Once you get into it, drinking good sherry is a dangerously addictive, habit forming way to roll. I highly recommend it.
I drink way more manzanilla and fino than any other type of sherry. Regardless of the season (yes, we do experience variations in temperature as well as seasons in San Francisco...well, sort of), I love the crisp, saline, sometimes appley sometimes citric bite of the drier styles of sherry. When I say "bite" I do mean it; these wines are bone dry, disarmingly so for many people. Anyway, I could be just about anywhere south of Greenland and still crave a bracing glass or two (ok, three) of manzanilla or fino.
Olorosos (the variety of sherry which never has much of a tuft of flor form above it in the barrel) are wonderful. Pedro Ximenez based sherries, for me, are just too damn sweet for sipping, regardless of the style or VOS (very old sherry) or VORS (very old rare sherry) status. Amontillado and palo cortado styles, with their initital ageing under flor influence, hit a nice sweet spot between nuttiness and racy, tangy immediacy [he says as he downs his glass of amontillado.] Ahh!
So that having been said, I'm focusing on the three bottles of amber hued sherries which are currently open in my apartment.
Herederos de Argüeso Amontillado Sanlucar de Barrameda
#AwwHellYeah. Oops, I'm not twittering now. Anyway, this tastes like dried toffee and orange candies, if you were to take out the sugar, add some salt and a pinch of magic. There is something about amontillados from Sanlucar that are so full of energy and vitality. Awesome value at $25/750ml.
Barbadillo "Obispo Gascon" Palo Cortado Sanlucar de Barrameda
Deeper amber in color, with a decidedly more pungent and slightly boozy nose. It's 21.5% abv, a bit up there by palo cortado standards. Aromas are a shade more rancio, more oxidized, with something that I often find in amber sherries that I can only refer to as "yellow Triaminic." I don't recall what the yellow variety of Triaminic cold medicine was specifically for (maybe really bad colds, given the extra nastiness of its smell and taste), but rest assured that this sherry "tell" as it were is a personal one, and just one element of a satisfying sherry experience. Flavors echo the richer aromatics, with a bit more ripeness, nuttiness, and a hint of a dark chocolate quality as well. To me I see this as a terrific after dinner drink, whereas the aforementioned Argueso Amontillado could function as apero as well as dinner accompaniment for the right dishes.
Lustau Almacenista "Pata de Gallina" Juan Garcia Jarana Oloroso
At 20% abv, this is a comparably lighter oloroso. Very minimal detectable sweetness as well. It drinks brighter than the Barbadillo Obispo Gascon PC, with racier acids as well as a more noticeable depth in the mid-palate and finish. Hella walnut, we might say here in the Bay Area. I think this could well be the most versatile of this trio, equally adept as apero, dinner companion, and after dinner drink with cheese (Cabot clothbound cheddar, perhaps?), nuts, or just a warm fireplace and some interesting modern or contemporary fiction. Nothing pre 20th c, that would just be too stodgy in today's fast paced, casual, drinking and reading environment.
Pues...nada. Salud!
Showing posts with label lustau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lustau. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Good fino, Great fino
I have been enjoying two tasty bottles of fino over the past week. One is marketed by a very well known (arguably the best known in the US), large shipper of sherries and the other is from a small, but significant producer with some prized real estate in one of the region's best vineyards.
Lustau Almacenista Fino del Puerto Obregon
Lustau started out as a family owned bodega in the late 1800's. They then became a reliable blender of sherry, or almacenista (a sherry blender, who historically was not allowed to commercially bottle their own soleras; in sherry country you are either a shipper - no matter how small, or an almacenista selling to shippers). In 1990 Lustau was bought and became a shipper. The company established the idea of marketing special bottles of some of their favorite almacenistas' best soleras. This is one such bottle, from José Luis Gonzales' fino solera of 143 barrels. It has an 18K golden hue, which leads to some classic aromas and flavors of salt, browning apples, and walnuts. This bottle is no slouch, a deal at $20.
