A Stunning Range of Aged Fino's

Earlier this year, Gonzalez Byass released there limited  edition Fino Sherry, En Rama, which is essentially there Tio Pepe just unfiltered and unfined, with a label out of the archives. Well they’re at it again, with the launch later this year of four aged Fino’s, (one is actually an Amontillado) under the Palmas name; Una, Dos, Tres and Cuatro, and again they’ve bee raiding the artwork archive for the label designs (which look very good).

As with the En Rama, they will be bottled straight from the cask with no filtering, clarification or sterilisation and will only be available through specialist wine merchants and high end restaurants, I was rather lucky the other week that I got to taste, what will hopefully be the final products.

Fino Una Palmas – They will be selecting the best casks from 142 which will still be covered with Flor from the 4^th Criadera in the Gran Bodega Tio Pepe, where most of the casks are six years old. In the glass this had a very pale gold colour, with quite pronounced aromas of yeast with a hint of nuttiness coming through. This all came through on the palate with a gentle warming sensation from the fortification, all combining to make a beautiful Sherry.

Fino Dos Palmas – These will come from selected barrels from the 2^nd Criadera which consists of 150 barrels in the Gran Bodega Tio Pepe. Many of the casks will have lost there Flor so careful selection will take place to ensure that they use barrels which still has there layer of Flor, helping to age the Fino, they will be around eight years old and are quite rare. As expected this was just a little richer than the Una, edging more towards the nutty (almond) characteristics than the yeasty ones of the Una, but still delicious.

Fino Tres Palmas - This will come from the 1^st Criadera in the Gran Bodega Tio Pepe, and are around 10 years old, they will select barrels which still has a layer of Flor, but due to there age it will be very fine, and as such very rare. This one had a bright deep gold colour and again showed a much richer version of the first two, much more nuts and now with hints of sweet spice coming through and a greater warming sensation from the alcohol, absolutely stunning.

Fino Cuatro Palmas -  This actually isn’t a Fino but an Amontillado coming from barrels aged around 45 years old, and will be selected from six casks called ‘Museo Solera’ in the Bodega La Cuadraba, which as you can probably imagine means there won’t be a lot of this one. This one though had an amber colour as the Flor had disappeared in the cask allowing it to oxidise slightly, but now along with the nutty flavours you much more sweet spice and baked fruit such as apples. It showed much more complexity than the others, and was absolutely stunning, but that is what you expect from this wine.

Probably should have used a white background!

All four of these Sherries were stunning in there own right, and showed greater complexity and depth of flavours as you moved up the range. Would I buy or recommend them, absolutely. If you know anyone who likes a drop of Sherry, but not your Bristol cream or Croft Original, then these will make a great present, or if you like a drop yourself, go on treat yourself, I will be!

A Sherry with a Hint of a Sea Breeze

Sherry for me has to be one of the greatest wines in the world, but it’s image suffers in this country so badly, when you mention the word Sherry to most people, an image of there grandparents sipping Harvey’s Bristol Cream or Croft Original instantly springs into there mind.  But there is so much more to Sherry than this, it covers a broad range of styles, from the light and pale Fino to the heavy and dark Oloroso’s.

Produced on the southern coast of Spain, in an area referred to as the Sherry triangle, which is made up from the three towns of Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa Maria and Sanluca de Barremeda. Palomino grape is the main grape used, they do however occasionally use Pedro Ximenez or Moscatel to sweeten, it is then fortified use a grape spirit (Brandy), but unlike Port, it is added after the fermentation process has completed so it remains a dry wine. They employ a fractional blending system called a Solera, hence why you don’t get a Vintage Sherry, and the ageing process happens in barrels under a layer of yeast, which is known as the Flor. This layer of yeast is extremely important, as its presence denotes the style, apart from being a fortified wine it is also an oxidised one. For the lighter Fino and Manzanilla styles you want a thick layer of Flor so to prevent as much oxygen getting to it as possible. Where as for the darker Amontillado and Oloroso style you want a greater degree of oxidisation, as this give it its colour and nutty flavours.

I’m not the biggest fan of the darker styles of Sherry, but I am of Manzanilla, now just to confuse things even more, Manzanilla and Fino are the same sherry apart from one difference, Manzanilla comes only from Sanluca de Barrameda. Situated on the coast, the cooling sea breezes help to keep the Bodegas cool; it also imparts a slightly salty tang to the wine, which in a blind tasting really helps you tell the difference between Fino and Manzanilla.

La Gitana is Spain's most popular Manzanilla brand, and should be served well chilled, on the nose, if you close your eyes could almost mistake it’s aromas for a sea breeze. On the palate you got these wonderfully fresh flavours of Greens Apples and Almonds along with a real salty tang and a touch of yeasty/doughy characteristics, you have a good level of acidity which all combines beautifully. The big difference against other whites is you get a real kick from the level of alcohol due to the fortification; you get a real warming sensation in the back of your throat, which just helps to make this wine even more sensational than it already was.

Is this a wine that I would recommend, well I hope from what I've written you could take the guess that the answer is yes, it’s great to drink on its own chilled on a hot day or as an aperitif, which ever way you want to drink it, try it.