18/20

Apostoles palo cortado muy viejo 

~ sharquillo ~ 1 Comment

I tasted this in last week’s sherryTT and wanted to give it another go in more neutral territory. On that occasion I tasted this slightly sweet wine (it has about 13% old pedro ximenez mixed with an old palo cortado) against four deadly dry palo cortados and I wondered if my appreciation was skewed by the comparison. Judging by this second, lab conditions attempt, I don’t think so: this still seems pretty epic.

It really does have the baked nutty fruitiness of a christmas cake (not including marzipan and icing, evidently) and once the initial acidity passes it is tremendously rich with lots of flavours – coffee, walnuts, raisins, cedar and even liquorice. The sweetness is also well balanced with the concentration and bitterness of the rest of the wine – really sweet and sticky but also bitter and intense.

Really excellent stuff, no doubt. Maybe I slightly prefer the Noe overall but this is very good.

Noe Pedro Ximenez Muy Viejo

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I have now tried all of these very impressive VORS bottlings by Gonzalez Byass in the last couple of weeks (after the Del Duque, the Matusalem, and the Apostoles (as part of the sherryTT) and this is probably my favourite. As its name indicates, it is a very old px – 30 years according to the label – from Jerez and it really is extraordinary.

A deep black brown colour, even in strong winter sunshine and it dirties up the glass as you swirl it around. It just has a look of black treacle about it. On the nose too it has a strong black treacle vibe – there are grapes and sugary buns but also a suggestion of burnt sugar bitterness and sweet cedar wood.

On the palate it has a big, syrupy, treacly feel and although it must have a huge amount of sugar in it but it doesn’t half carry itself lightly. There are enough bittersweet flavours (dark woody herb spices, coffee, black chocolate and black treacle) to balance the sweetness and it is just beautifully integrated.

A really sensational wine – I am going to need a much bigger bottle of this.

Williams and Humbert 2006 Vintage fino en rama

~ sharquillo ~ 6 Comments

  
Coming back to this after three days open for some second thoughts. 

May be my imagination but it seems a touch darker than I remembered – a gorgeous old gold. The nose is intensely yeasty – ripe hay bales with a little bit of cream cheese and citrus like a cheesecake. 

Really nice zing to it – leaves the tongue buzzing – then salinity, broadens into a buttery toffee, before a long yeasty hay bale tail. 

I like it even better today. This wine needs some time open.

La Bota de Palo Cortado 47 

~ sharquillo ~ 2 Comments

I have had mixed experiences with these but this time I loved this little gem of a palo cortado from Equipo Navazos.

As you can see, it was a deep chestnut red (like a very old port, I thought) and slightly murky (which I put down to a 250 km car journey in the morning), with a big nose. Smells for all the world like the furniture in a church – smokey, slightly sweet wood aromas.

Also very very woody on the palate. In texture it is not as rich as you maybe expect from such a potent looking wine and being critical, it is not just dry maybe excessively harsh and astringent at first – just an acid bomb first up. Get past the initial shock, though, and it broadens out and is massively long with notes of creamy chocolate and coffee and a very very persistent caramel finish. We tasted it alongside the last of the Bota de Amontillado 49 and it was notably full flavoured by comparison  – where the flavours of the 49 were tobacco, leather and dust this was all caramel, burnt caramel and nuts.

Went down a bomb on the night – even with a crowd that do not often drink sherry. Excellent.

La Panesa 

~ sharquillo ~ 2 Comments

  

The weekend starts here – and what a wine this is. The legendary Emilio Hidalgo fifteen year old fino. It is a gorgeous dark gold colour and has a big nose full of yeast and haystacks, (this wine can sometimes be quiet but this glass is very expressive). Fatty in the mouth and then a sensational, intense roast almond and yeast as it crosses the palate. Intense and long but fine and elegant too. 

Emilio Hidalgo choose not to date sacas and bottlings but privately admit that different sacas have different personalities. Whatever, this wine is singing and is definitely one of the better examples I have tried. Really excellent.

