Palma Cortada - Palomino (L.19)

Palomino Fino | 2019 | Jerez de la Frontera | Albariza bodem | oude stijl genaamd Palma Cortada | vergisting en rijping in één oud Sherry vat van 500 liter, met flor, voor 5 jaar | net voordat de flor doodgaat wordt 'ie gebotteld |  notig | intens | puur en precies | verfijnd | complex | zilt | licht oxidatief | prachtige fraîcheur en diepgang | +/- 500 flessen 

Acient Sherry types explanation:

Palma

Palmas were the vinos finos, the palest wines with a remarkable  finesse and delicate character, perfectly suitable for biological ageing under flor. A wine that would be made with high quality Palomino Fino grapes picked in the first weeks of the harvest, having a slightly green profile and the lowest potential strength (15,5% at best). It was usually grape juice from a first pressing. A Palma pretty much coincides with a current-day Fino of three to four years, although at that time it would be mostly statically aged.

As the wine gets older and its character becomes more concentrated and ‘fine’, it would evolve into Dos Palmas (8-10 years), Tres Palmas (15-25 years) and Cuatro Palmas (35+ years).

Palma Cortada

This rare wine starts as a pale Palma with almost identical characteristics, but the biological maturation is less intense. This wine would show light traces of oxidation, still in a very elegant way. If we try to describe it from a modern perspective, you could say it’s a slightly more robust Fino with a lower flor influence, or a very fine Palo Cortado with more flor influence (a modern Palo Cortado is rarely influenced by flor).

In warmer vintages even the greener grapes would have a higher potential alcohol and would shift towards Palma Cortada. After three or four years of (static) ageing a Palma Cortada would have been considered ready, but they were also well suited to age into mature Fino-Amontillado or Amontillado wines.

Meridiano Perdido

Meridiano Perdido is het persoonlijke project van Joaquín Gómez Beser, ontstaan na ruim vijftien jaar ervaring. In de historische pagos Cerro Pelado en Añina werkt hij biologisch en vanuit een holistische visie, waarbij de wijngaard wordt gezien als een levend ecosysteem. De bodega ligt midden tussen de stokken, waar hij door middel van 'agroforestry' (boslandbouw) de biodiversiteit vergroot. Zijn vier Vinos de Pasto en recent gelanceerde Fino zoeken naar een eerlijke, pure expressie van het terroir, met respect voor de traditie en cultuur van de Sherry-regio.

Review

The NV Palma Cortada is officially a Fino from the current Jerez appellation, but the winemaker marked it as Palma Cortada, which is an old classification for biological wines (Fino and Manzanilla). It fermented and matured in Sherry cask with flor for 18 months, and here it does have the textbook profile and descriptors: esparto grass, cheese rind, nuts, iodine, lees... The wine shows both the biological and faintly oxidative character, saline and marine but also faintly nutty and with good volume. It's clean, precise and delineated, quite impressive. It was produced with grapes from their organically farmed vines, but the label does not carry the certification. It comes in at 15.5% alcohol, with a pH of 3.2, denoting very good freshness, and 5.2 grams of acidity. This is stunning and super elegant! 1,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2025. 95/100 Luis Gutiérrez

Meridiano Perdido is a small family project started in 2019 by winemaker Joaquín Gómez Beser, a veteran in the wineries in Jerez -Miguel Domecq and the Cooperativa Vinícola de Trebujena. They have 27 hectares of vineyards in Pago Cerro Pelado and Pago Añina, and the range has grown. I bumped in to him in a wine bar in Jerez and had the chance to taste a very good Palma Cortada—an old classification of the wines—that called my attention and flagged the name for further investigation and tasting of the range. He works organically in the vineyards, but the bottles don't carry certification, and the wines show precision and character.

I liked the Palma Cortada, which showed very good finesse, so I asked him to send me the rest of the wines. I'm glad I did, because they are very good. This is a name to keep on your radar screens. Production is only 25,000 bottles.