Valdespino "Ynocente" Fino Macharnudo
From both a sourcing and production standpoint, this sherry is very unique. The grapes hail solely from the Macharnudo vineyard, which is viewed to be amongst the best for palomino grapes in Jerez. The fermentation, typically carried out in the region in 50,000 liter stainless steel tanks these days, takes place in used American oak barrels of 500 liter capacity. Then the wine is aged seven years prior to being bottled. The color here is significantly paler than the Lustau. Its aromas are very fine, there is a purity to the fruit and less of a flor dominated quality. Flor, of course, is that cottony layer of yeast growth growth which simultaneously prevents fino from oxidizing while lending a nutty character. Perhaps theirs is a thinner layer than usual, which allows the fruit to stand out more? Having recently reviewed the Jura issue of The Art of Eating, I do recall a producer saying that his layer of flor is the thickness of a playing card, whereas in Jerez it can be up to 1 centimeter thick. Flor aside, this bottling, from sometime in 2008, is great. If you have had the Equipo Navazos No.15, then this is the same bodega which provides them with some "botas" (butts, or barrels) of fino sherry from the very same vineyard. Off the strength of this particular bottle, I think I may prefer Valdespino Valdespino to Equipo Navazos Valdespino. I'll let you decide that one for yourselves, however I would encourage you to find a half bottle of this wine, which at roughly $18 is very much worth the tariff.
Given the quality of the Macharnudo vineyard, as well as the recent excitement created by labels such as Equipo Navazos and some boutique bodegas, one cannot help but wonder if the sherry triangle will start moving in the direction that Burgundy, and more recently Champagne, has. That is to say, a greater choice of estate bottled wines, from specific vineyards, produced by dedicated farmers and artisans. This question may be built upon a false presumption or poor understanding of the reality on the ground in Jerez/Sanlucar/El Puerto de Santa María, but nonetheless I'm going to risk looking misinformed and pose it to anyone with any background, perspective, or opinion on the matter.
Lustau Almacenista Fino del Puerto Obregon
Lustau started out as a family owned bodega in the late 1800's. They then became a reliable blender of sherry, or almacenista (a sherry blender, who historically was not allowed to commercially bottle their own soleras; in sherry country you are either a shipper - no matter how small, or an almacenista selling to shippers). In 1990 Lustau was bought and became a shipper. The company established the idea of marketing special bottles of some of their favorite almacenistas' best soleras. This is one such bottle, from José Luis Gonzales' fino solera of 143 barrels. It has an 18K golden hue, which leads to some classic aromas and flavors of salt, browning apples, and walnuts. This bottle is no slouch, a deal at $20.
Valdespino "Ynocente" Fino Macharnudo
From both a sourcing and production standpoint, this sherry is very unique. The grapes hail solely from the Macharnudo vineyard, which is viewed to be amongst the best for palomino grapes in Jerez. The fermentation, typically carried out in the region in 50,000 liter stainless steel tanks these days, takes place in used American oak barrels of 500 liter capacity. Then the wine is aged seven years prior to being bottled. The color here is significantly paler than the Lustau. Its aromas are very fine, there is a purity to the fruit and less of a flor dominated quality. Flor, of course, is that cottony layer of yeast growth growth which simultaneously prevents fino from oxidizing while lending a nutty character. Perhaps theirs is a thinner layer than usual, which allows the fruit to stand out more? Having recently reviewed the Jura issue of The Art of Eating, I do recall a producer saying that his layer of flor is the thickness of a playing card, whereas in Jerez it can be up to 1 centimeter thick. Flor aside, this bottling, from sometime in 2008, is great. If you have had the Equipo Navazos No.15, then this is the same bodega which provides them with some "botas" (butts, or barrels) of fino sherry from the very same vineyard. Off the strength of this particular bottle, I think I may prefer Valdespino Valdespino to Equipo Navazos Valdespino. I'll let you decide that one for yourselves, however I would encourage you to find a half bottle of this wine, which at roughly $18 is very much worth the tariff.
Given the quality of the Macharnudo vineyard, as well as the recent excitement created by labels such as Equipo Navazos and some boutique bodegas, one cannot help but wonder if the sherry triangle will start moving in the direction that Burgundy, and more recently Champagne, has. That is to say, a greater choice of estate bottled wines, from specific vineyards, produced by dedicated farmers and artisans. This question may be built upon a false presumption or poor understanding of the reality on the ground in Jerez/Sanlucar/El Puerto de Santa María, but nonetheless I'm going to risk looking misinformed and pose it to anyone with any background, perspective, or opinion on the matter.
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