Bright gold with a faint amber tinge and golden highlights.
Nose
Beautiful and intensely aromatic - more so than the colour would suggest, and hugely complex with all sorts of nuances. There is plenty of bitter yeasty flor and lots of salted almond up front with slight herb and dried flower notes along with sourdough and olive brine behind. Then there are subtle notes of oxidation and cabezuela - there is so much going on and it is all tightly packed into a super fresh wine which is still very much Manzanilla. Lovely!
Palate
Intense, beautifully balanced and so very clean. It is huge on entry with lots of flor, nuttiness and oxidation and then calms down a bit, offering tangy yeasty doughy saline marine notes. Then all the multifarious flavours seem to join together in a flourish into one super tasty wine with terrific length which just keeps on giving. Superb!
Comments
This outstanding Manzanilla is one of 2,000 bottled with no clarification whatsoever in September 2017. It was sourced from a few butts which showed the desired characteristics of biological influence, salinity and bitter almond in the very old San León Reserva de Familia solera in Bodegas Herederos de Argüeso in Sanlúcar. The grapes came from Miraflores and Balbaina and the wine has an average age of between 12 and 14 years. Different quantities were withdrawn from different butts to create a blend with all the characteristics mentioned above and a little oxidation as well. The Las Botas range is selected by sommelier Raúl Villabrille and César Velazquez of Balandro Vinos in Sevilla, and the name "Apartada" refers to that oxidation which sets the wine apart from just biological flavours. These wines offer exceptional value.
Price15 euros per 50cl bottle, La Tienda del Jerez
No comments:
Post a Comment