Delgado Zuleta La Goya LG64

We tasted the latest bottling of Delgado Zuleta La Goya Manzanilla yesterday. Fresh off the boat, and bottled to order for local importer, Scott Wasley, it hit like vinous "smelling salts" to coax you out of winter hibernation. A little whiff of Spring in the air helped too but seriously, if this isn't one of the best versions of this stellar Manzanilla I've seen in recent years, then I'll give the game away.  

I want to keep this short and sweet so I don't kill the lead here. Of all the sherry 'variants', Manzanilla has the benefit of being made largely in the bodegas of Sanlucar de Barrameda, Delgado Zuleta being a leading light and one of the oldest.

The position of the town on the shores of the estuary gifts the bodegas cooler more humid conditions for the protective layer of flor to stays alive much longer than in say, Jerez. End result are sherries that carry an extra  brightness and a vivacious saline intensity that smacks into the mouth and palate like a bucket of ice water in the face. 

The best carry an oyster shell brininess that complexes apple, lime and wafting chamomile. Almond and aldehyde create a wonderful framework. There's nothing that can get a jaded palate up and about like Manzanilla.

Key though to a great bottle is freshness! If it's been sitting on the shelf of your local bottlo for 6 months then steer clear. That's why we love the La Goya; it's been batch bottled and shipped fresh by Wasley since 2002. I still recall the first time we tasted it amongst the other labels being imported at the time. Incredibly vibrant and vivid like it had been pulled from a barrel days earlier. 

This is the 64th bottling which means a fresh batch has been bottled and shipped at least three times a year for the last 22 years. That's dedication to wanting Aussie palates have the best representation of the genre as possible. Good on him! 

The other brilliant thing about La Goya - it's bottled and shipped in 375ml bottles so you can open and drink it in one sitting, avoiding the half bottle of spoiling sherry in your fridge door for months on end. 

Anyway, enough said. Manzanilla is a unique and glorious thing in the world of wine but if you're gonna drink it make sure it's fresh like this. You owe it to yourself to have a six pack of these hand grenades on standby as the weather starts to warm up.