Complete with a good size section of the great barrier reef …
This is another under-rated palomino, even among the fans, probably because there was so little of it (and I have drunk an unseemly number of the 700 bottles) and maybe also because of its enjoyable fruity concentration and profile. Rich baked savory pineapple flavours with saline heat and a long fresh/hot/fruity finish.
This was my last bottle and I am missing it already!
Had a cracking lunch in “El del Medio” this weekend. Not a sherry destination by a long way – just two on the list – and they seem to view sherry as an aperitif, with just this and the Macarena on the list, but the food was high quality and high fun and this is a terrific fino with lots of personality.
Has that aroma of rockpools that for me really characterizes the finos del puerto: not super aromatic but a punchy noseful. Then has a heavy saline body, plenty of juice and a really fresh finish.
Perfectly decent stuff and went beautifully with artichokes and scallops. The job, as they say, is a good one.
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.
The Taberna de Pedro is a cracking spot to restock on vitamins: tomatoes, asparagus, artichokes, peas, runner beans, green beans, borage, chard, peppers, mange tout, all of the above (menestra), pisto (con dos huevos) – the man is a genius with the green stuff (and if you are short of vitamin C the callos are outstanding).
All cracking sources of nutrition but notoriously tricky pairings, so a nice glass of fino like this one goes down a treat. Topical too – just this week I think they released the new edition of this classic fino.
I haven’t seen that new one yet but this will do. Yeasty, bready and nutty nose, juicy, bity bitter almond palate and a lingering finish.
Very enjoyable.
After a cracking unfortified Cadiz palomino at the weekend thought that this would be an interesting comparison – an unfortified pedro ximenez from Montilla Moriles and the “basic” wine of the “3 Miradas” project between Alvear and the guys from Envinate.
3 Miradas (“three looks”) is a project aiming to show the potential of dry white pedro ximenez wines and also the impact of terroir. The first “mirada” is this wine – a dry white wine from eight selected vineyards in the style of a Borgougne “villages”. The second “mirada” is a set of six wines, from three different parcels and with and without skin contact, respectively. The third “mirada” is apparently going to be some years in the making – the idea is to show the effect of different kinds of ageing on the wines.
As a starting point you have to say that this is pretty good. I always come at pedro ximenez a little bit predisposed to find it heavy and full of liquorice but this is fresh and light, with a nose of grapey fruit and maybe just a hint of leafy anis, and a sweetish, fruity palate, again with grape written all over it. Maybe just a hint of salinity on the finish.
Overall a nice drinkable white wine – not complex but very nicely done.
A beautiful sight, and I am not just referring to the skillful composition and masterful control of light and perspective in the photo. The beauty is in the centre of shot: the words “Viña Las Cañas, Pago Balbaina”. This sort of thing makes the old heart hum along with the band: I strongly believe that those that can put the vineyard’s name on the label should do so. (In fact without wanting to take too much credit I did in fact mention that it might be worth putting these details on the label when I met up with Sanchez Ayala back in September.)
More importantly, this is a classic manzanilla, pure, clean, fresh and crisp. About the most refreshing thing you could drink and still no push over. And a bargain, when you consider that you can buy the same wine at considerably higher prices under other labels.
I mistakenly posted this when I was uploading the photo and there was a big reaction to the mistaken post so thought I ought to hurry up and write the note. (Which I started to do, before forgetting about it in the drafts file for a wee while.)
Anyway, it was the second wine of a cracking lunch in Bache a couple of weeks ago. It is also a classic: one that I remember reading about years ago and even trying back in the pre-blog days. Back then the bottle was an old one too and I remember being really hacked off at the dry wax seal. (This time that wasn’t my problem of course.)
It certainly comes across as an old wine: has a darkness and the impression of a slight murkiness to the naked eye (I didn’t have a lined surface to check the turbidity – must get myself a finely lined handkerchief or similar). On the nose it is quite piercing – I remember the elmundovino guys saying once that it had a nose of antique wax polish and that is spot on. Then on the palate it is really, really acidic, almost caustic first up, then that blackened, burnt wood flavour, like the burnt crust of wholemeal bread or a pint of Guinness, as dry and bitter as you expect from an old Sanlúcar amontillado and still stinging as it finishes. The whole thing is sharp and old like an antique wood rapier.
Very old, very old school Sanlúcar amontillado.
The author was in need of refreshment after slogging his way across Madrid to Kulto for a bite to eat recently and this glass of manzanilla madura by the guys at Callejuela ticked the box.
This is the more serious of the two standard manzanillas (as opposed to the En Rama, the Añada and the exceptional Blanquito) and has slightly more weight behind it. As you can see it is a very slightly greenish gold in colour and it has a bit of that greenery on the nose: a little bit grassy and herby with maybe slightly older apples underneath.
On the palate it is sharp and fresh, with a zing of salinity then has some heft, with a slightly bitter apple flavour and leafy notes on top before a fresh, fluid finish.
One of the wines from a recent stop in at Kulto this was a perfect accompaniment to the manitas (pigs trotters) in thai red curry, and given that combination you can probably guess that this was tasted in less than laboratory-like conditions. A real world tasting, you might say.
The wine is characteristically drinkable. It slips in easily enough and a burntish caramel sweet taste, then slight sawdust and woody flavours, which turn to burnt wood bitterness and a really intense, long burn at the finish – acid and salinity. It is a very tasty wine alright – more than a match for the curry – but fine and elegant for all that.
Top bombing once again from the guys at Callejuela.
This is a class fino and the fact that it was the first wine I was offered, before seeing the wine-list, in Bache the other day sent a very positive message.
Eight years under flor and only minimally filtered, it is a lovely dark gold color and for me it has a nose that is old apples packed in straw. On the palate it is sharp at first and then salty, bready baked apples, a slightly darker tang and a fresh finish.
Refreshing, an elegant profile and attractive aromas and flavours: what’s not to like?
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