16/20

Williams and Humbert 2006 Vintage Fino en rama 

~ sharquillo ~ 5 Comments

Flamingopower! Had my first bottle of this just over six months ago – just before, in fact, I started writing this blog, and I thought it was sufficiently interesting to pick up another and write something. It is from Williams & Humbert, a classic old label whose Walnut Brown and Canasta cream sherries were favourites at our house when I was a kid.

This one, of course, is not a cream. It is a vintage fino – statically aged in botas that were put aside in 2006 and bottled unfiltered in 2014. (For a fuller description check out the post on the excellent Sherry Notes.) Pretty unique stuff and very interesting, although I am not 100% convinced that these wines are better than their dynamically aged counterparts.

The colour is a bit darker than straw and clear as a bell. The nose first up was frankly amazing: lots of yeast, even by sherry standards, a bit of alcohol, really herbal and pungent and hints of baked milk. On coming back to it a day later the differences were interesting – definite toasty, honey notes.

It is smooth and potent on the palate. It is buttery in texture and has a buttery, yeasty flavour, with zingy salinity and alcohol. As big as it is, though, I find it a little hollow in structure, not as full bodied as it might be, and although it has a long yeasty tail even that seems a little thin.

Overall a very interesting mouthful, just not as rounded and full bodied as it could be.

La bota de manzanilla pasada 59 – Capataz Rivas 

~ sharquillo ~ 3 Comments

  
Yet another high quality release from Equipo Navazos and the latest in a line of very high quality manzanilla pasadas (the most recent – No 40 – is my favourite).
This is a golden colour (without the brown/green that I remember from previous editions) and crystal clear. It has a salty sweet nose, like salty chips, bready yeast and a bit of caramel underneath. 

On the palate it is smooth and silky, with a nice shape from the salty zing and a softer, sweetish finish. Not as much power and body as I expected.

A really nice drop once again – although for me it doesn’t quite scale the heights of the 40. Maybe just slightly past a pasada and on the way to an amontillado.

Solear en rama – Saca de Invierno 2014 

~ sharquillo ~ 2 Comments

  
Nothing helps transition to the weekend better than a manzanilla, and since the winter is drawing in here in Madrid (ok, it is 20 degrees C but a bit breezy and leaves are definitely falling) this winter edition feels appropriate.

It certainly hits the spot. A beautiful gold in colour it is hay bales and herbal tea on the nose, and then salty, intense and juicy – a real mouthfull of savoury fruit/sweet roast veg. 

Love it. 

La Bota de Fino 35 – Macharnudo Alto 

~ sharquillo ~ 3 Comments

  
I haven’t had this for a while. A classic from Equipo Navazos. 

Love the colour – quite a dark brown  like old hay. The nose too is all hay bales and granary bread – an incredibly biological nose. 

It also has a great, bready, savoury flavour – nice balanced acidity and salinity. Not quite as intense and structured as some but flavourful and elegant. 

Very interesting pairing too. It was served in the superb Punto MX  with a mexican dish of roast tuetano (bone marrow) eaten in tortillas with a salsa and onions, chilli and lime- a  fatty, meaty, bready, spicey and citric combination. Great thing about sherry is that it can stand up to anything like this, and the savoury nature of the wine really worked. 

  

Terry Fino Maruja

~ sharquillo ~ 2 Comments

A historic old bottle of fino that was produced at dinner last night. A really interesting opportunity to taste a wine that has been a long time in the bottle (although an experience that was somewhat lessened by a lack of information – noone had any idea of when exactly the bottle had been bought except that it was years before).

However old it was, it was a very pleasant drop, and it at least seemed as if the years had really knocked the edges off it. Golden in colour, creamy and nutty on the nose and again really soft, bready and nutty on the palate.

Very drinkable – if this is what bottle ageing can do to finos then I may have to squirrel some away (or look for some dusty oldies).

Maruja manzanilla pasada  

~ sharquillo ~ 8 Comments

Intriguing label on this one – not a lot of information other than to say it has been under the flor only for a few weeks (the most favourable) per year. I am guessing this refers to the end of its time in the solera and, based on the fact that the Maruja manzanilla has an age under flor of 8-9 years I would guess that here we are looking at the last 1-2 years of a total of 10-11.

It has a rich, orange amber colour which it shows off in a clear bottle. I still have the dog end of a cold but even so this has a big, expansive nose full of yeast, apricot jam and sweet herbs (hay bales and salty oregano).

