Terroir-istes International - Spain, Sherry 1

A two-part tasting of Sherry looking into all the different styles. Part 1 is Fino and Manzanilla with a PX thrown in.

• NV Bodegas Hidalgo Manzanilla La Gitana 88 Points

  Spain, Andalucía, Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda

  (Tasted Blind): (Tasted Blind): Pale gold colour with intense aromas of white almonds, flor, rind of a hard cheese and salt (touch of heady apple cider vinegar). The palate is light-bodied with a fabulous cut of salty nuances, apple, and with such purity. The wine is light on its feet with a bitter element at the end, not super complex, closing with a citric tang and bruised apple that is perhaps that little softer and accessible nodding towards a more commercial styling. With lingering aftertaste and lovely roundness this is an engaging, bone-dry wine. The oinly downside was the slight hoppy and bruised apple quality.

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• NV Bodegas Hidalgo Manzanilla La Gitana En Rama 90 Points

  Spain, Andalucía, Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda

  (Tasted Blind): Mid gold with amber edges. The nose has freshness and purity, lots of dry salted nuts, yeast, more aldehydic notes, a touch of caramel, grilled pineapple to burnt pineapple, and Seville oranges. The palate is sharp, neat, focused and tight, almost grabbing you in the mouth. Lovely depth of flavour, there are some chalkier edges to this highly delineated wine with flavours of walnuts, umami, salt, peach, citrus and some earthy qualities. Closes with a warming alcohol that increases rapidly on the finish mixed with walnuts and fungi notes. Overall, quite textured and refreshing.
  Aged under flor for an average of six years in butts with two bottlings a year (Spring and Autumn)

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• NV Emilio Lustau Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda Papirusa 89 Points

  Spain, Andalucía, Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda

  (Tasted Blind): Pale lemon-straw with salt, smoke and roasted nuts aroma - fairly intense.
  The entry is purely aligned with more flour and yeast, somewhat brioche-like aged champagne. The wine has an elegant gait, crisp acidity, apple, lemon, and roasted almonds with a touch of stilton on freshly baked bread. Less aldehydic and fresher, it carries throughout the wine towards a wonderfully long finish. Whilst the mid-palate gently tickles you with its downy texture, there is a puckering effect towards the close with some fresh walnuts and dried apricot—very nutty-dominated, in fact!
  Lustau (started in 1896) pioneered the concept of bottling small lots from almacenistas (small bodegas that produce and age wine that they sell to other bodegas rather than offering bottled to consumers), and each bottle shows the name of the almacenista and the village where the wine has aged.

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• NV Gonzalez-Byass Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Tio Pepe Fino 'En Rama' 90 Points

  Spain, Andalucía, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry

  (Tasted Blind): Pale gold colour, the nose opens with nuts, aldehydic notes, and sourdough, reminiscent of bread dough. The palate is vibrant and fresh, with plenty of intensity and purpose. Expressive and vibrant with some richness from ageing, the wine has a long length and closes with a touch of spirit. Flavours of salted nuts, seaweed, citrus, fresh and bruised apple, sultana and stewed pears. Has an elegance with very fine chalky texture and an oyster shell minerality,
  100% Palomino Fino, the wine ferments for 7–14 days with no MLF. Aged min of four years in 500-litre old American oak casks.

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• NV Gonzalez-Byass Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Dos Palmas 93 Points

  Spain, Andalucía, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry

  (Tasted Blind): Mid to deep amber. The nose opens with a punch of seaweed and citrus, very yeasty and powerful, with iodine and sea kelp.
  Very refreshing, the entry has distinct sea kelp and tangy acidity with notes of green apple, crushed almonds and ocean spray (ozone). There are still nuts galore with fresh walnuts, and it is replete with shiitake mushroom, sultana, iodine, dried apricot, and a touch of aldehyde. Bone dry, chalky textured, there is some breadth in the mid-palate. Fabulous complexity and depth in the mid-palate. The wine is rich and heady, with a lingering length that gives it a nutty persistence. It closes with some musty wood and a wet beach house.

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• NV Sánchez Romate Hnos. Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Fino Perdido 90 Points

  Spain, Andalucía, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry

  (Tasted Blind): Mid amber-orange, the nose has gorgeous floral notes of musk matched with a slight oaky quality that I wasn't expecting!
  The entry reflects a bevy of more unusual notes: yellow flowers, burnt candle wax, Armagnac, kitten poo, blue cheese, and some nuts. There is ample richness to this layered and complex wine, along with an edgy acidity, making this a fascinating wine!
  It has great length and persistence yet continues that oaky note. Closes with apricot, rising salt, ripe apples, and a warming alcohol that together felt quite bitter - but in a positive way!
  Six years under flor.

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• NV Emilio Hidalgo Fino Especial "La Panesa" 91 Points

  Spain, Andalucía, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry

  (Tasted Blind): Light to mid gold in colour, the nose is filled with dry salted nuts, in particular hazelnuts, whilst the palate is round, intense and highly focussed.
  Wonderfully tight in the midpalate, there is a rising citrus quality with brioche, sourdough, hazelnuts, walnut, and sea salt, giving vibrancy (yet not so much freshness) to what is quite a challenging wine - so salty with its nuts! Hugely long, it does seem far more evolved than their standard Fino.
  Bottled at 15 years old from a solera created in 1961.

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• NV Emilio Lustau Jerez-Xérès-Sherry 30 Years Old Pedro Ximénes VORS 95 Points

  Spain, Andalucía, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry

  (Tasted Blind): Deep brown to opaque, almost black in colour, it has a bouquet of raisins, dried figs, smoke, and quince. An intense palate delivers a bombardment of dried apricots, dates, prunes, dark chocolate (80%), and coffee grinds. The wine has immense concentration and is full-on with extraordinary concentration and incredible depth. As it opened, I got some greener edges and a coconut element, and the wine had a special freshness that just lingered on and on!
  Pedro Ximenez grapes

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