1/2 Manzanilla En Rama Saca de Verano - Palomino fino

Palomino Fino | 'Saca de Verano 2020' | gerijpt onder flor voor 8-9 jaar | bottelen 4x per jaar, dit is de zomer botteling | druiven komen uit Sanlucar de Barrameda van Albarizas terroir | unieke ongefilterde versterkte Manzanilla Sherry! zeer hoge kwaliteit

Barbadillo

De specialist in Jerez als het gaat om ongefilterde Manzanilla Sherry wijnen! 

Review

I tasted six bottlings of the NV Manzanilla Pasada Solear en Rama, from winter 2017 to the spring of 2019. It's a Manzanilla that takes biological aging to an extreme, selecting wine from a bunch of casks that are destined to produce Amontillado but still have flor and show Manzanilla/biological character. There are more changes in the wine, depending on how long the wine has been in bottle than when the wine was bottled, and ultimately, it's a matter of taste. It's not clear that all the wine from the spring is the same or all the wine from winter is the same. The younger bottlings are more vertical and have more freshness, and the older ones are spicier and show a bit "oily," with some diesel-like aromas of development in bottle. I liked the Saca de Invierno 2018 because it showed great balance between the biological character and the reductive/bottling. The Spring 2019 bottling is as close as you get to drinking the wine like when it's in bottle. But the Winter 2017 showed surprisingly fresh. If I had to assign individual scores, my preference was Autumn 2018 (95, Saca de Otoño), Winter 2017 (94+, Saca de Invierno), Spring 2019 (94+, Saca de Primavera), Summer 2018 (94+, Saca de Verano), Winter 2018 (94, Saca de Invierno) and Spring 2018 (94, Saca de Primavera). To round things out, we opened a half bottle from the summer of 2016, which was three years older, and the wine was different but still very interesting and fresh, and in fact, the wine seems to overcome that more oxidative phase at about one and a half years in bottle and seems to change to a fresher style, more in the spice, the curry and the subtleness; it's a good data point for the evolution of the wine in bottle. I think we need to start thinking about these wines in the bottle like the vin jaunes from the Jura, wines that evolve in bottle. The biological wines from Jerez cannot be the entry-level wines from the zone; they should be considered great wines, as they really are. 95/100 Luis Gutiérrez

I tasted six different bottlings of their seasonal Manzanilla Pasada Solear en Rama, and winemaker Montse Molina explained how she tends to use more or less the same casks; the more Manzanilla character they have, the more fragrant in the Manzanilla profile, as it's a criadera destined for Amontillado. They only fill about 2,500 half bottles every three months. Molina also explained that the weather in the last three weeks before bottling is very important for the character of the wine, especially for the nose, because the palate is more stable, and it's there the age of the wine shows, and you sense the weight. There's also the influence of the time the wine has been in bottle, so it's not easy to generalize between the spring or summer wines. What is true is that the wine evolves very slowly—and positively—in bottle. I've had magnums (yes, a small portion is bottled in magnum) from 2013, and the wine is still fresh. The wine I had now from the winter of 2017 was very fresh and had the golden color and didn't show any signs of fatigue or oxidation. This is one of the top wines from crianza biológica from Jerez.