In the mouth it has an oily texture and a really intense, concentrated structure. A big yeasty opening of apricot jam (the home made kind that is nearly marmalade), really nicely integrated salinity and acidity and a long, long fruity, bready finish.

Really like it – a beautiful wine.

 

 

Encrucijado MMXII – Part II (now part I)

~ sharquillo ~ 6 Comments


After all the bombo I have been giving the vintages, the terroir and the doing of new things today I had to have another glass of this (I had attached a link here but the first blog post has been mistakenly deleted in what can only be a new personal best in blogging incompetence). This is after all a vintage (MMXII) it is terroir specific (although don’t ask me which) and it has some interesting cepage.

Specifically, it has six different grape varieties: 50% Palomino Fino and 10% each of Beba, Mantúo Pilas (aka “Uva Rey”), Perruno, Cañocazo and Mantúo Castellano, all of them believed to have been used traditionally in the production of the original “cortado wines”. They were hand harvested from plots up and down el marco, fermented in bota and then aged in the same bota for 20 months: 10 months under flor and then 10 months traditional ageing.

As I remarked in my now long lost post, I first read about this on Spanishwinelover and in an article by Paz Ivison on Elmundovino.com and was intrigued enough to pick up a bottle in Reserva y Cata. It is marked with a “cortado” and the name certainly conjures up the idea of palo cortados (as does the combination of biological and oxidative ageing), but this is unlike any palo cortado you would have tried before: it isn’t even old enough to be a fino and the different varietals really bring different characteristics.

In colour it is slightly more garish gold than I remember but it has the same delicate structure and butterscotch nose and flavours. Very fatty in the mouth and the buttery caramel flavours are very gentle but I think the first time around I underestimated the power and persistence of it. It is not a big profile but it is an intense flavour and lasts a long time.

I really like it more and more. Maybe the extra days open have given a touch more oxygen in a good way.

La Bota de fino que va para amontillado 45 – Montilla 

~ sharquillo ~ 2 Comments

Another week, another magic number. This one, the number 45, is a “fino on the way to amontillado” selected from Perez Barquero‘s Bodega Los Amigos in montilla. It is said to have an age of 20 years or so.

For an unfined, lightly filtered wine it is amazingly clear and a beautiful dark amber/caramel in colour. On the nose it is right in the sweet spot – as the team say, it is recognizably a fino with hay bales a plenty, but instead of fruit underneath there is nutty toffee and fresh pine needles.

On the palate it shows the full bodied fattiness of a pedro ximenez fino with a really slippy, rich texture. It is also rich in flavour – has a nice zingy start then a surprisingly intense, burnt, salty caramel which fades away to a sort of bitter nuttiness. Very tasty indeed.

Being very picky, it doesn’t seem to have the range and breadth of flavours of the absolute top wines but overall a beautiful looking, wonderfully aromatic and rewarding wine.

Sanchez Romate Fino Perdido 1/2015 

~ sharquillo ~ 3 Comments

  
I am struggling, frankly, to get to grips with the week so far, and needing a lunchtime boost I have come to Taberna Verdejo, temple of great cooking and lovely sherries.

Starting with a favourite here – the fino perdido from Sanchez Romate. It is a beautiful dark gold colour and  super clear. On the nose it is home made apple pie – pastry and baked apples. It looks and smells delicious. 

Not quite as light on the palate you might say – intense salty, yeasty flavour melting away to a long mellow finish – again baked apples spring to mind but more like apple sauce than apple pie. 

I like this more and more – excellent.

Fernando de Castilla Antique Amontillado

~ sharquillo ~ 2 Comments


Recovered from my cold and stoked by recent feasting on grilled sardines I feel in the mood for a bit of this amontillado by Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla, one of my favourite makers.

On the eye it is just slightly dull brown – definitely more of a yellow brown than the rich red or orange brown of some older amontillados and not quite as crystalline either.

It has a rich nose alright – little bit of the Christmas orange (the one with all the cloves stuck in it), some Christmas tree/pine needles too, even some tobacco and old books. Maybe a little lacking in caramel – in the background at best – and for me it isn’t quite harmonious, but it is certainly an interesting nose.

On the palate it is watery in texture and for me doesn’t quite live up to the nose. It has a nice zingy start, a spicey breadth and a pleasant finish – just maybe lacks an ounce of volume/yeasty umami.

A really spicey smelling glass and an enjoyable tipple – a really good amontillado all around.

And you certainly get the truth and the whole of the truth – just look at these particles: no wonder it tastes dusty!