16/20

Amontillado Viña AB

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Talk about classics – one I haven’t had in a long time but this is cracking. It is one of the wines that was always around back in the bad old days but it isn’t seen nearly as much in Madrid lately: funnily enough the lads I was having dinner with had never heard of it. 

The entry level amontillado by Gonzalez Byass with an average age of 12 years, of which 4 under the flor. It is a punchy, vertical wine with a sharp, dry, slightly salty/nutty nose and a fresh, bitter saline nutty palate. Longish finish despite its youth. 

Not bad at all and a top pairing with the (thai style) callos at Territorio ERA: old classic meets new funk.

Oloroso Juan Piñero 

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An oloroso from the same Sanlucar stable as the Camborio, the Maruja, and the Palo Cortado of recent days and another smooth, enjoyable wine.

Whereas the Palo Cortado traces its lineage from Pago de Hornillos and Maruja, this is, like Camborio, from Añina and Macharnudo, although presumably without any biological ageing. It has spent around 12-14 years in a solera with three criaderas and one saca a year.

As you can see the colour is lighter than for many olorosos, a lightish chestnut, and the nose too is relatively fine, with a little bit of strawdust. It is very refined on the palate too – an easy drinking wine with nice nutty flavours and very mellow salinity. A bit more laid back than the palo cortado but with just a touch more concentration.

Another lovely example of a Sanlucar oloroso – really like the style.

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.

Cotes du Jura Domaine Labette, Cuvee du Hasard

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I took a picture of this an age ago in Territorio ERA and made a few half hearted notes before getting distracted by a lot of other even more impressive wines that came along, as they are wont to do, and utterly forgetting to write them up.

On the basis that late really is better than never and according to the afore-mentioned, half forgotten notes, I loved the undergrowth nose, buttery texture, the citrus juice and above all the salinity of this little wine. As the label indicates it has been under the flor but I am not sure for how long, and although it had a high register compared to the wines of el marco that salinity caught my attention – not big and heavy like an iceberg but deep and grooved. I have a note saying “soil?” which tells its own story.

Chardonnay you say? Sign me up.

 

Manzanilla pasada Mar7

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One of the things I love about Territorio Era is being surprised by wines I hadn’t come across elsewhere and here is another one. This is a manzanilla pasada by “Despacho de Vinos Mar 7” a project of a daughter of Pedro Romero, who has acquired wines from Delgado Zuleta for finishing in her own style (in what was the HQ of Pedro Romero).

The wines are fully en rama and unfiltered and this one is said to have had a total of around 8 years under flor.  As you can see the colour is relatively dark, a deep, rich yellow gold with maybe just the tiniest suggestion of green at the edges. While that might suggest age the nose suggested youth – a lot of green apple freshness and sweeter herbal tea to it, with just a hint or salty air in the background. On the palate too it seems to be at the lighter, fresher, green apple end of the scale, although nice and fine and with a nice salinity to keep it vertical.

Very nice, not over done, and very very easy to drink.

 

 

Palo Cortado Cayetano del Pino – revisited 

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So here goes the last of this very nice little bottle of palo cortado first opened two weeks ago. 

Been a couple of days without sherry and the first thing I notice is the salinity and the sting of the alcohol and acidity on the lips and palate. Really a potent start and a saliver summoning, mouthwatering finish. In between I would put this at the gingery, bitter orange end of Jerez palo cortados – juicy but at the same time spicey, with a lot more than just caramel or hazelnut flavours. 

Packs a little punch, I can tell you. Lovely stuff. 

Oloroso Santa Petronila

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More snippets from a cracking dinner at Territorio ERA this week. We were given this blind and I must admit I thought it was a palo cortado. It is from Santa Petronila whose fino I tried a little while ago. 

As you can’t quite see it was a slightly yellowish brown in colour – clear but not fully crystalline. Has quite a spirity nose, with nuts and toffee laced with a bit of brandy, and then a nice bit of acidity first up on the palate. Not a big mouthful in terms of structure but a pleasant one with half toasted hazelnuts. All in all not your typical oloroso – comes across as a little lighter and finer than most.

Very nice though and one to look for for further study. 

Viña Matalian 2013

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Was fortunate enough this week to meet Primitivo Collantes, the man behind one of my favourite wineries in the sherry triangle and the best piece of real estate in Chiclana: Finca Matalian. Given the occasion I thought it was time to see how this palomino fino from that little plot in 2013 had developed in bottle and it wasn’t at all bad.

Quite a dark colour, with clear signs of a little bit of bottle oxidation, but on the nose it still had nice aromas of some fruit and some sweet herbs – maybe more herbs than fruit compared to when it was young. Similarly on the palate it had jammy fruit and it seemed to us to have gained a bit of spice and saline intensity.

A nice wine ageing gracefully (still have another bottle somewhere too).

 

 

Palo Cortado Cayetano del Pino y Cia, Lustau Almacenistas 

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The Almacenistas collection is excellent.  The concept is absolutely right. It pays homage to the traditions of the region while recognizing the variation and uniqueness that is possible. More importantly the wines are top drawer – some of them are amongst my very favourite sherries – and they were the stars of one of the most enjoyable tastings I can remember.

So when the guys at Vila Viniteca tipped me off to this new addition to the range I couldn’t wait to have a go at it. (In fact, I believe I may have tried this wine in different packaging for the UK market but I am not 100% sure – it was at the end of a long day and looked very different, and although it seems very familiar I have no photo or notes ).

I definitely have tried it now, anyway, and it is another cracking wine. Lovely, vivacious colour and clarity to it (photo deliberately blurs the bottle because I wanted you to see the liquid). The nose has a little bit of brandy-light volatile to it with a citric/gingery sweetness – reminiscent of a liqueur from one of these mountaintop monasteries. Maybe a bit more volatile than I thought, with varnish like aromas as it opens out. Then on the palate it is dry, zingy, a sweet to bitter sensation of nuts and then an ashy, mineral finish. Very long at the end – bitter citrus flavours and salty chimney ashes hanging around for a long time.

Another racey, enjoyable wine from this brilliant series.

Fino de añada 2009, Williams Colección Añadas 

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This was a nice surprise today in Angelita Madrid – one of the Colección Añadas and a rare wine by most standards, but here you seem to be able to get anything at any time.

Not the most scientific of tastings – was having a very pleasant lunch with friends – but my impression was of a juicy, full flavoured wine that hangs together well even if it is not quite compact as such. Zingy salinity up front, then salty hazelnut flavours, maybe a bit spirity/alcoholic. It was paired with a fantastic roast sucking pig with a touch of orange and star anis and the wine stood up to those flavours admirably, although for me the anis and orange may have taken away some of the impression of hazelnut from the wine.

Nevertheless, an interesting, flavourful vintage wine with a bit of character to it.