The Magic Of Jerez Tasting

This pale gold, Sherry-based vermouth is made from fino, sweetened with Moscatel wine. Mild, grassy aromas lead into a sweet and citrusy palate, with mouthwatering acidity and a fresh, grassy exit accented by a floral hint. WINE ENTHUSIAST

A perfect blend of two wines: a dry, mineral and crisp Fino sherry and a sweet and floral Moscatel wine. LUSTAU

With six centuries of sherry production under their belts, Valdespino lay claim to being one of the oldest sherry bodegas in the region. The heart of Valdespino is their vineyards. One of the few bodegas to release single-vineyard wines, their Macharnudo holding is one of the grand crus of Jerez at the highest altitude and located on the famous, and sought-after bright white Albariza chalk soils.

From their savory and fresh Manzanilla Deliciosa and Fino Inocente, to their unctuous and intense Solera 1842 and Pedro Ximenez wines, the quality is world class and the bodega still ferment a proportion of their wines in wood, adding layers of complexity to the finish product. One of the few estates that age in solera far in excess of the DO regulations for all their styles of sherry.

This is outstanding value PX with rasins, Christmas spice, grilled walnut in a lovely rich yet fresh frame. Don't get us wrong, it's sweet and delicious but still comes of with some nice bright citrus peel and orange fruit. Yum!

The regular NV Amontillado has an average age of 12 years, six years under flor, and then it was fortified to 17.5% alcohol and aged in an oxidative way. It feels bone dry. The price is for a half bottle.

El Maestro Sierra is one of the jewels of Jerez. It's a small family winery created in 1830 by José Antonio Sierra, a barrel maker that used to work for González-Byass. It has remained in the family ever since. LUIS GUTIERREZ, The Wine Advocate

‘Aranzá’ is Rafa’s sub-vineyard name for a small portion he selects from Viña La Palma. La Palma itself is a small vineyard, 3 hectares of 60 year-old Palomino growing in Albariza tosca cerrada. The term ‘Aranzá’ is a short-hand for the local measure of land area, an Aranzáda – depending upon the colloquy involved (the measure is different in each town and possibly grower-to-grower!), it’s roughly a half hectare.

Pickled hay, buttery chalk and the cold steel smell of yesterday’s Tea Billy. Savoury, earthen, edged and filled with pickles and spice. Dandelion, a nice rim of diatom (blue oceanic fossil minerality), pickled cucumber, a sapid buzz in the cheeks and corners of the tongue. A round and savoury style, the cereal-inflected Palomino is mid-weight with an understated, lovely finish of bitters on the point of the tongue. Incredible volume and textural satisfaction at such low ABV.

I love Manzanilla, and I often drink it when I’m out and about… Salty, nutty, chamomile, sourdough bread before it hits the oven, a light honey and mint thing too, lemon zest and green olives. It’s dry and nutty, distinctly saline, fine chalky texture, green olive brine and pistachio, with a tangy, zesty and nutty finish of excellent length. It’s fresh and sharp, (as it should be), but also a little wild, and gee, it’s a very good expression of Manzanilla. The crunch on the finish seals it. Yes. (94) GARY WALSH

Upon demand, Gutierrez Colosia make occasionaly bottlings of super-textural Fino straight from barrel, or 'en rama'. Sacas of 5yo reserve wine is protected at 16% abv.

The nose a mix of marigold, brioche, and spiced vanilla with a hint of anise. The palate is rich and round, neither vertical nor horizontal, almost a golden ring passing through the palate. It’s full of hazelnut husk, wheat fields and honeyed lemon-water. The finish is chalky, spicy and citrus-fresh.

'El Piraña' is Juan Francisco Pulido and his wife Rosa. They've been making wine under their own label since 2022. Juan is from a long line of family growers who traditionally sold their grapes to the large bodegas of Jerez. Juan dedicated himself to viticulture in 2010, focusing specifically on their village, Trebujena and selling the wines locally - primarily as Mosto en granel (roll up with your flagons and casks and they're filled direct from cask for you).

Juan's main wine, el Primario (meaning both first and basic) is effectively a Mosto bottled after a fermentation temperature controlled at 18 degrees; no flor of course. It's 'aged' 8 months in stainless after it's finished and cleaned up, then later bottled (maybe we can call it an LBM: late-bottled-Mosto?). Floral with crackling wild apple … great crunch yet with plenty of texture; it's an utterly gorgeous drink! 2% Moscatel sits in it neatly.

Albero is the passion-project of local Spanish importer, Scott Wasley in conjunction with famed Manzanilla Bodega, Delgado Zuleta, and more specifically, a separate 275 year old solera called Barbiana solera - purchased in 1978 and kept separately ever since. Essentially, each year Wasley is given access to the solera to put together his own blend from this amazing vinous resource. In the first year, the blend was a mix of 5 of the 34 bota. That wine was a revelation, the en rama or non filtered Manzanilla is, in and of itself, such a departure from the water-clear, racy salty sherry we've become accustomed.

This latest blend is different and climbs into the middle of the barrel and towards the top. What that gives you is a more fragrant and to me anyway, a more refined, softer style. It's not as much of a smack in the mouth of flavour as the earlier wines but it's every bit as compelling.

