Down in the south of Spain (Sanlucar de Barremeda, Jerez, Seville) last weekend, so plenty of Spanish stuff, with an emphasis on Sherry!
Hidalgo-La Gitana
La Gitana Manzanilla
Beautifully delicate, light and fresh - extremely well balanced and dangerously easy to drink. Perfect tipples for a summer's day with seafood platter. Ridiculously cheap stuff. They are targeting Down Under as an export market.
Hidalgo Manzanilla Pasada La Pastrana
More body than the regular Manzanilla - quite a serious wine needing food. Can stand up to most fish dishes. Retails for around £8 in the UK.
Hidalgo Dry Amontillado
I have struggled with this style at times in the past, but the Hidalgo wine is nice and elegant and restrained, nice nuttiness and toast, slightly leathery, spirit is well integrated. One for almonds or jamon serrano.
Hidalgo Dry Oloroso
My style to a tee - in a similar vein to the Amontillado, but showing more concentration, intensity and complexity - again, quite elegant in the Hidalgo style - also ridiculously cheap at around 5 Euros a bottle. Super stuff that could work with many rich game dishes.
Hidalgo Palo Cortado 20 year old
Don't remember too much on this one - suffice to say that it was very good indeed - a step up from each of the proceeding wines - it must have been good as I bought a bottle!!
Hidalgo Pedro Ximinez
A lighter PX - not the consistency of engine oil as some can be - sweet, but there's a slight savouriness as well - good stuff.
Off to Jerez to taste the wines of Lustau....
Lustau Solera Reserva "Papirusa" Light Manzanilla Sherry
Subtle nutty/yeasty nose. Dry, medium bodied palate of salted almonds/pistachios, slightly hot on the finish. Not quite up to some of the other Manzanillas tasted on the trip.
Lustau Solera Reserva "Puerto Fino" Sherry
Relatively weak nose showing some flor yeast. Dry, light and fresh, smoked almonds and sourdough. Good - needs food.
Lustau Solera Reserva "Jarana" Light Fino Sherry
Light fresh nose of yeast, seaweed and baked saltdough pastry. Light, fresh and tangy - intense - salty, yeasty. Good length. Best of Lustau's light dry styles.
Lustau Solera Reserva "Los Arcos" Dry Amontillado Sherry
Bright medium amber/brown. Clean nose of toast and smoke, touches of leather and raisin. Dry, medium bodied palate, good intensity - sandalwood and leather dominate. Quite pleasant acidity.
Lustau Almacenista Palo Cortado
Medium to deep amber/gold. Clean nose of dried fig and leather. On the palate, smooth and elegant - pleasant silky mouthfeel - roasted hazelnuts and toast.
Lustau Solera Gran Reserva "Emperatriz Eugenia" Very Rare Oloroso Sherry
Deep amber. Clean developed nose - roasted nuts and dried fruits. On the palate, very elegant, medium bodied - dry raisins - yet bone dry - leather and dark spices also feature. Outstanding. Roughly 28 Euros in Spain.
Lustau Almacenista Oloroso de Jerez Pata de Gallina
Deep amber verging on dark golden brown. Similar in charatcer to the previous wine (which I preferred), but with more body and a smidgen of residual sugar.
Lustau Old East India Sherry
Into the sweet stuff now. Dark golden brown. Clean nose - smoky raisins. Rich sweet palate - wonderfully balanced - sweet without being too sweet - dried fruits, nuts and spices. Superb and a great match for Xmas pud (or cake or mince pies). The best sweet Sherry I've ever tasted.
Lustau Solera Reserva "Emilin" Moscatel
Dark rich gold in colour. Rich and sweet with honeyed raisin fruit. Nice, albeit not that complex.
Lustau Solera Reserva "San Emilio" Pedro Ximinez Sherry
Into the engine oil - rich, dark (opaque black with an amber/gold rim) - ultra full bodied and luscious - dried macerated raisins. Great stuff, but one glass is enough.
Senor Lustau Brandy de Jerez Solera Gran Reserva
Quite soft on the nose compared to a Cognac - though I do get a hint of marzipan that I find in these wines. Initially soft and smooth, but then the alcohol burn starts to come through. I'm not a spirit drinker - though I am sure that hardened Brandy drinkers would love this stuff - would benefit from being taken on the rocks IMHO.
Also consumed....
- Many other Sherries - stand out was the Argueso Manzanilla - a really intense Manzanilla - great drinking.
- Juve Y Camps Cava "Reserva de la Familia" - Juve Y Camps also make a more expensive bubbles from 100% Chardonnay, but this one is from the indigenous grapes - Xarel-lo, Parallela and Macebeo. Quite serious fizz - nice biscuity/toasty nose - which flow on to the palate which shows more toast, together with citrus zest. Good stuff.
- Pesquera Crianza 1999 (Ribera del Duero) - unfortunately the Reserva wasn't available so we opted for the Crianza. A young wine perhaps showing some of the characters of the vintage - relatively low acidity. Good berry fruit, albeit initially the wine was a bit fat for my palate. Opened up with time in the glass - there's no doubt that this will improve over the short to medium term, but I don't think it's a long term keeper.
Interesting to see the prices of some of the Spanish "cult" wines, most particularly "L'Ermita" - a wine from Priorat which has a relatively short history but is made in miniscule quantities and is modelled on some of the garagiste wines of Bordeaux - only a cool 330 Euros for a bottle of this stuff. By contrast, a bottle of the Marques de Murrietta Castillo d'Ygay 1994 Gran Reserva - a very old establish Rioja bodega - was 28-29 Euros.
Cheers
Phil