Homecoming Part III

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This time, to my second home and feeding station of choice: La Chula de Chamberi. And what better way to start a new academic year than with veal sweetbread and El Tresillo Amontillado Fino (a lightly chilled, freshly opened bottle no less).

It is a great combination – the sweetbread is intensely salty, savoury and buttery and the Tresillo is all of that and another notch above with spicey, smokey zing and mellow burnt fruit.

It really is good – if I didn’t have so much work this glass could easily turn into a bottle (and bring me the rest of the cow while we are at it).

Fino Hidalgo

~ sharquillo ~ 1 Comment


Home sweet home – after 10 days in the wilderness what a wine this is to return to.

It is by Emilio Hidalgo and is a very fine fino – I believe it has a mere 8 years or so under flor compared to the 15 of La Panesa. It is also difficult to get (not sold widely but they can help you in Enoteca Barolo, or you can drink it from the barrel in La Venencia).

In colour it is a pale gold with a look of age about it – and absolutely clear. The nose just shouts fino – hay bales and unsalted, roasted almonds.

On the tongue it is buttery rich – a lovely coating to the mouth. It has a super structure to it – starting fresh and small and just getting bigger and bigger, filling the mouth with an intense salty, yeasty, nutty flavour, which stays a long time, holding its shape and leaving a lingering toasted almond taste.

Superb. I love it.

La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada 40

~ sharquillo ~ 4 Comments

Have now found a photo of this super wine:

Once again, it is an intriguing effort from Equipo Navazos. Slightly dark in colour with hints of brown and green, it has a very mineral, sea air nose to it – maybe just a little bit of hay bale as it warms in the glass.

Once you take a sip though there is no missing the yeasty power of it. It is super smooth in texture – I thought it was silky and it coats the mouth.  It has an amazing structure – acid and salt to begin but powerful vegetable and umami flavours like unsalted macadamias. It also has a lovely long finish, with the salty minerals dropping off and leaving the umami. Really excellent – probably the best manzanilla pasada I have had.

El Tresillo Amontillado Fino

~ sharquillo ~ 2 Comments


This is really excellent wine.

It is a beautiful dark gold in colour – a deep amber. It looks frankly delicious. On the nose it has a fine quality that I am beginning to think of as the hallmark of Emilo Hidalgo, and sweet aromas of nutty toffee – toasted almonds or even honey roasted peanuts, maybe just a little bit of hay bale at the end to remind you of the flor. A lovely nose, no doubt.

It is also super elegant on the palate. In texture it is very light, a very refined oil, fatty but not too much.  Flavourwise it has real shape to it: it starts quietly, with a cool, buttery toffee type entry, but expands into unexpectedly intense salty, slightly zingy, alcoholic toffee flavours. Very long finish – a little bitter and very savoury after all the sweetness in the nose and the tip of the tongue but just about in balance.

I had this with some sweetbreads and salty roasted vegetables here in my favourite watering hole but to be honest I then had a second glass on its own and it was even better. Really a superb wine, and for me head and shoulders above the (very few) other amontillado finos you see around.

Fino Cuatro Palmas 

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Apologies for the repetition but I do believe that any time you drink a wine of this quality you should take time to appreciate it. 

The colour is a beautiful deep brown – just a hint of orangey chestnut and it is as clear as a bell (unlike the bottle it came out of – which looks distinctly primeval at the bottom). On the nose there are a lot of notes: toffee, refined sugar and orangey fruit, maybe even Terrys chocolate orange – and some alcohol. You could almost say there is a bit of Glenmorangie about it. 

First sip, not big or fat on the tongue and maybe a little bitter – a bit of acidity, heat and burnt toffee. But it is not at all astringent or unbalanced and the toffee and even nearly chocolate flavours come through as it goes on, and on. It is so long it is unbelievable – and keeps its full shape too. 

Really a very fine wine.