This is really singing tonight – have declared wine o’clock in the office and am enjoying it immensely. A lovely chamomile nose and golden, roasted apple, hay and spicey celery palate, with a mouth watering finish. Really top class and suddenly the office is a happier place.
17/20
Amontillado Gran Barquero
Heading to a tasting of Perez Barquero wines at Reserva y Cata in a few minutes and am getting the juices flowing by writing up my note of this from yesterday’s lunch at Territorio Era. (In fact the original plan was just to repost but to my disbelief I discovered just now that I had no post on the blog about it.)
Despite an average age of 25-30 years it has really nice flor effects to it – the nose has nice almonds and yeasty bread – which makes me think it spent a good number of the early years under flor. Then it has a fine, silky texture that you don’t necessarily expect from a pedro ximenez, lovely acidic and or saline bite and a nice elegant palate of roasted, dark roasted almost bitter almonds.
Really top class. Juices are now flowing and no mistake.
Socaire 2014
You guessed it, I forgot to take a picture of this one while still live so have had to edit the skyline shot (not for the first time). Anyway, it is another wine I have tried before – the Socaire 2014 – a 100% palomino fino from my favourite corner of Chiclana that has spent a full 24 months in an old bota that had been used for the Fino Arroyuelo. Apparently the name Socaire means a shelter from the wind, and refers to the breezy conditions up on Finca Matalian, which is near to the sea but a good 100 metres above sea level.
This one was brought to dinner at Territorio ERA by the maker himself and it was a rare chance to try it alongside a couple of other palominos (including its sibling, the Viña Matalian), as well as some wines from Jura, Arbois and the like.
And it must be said it stood up pretty well against all comers on the night, with loads of fino like character on the nose, the fruit/herb of the palomino added to a bit of almond and a more pronounced minerality on the palate and a nice fresh finish.
A really nice wine by any standards.
Manzanilla de añada Callejuela 2012, 2/11
During the latest of many brilliant lunches yesterday at Madrid Angelita we were served this little beauty. It is not the first time I have had it – and it is not the first one of these wines I have had – but it surprised me in a number of ways.
I remembered this second volume of the series as a proper manzanilla with an edge of zingy salinity, but this had more green apple fruit and mountainside herbs – oregano and rosemary – than I remembered, adding up to a really lovely, characteristic chamomile tea nose. Then on the palate it packs a little punch of fresh almonds and juicy herbs – really flavourful and tasty – and compared to the añada finos that I have had recently it had a noticeable elegance and silky fine quality to it. I found it a little warm at the end with the salinity but a pleasant finish nevertheless.
A bit more than just a proper manzanilla – a very good one – and of course much more even than that.
Manzanilla Sacristia AB – 2a saca de 2015
Pictured here with a nice bottle of 2008 Arbois Pupillin on the bar at – where else – Angelita Madrid. (The blurring is not intentional.) The reason I ordered this was that on another visit to Angelita in the summer I incorrectly identified (a different saca of) the Sacristia AB as a Jura and I was curious to try them side by side to see how bad my error had been.
As it turns out it was a pretty bad error – there is not a lot in it colourwise but the hay bale aroma and savoury salinity of the manzanilla is unmistakeable and set it apart from its trans-pyrenean cousin. On the other hand, the difference in terms of fruit qualities was not as marked as I expected – there was less acidity but still plenty of juice in the manzanilla.
In fact I thought the manzanilla was a really excellent wine overall – potent and tasty but elegant, with a lovely silky texture. One of my favourites of this series and I will have to seek out a bottle for closer study.
Fino en rama Cruz Vieja – May 2016
Second time around for this meaty fino – and I say meaty because fresh opened it really has a solidity about it.
This saca is from the end of May this year – not sure when that other bottle was from – and I picked it up from the maker himself at Casa del Jerez this summer.
A dark colour, not a big nose but yeasty (at the bready end) and some bitter citrus, then a powerful mouthful – again on the yeasty, vegetable side, with that citrus bitterness. Salinity that takes over at the end, tingles the tongue and makes your mouth water.
Grapefruit, yeast and minerals: a real mouthful of flavours here.
La Panesa
It has been too long since I had a sup of this (I make it three months) so here I am at the bar of La Chula gathering rosebuds between meetings. Not easy to add much to the long string of tasting notes but still worth enjoying the moment.
This 0ne has a little bit of time in the bottle (if I am reading the Lot Code right I make it a 2014) and maybe a little time open, and just seems to have a little more spice. But what I love most are the classic features – the haybales, the over-roasted almond flavour and the intensity, density of that flavour, and the balance.
A classic, an all time favourite and a much needed reminder.
Fino en rama Santa Petronila – December 2015
This was one of my puchases from Casa del Jerez -at their recommendation – and an excellent recommendation it was too. I couldn’t resist opening it after seeing it in a tweet by Criadera and I am very glad I did.
It is an “old” style fino en rama – haven’t seen a ficha as such but I bet it has a few years underflor. It is dark gold in colour and with big hay bales and yeasty aromas. Age and hay bales on the palate too: slightly sour bitter almonds first up, nice zingy salinity and then big smoky, bready flavours and the woolly texture of the acetaldehide. Long too.
The colour, the haybales and bread, and the impression of age remind me for all the world of the macharnudo alto finos by Equipo Navazos and its no surprise to find out that the Santa Petronila finca is indeed up there (and I assume the vines are too but who knows). The bodega was described to me as the smallest bodega in the region, producing only 800 half-litre bottles a year, and from what I can see on their website it is also a guest house. In fact it looks a cracking spot, and they mention on their website an amontillado, an oloroso and a PX.
Must be worth a visit based on this fino!
Amontillado NPU
Another lovely glass of wine from my lunch at Verdejo Taberna yesterday and one of the house favourites (they actually have a little bota on the bar but consumption outstrips supply). It is a Jerez Amontillado by Sanchez Romate – 100% palomino fino and an average age of around 15 years (note that the reference to over 30 years on the web is an error – many thanks to Ruben at Sherrynotes for pointing that out. The NPU presumably refers to “Non Plus Ultra” – latin for none better, and should not be confused with a legendary and mysterious old Sanlucar amontillado allegedly labelled NPI (broadly, “not a bloody clue”).
I actually tasted it once before last year and although I wouldn’t change that original note I am a little surprised by the outcome. I definitely underrated it a little last year, although that could be due to the bottle I had – which had suffered a little leakage. Also, I am interested to see how the other wines I have tried in the meantime have changed my perception.
Anyway, as you can see it is a beautiful lively, deep amber colour and both on the nose and the palate one of the things that catches the attention is the youthfulness of the wine – it is really fresh and full of caramel and fruit flavour, with a lot of hazelnut on the nose. On the other hand, that youthful caramel and juice is beautifully balanced on the palate, which is dry with nice acidity and saline sharpness. A lovely elegant finish in particular.
A beautiful wine.
Fino en rama Tio Pepe 2016
This really is a top quality fino. Not the first time I had it. I think it was bottled late April and I first had it at three weeks (too early) and then 7 weeks in the bottle (zesty) and this at 15 weeks may not have all that spark but has a bit more pizzazz – it is marginal though.
Anyway, it is a greenish gold colour and has quite pronounced apple and yeasty aromas, haybales and salty air. Then you get those same flavours on the palate – green apples – quite a lot of fruit-, spices and salty zing, and a long mouthwatering finish.
Delicious: aromatic, tasty and fresh.
undertheflor.com 