Description
It’s November & in November we celebrate our Winter Wine Fair & National Sherry Week!
It’s a wonderful time of year!
Every year ‘Wines of Jerez’ in the South of Spain celebrate a week of highlighting the versatility & drinkability of Sherry wines. It also happens that we have just finished our Annual Winter Wine Fair so we have lots of fantastic new wines to show off!
A few months ago we did a French focussed wine pack & this one is all about Spain – 6 wines from this amazing wine & culinary country. We have put together a selection of beautiful wines of Spain that comprises a Petillant Naturel Sparkling from Sanlucar de Barrameda (the famous home of Manzanilla Sherry), dry Palomino from Jerez, Vino de Pasto also from Jerez, a truly delicious 5 year old sweet decadent Pedro Ximenez from…. you guessed it, Sherry’s main home city Jerez, and finally 2 reds from Rioja & Valencia.
Due to their ability to pair so well with food but also act as excellent aperitif light wines, we have aimed to have something for all occasions in this pack…so long as every occasion features Spanish Wine!
The Palomino grape is the back bone of sherry production, in the pack we see 3 wines made with it, showing it to be a complex wine making grape that is excellent before & after its time in a sherry solera!
All of these 6 wines were showing at our wine fair & were very popular! We love hearing what you enjoyed the best from the tasting.
AMORRO PET NAT BODEGAS VINIFICATE
Rich, nutty sparkling wine made of Palomino grapes sourced from two different vineyards in Chiclana, Andalusia. Super small production of only 600 bottles made yearly. Think citrussy, popcorn & dynamic sea-breezy bubbles. This pours a hazy colour into the glass with a gorgeous nose of beeswax, lime blossom & zest. If you love this, we have a still white from them and an atlantic influenced Tintilla red that have both arrived in store, but we thought we’d put their best foot forward for this pack.
BODEGAS BARBADILLO SABALO ORGANIC VINO DE LA TERRA DE CADIZ
Barbadillo in Singular is a small part of Bodegas Barbadillo, the renowned producer whose name is inseparable from its home in Sanlúcar de Barrameda producing sherry!
Made using 100% organic Palomino Fino grapes exclusively from two white clay albariza vineyards – the soil which makes this part of Spain so special & gives sherry its characteristic.
Sábalo is a refined & elegant organic dry white wine, combining the essence of lime-rich chalky soils with a creaminess from slow fermentation. On the nose there are complex notes of ripe apple, peach & dried herbs, whilst the palate is full & textured with ripe fruit & soft saline notes. Perfect with grilled fish, anchovy crostini but also great with sushi or spiced dishes.
BODEGAS LUIS PEREZ EL MUELLE PALOMINO
The Palomino grape has long been reserved for sherry, but winemakers are starting to make some delicious unfortified wines with it. This moreish example is cool fermented in stainless steel allowing the stone & tropical fruit to shine through. A portion of the wine is fermented in seasoned oak giving texture & a savoury touch.
Luis had been the winemaker at Domecq (famous sherry bodega) for 25 years but left when Pernod Ricard bought the company & sold the sherry brands to Jim Beam. He was angry with the sherry world & wanted to do something different. His wines are a testament to the grapes & terroir around his home, he realised Jerez needed to focus on the vineyards & that every pago has its own flavour.
BODEGAS GUTIERREZ COLOSIA PEDRO XIMENEZ 375ML
A slightly less viscous style of PX here but still very concentrated and with a complex mix of rich and sweet fruit.
The nose shows honeyed walnuts, dates, figs and molasses. The palate is impressively vibrant and silky, with a refreshing elegance, rare for such a sweet wine. A very long finish full of sticky toffee pudding, treacle, dates, and pepper.
OLIVIER RIVIERE “RAYOS UVA” RIOJA
You all loved this Biodynamic Rioja at the wine fair! It is a Joven style, made with no oak, juicy & fresh. It has a lovely core of sweet fruit, notes of earth & leather, superb! ‘Rayos Uva’ is Olivier’s version of a Bourgogne Rouge sourced from fruit grown in the sandy, gravelly & alluvial soils of Rioja Baja. The blend is dependent on the vintage but usually includes Tempranillo, Garnacha & Graciano – percentages change each year to create a brightly fruity version of Rioja unmarked by oak. A glass of this is all about freshness in a swirl of mouth coating pure Tempranillo red fruit. A beautiful example of how to capture the pure fruit potential of this noble Spanish variety that is so often covered with American oak.
VEGAMAR VALENCIA HUELLA DE GARNACHA
This generously fruity Garnacha with lots of berried fruits. Grilled red meats come first to mind, but smoked cheeses would pair just as well. A full-bodied red wine made from a relatively new winery located in Valencia. This is an unoaked red wine with generous fruit on the palate that is balanced with a delicious acidity. On Spain’s eastern coast, the wine growing region of Valencia is home to some of the best wines of the Mediterranean.
