can and beyond. Clear and chestnut brown, sweet on the nose and chocolate caramel in flavour. Maybe just a little bit of heat but not too acidic or concentrated – and overall nicely balanced.
It really is a nice drop and criminally inexpensive – this one was a mere 17 euros, which when you consider its age and the effort that went into it is quite remarkable. Given GB’s reach it should also be obtainable widely.
This is a 100% pedro ximenez oloroso from Montilla Moriles – specifically, from Alvear – one of the big, top class bodegas from up there.
On the nose it is sweet and alcoholic, has a lot of the raisiny goodness you would expect from a PX and some baked (english) Christmas cake smell. There is indeed a bit of sweetness and a little bit of burn on the palate – it is a good 19% proof and probably has a touch of the sweet stuff, but the flavours are between caramel and raisins.
A lovely drop – here I had it with some colmenillas (morels) in a foie and port sauce (I had already piled in – sorry about that) but maybe it was a little sweet (and maybe not acidic enough). This wine would probably be perfect on its own or with a good book.
undertheflor.com 