The gentler texture couches the same chamomile, sake and whiskey aromatics but there's also a higher toned yeasty element and the florals are more pronounced. As always there's the orange rind and iodine elements that set off the deeper more umami characters. It's super complex, confronting (in a good way) and ultimately one of the most satisfying/nourishing wines I drink every year.   MICHAEL MCNAMARA

Another step up is the non-vintage Pedro Ximinez from a 15-year-old solera. It is brown amber in color with aromas of orange peel and English toffee. It is thick and rich on the palate and very long. THE WINE ADVOCATE

Deep, opaque mahogany hue. Intense prunes, raisins, dark chocolate, licorice and cough syrup to the nose. Unctuous and lush on the palate with luscious raisins, sultanas and some syrupy, bitter black dates and chocolate in the silky finish. Screamingly sweet. That’s the style though. Vegan. Pour it over ice cream. Drink now. ZEKUN SHUAI, JamesSuckling.com

Aromas of peanut butter, caramelized walnuts, brown sugar and sourdough bread. Full-bodied and round, with concentrated, tangy flavors. The sour yeasty bread and walnut flavors last over a minute. Drink now. ZEKUN SHUAI, JamesSuckling.com

A wonderful style that has unfortunately been tarred with a bad reputation. Palomino/Fino sherry mainly then sweetened with Byass PX Sherry, Salty and sweet, fresh but unction yet not overly cloying. A cracking drop for the money.

Once described by Max Allen as licking oyster shells in rolling surf, this ground-breaking Manzanilla comes from a 60-strong cask selection made by Navazos founders Jesus Barquín and Eduardo Ojeda that was plucked from the production of La Guita, one of the most famous (and finest) Manzanilla producers (and where, for decades Ojeda oversaw production in his previous role as the technical director of José Estévez). As always, this current bottling was drawn from its barrels en rama (directly from the barrels with only the lightest filtration). This is how Manzanilla used to be bottled before sterile filtering became the standard in Jerez.

The current batch was bottled in March 2024. It’s a wonderfully potent and briny yet seductive wine with a deep, silky texture and plenty of sustained, tangy drive. Four and a half years under flor and gentle bottling direct from cask has also delivered a vibrant gold colour and some nutty development. It’s a much deeper colour than most other Manzanillas on the market (which are typically very clear due to their youth and sterile filtration). That makes this unique in comparison to other Manzanillas in its price range. It remains light years ahead of more common, conventional Manzanillas.

A fino en rama by Peter Sisseck. Peter is most notably known for his work at Dominio de Pingus, but he found himself in Marco de Jerez. One of Peter’s motivations in entering the wine world of el Marco lay in the fact that it has the world’s oldest continuous vineyard classifications. Even although the big company corruptors have done all they can to erase the signature of the land on its wines over the past 50 years, the pagos remain, known and named for many hundreds of years, if not respected much of late. And, Peter was totally fed up with the corruption and ignorance in his main place of work - Ribera del Duero.

Lemon rind, dandelion, thyme balm, melon tendril, persimmon, straw, parmesan rind on the nose. The mouth’s flavoured with deep chalk, iodine, scents of a rockpool, with a hit of spice to finish - white pepper and anise. It’s gently graduated, the spice rolls beautifully, a hit of feijoa bitters is relieved by talcy tannin and acid twines in gently towards the end. It’s a wine of slow, profound reveal and resolve; there’s great clarity of purpose and journey, without force and it’s deceptively easy for a wine of considerable power.

Tasting old sweet PX from Toro Albalá is like a roller coaster ride, which started with the 1988 Don PX Gran Reserva, what for them is their more commercial range, a wine that at close to 30 years of age is still unbottled. They compared it with the 1981 (which I never tasted), because it was a warm year with an exceptional harvest. It has 16.4% alcohol, 340 grams of residual sugar and mixes notes of youth, raisins, figs and dates with other aromas of a long aging like tar, graphite, chocolate and licorice. (91-93) LUIS GUTIERREZ, The Wine Advocate

The first of the unfortified whites from Jerez with some aging under flor produced together with Niepoort from Portugal since 2008, the 2022 Navazos-Niepoort is now in its 15th vintage. As always, it was produced with grapes from a single vineyard, Macharnudo in Jerez. 2022 is a classical and balanced vintage in the zone. It fermented the old way, in old 600-liter Sherry casks and aged for some 10 months in the bota under a veil of flor yeast, as the barrels are only filled to five-sixths of their capacity. It rested in tank, also with flor, for a couple of months before it was bottled in August 2023. (93) LUIS GUTIERREZ, The Wine Advocate

With a clear character of El Puerto de Santa María reminiscent of low tide, the Spring 2017 bottling (marked on the front label) of the NV 3 en Rama Fino del Puerto also has notes of almonds, yeasts and a saline, iodine touch. The palate is balanced and dry, sharp after five years under flor. Only 1,000 500-milliliter bottles were filled in April 2017. LUIS GUTIERREZ, The Wine Advocate

Pale straw. Less aromatic than the Jerez Fino. Light and extremely salty. Great for getting the appetite going and quite delicate. One for sherry aficionados but possibly a bit too light for newcomers to the style. Though there's a certain electric buzz to the finish … (16.5/20) JANCIS ROBINSON MW

Light, fragrant-but-steely nose – not unlike a dry Riesling! Very long, pure and pungent. Lovely wine! And a fabulous aperitif. (17/20) JANCIS ROBINSON MW

Sanlúcar de Barrameda sits on the estuary of the Guadalquivir river with Atlantic breezes coming off the ocean. Its microclimate impregnates the yeasts growing on the surface of the Manzanilla with a rare sea salt character. Selected for its delicacy, this Manzanilla is aged under “flor” in American oak casks for five years and bottled without any treatment. LUSTAU