Thursday 8 February 2018

Palo Cortado Encrucijado 2015 15%, Cota 45

Appearance
Amber tinged gold with bright brassy gold reflections.
Nose
A lovely harmony between gentle oxidation and fruit. The wine is very fresh, clean, light and ripe with fruity notes of dried apricot balancing with straw and caramel notes of oxidation and traces of apple and seaside keeping things light and elegant - yet serious. It smells like a young Sherry and really that is what it is, apart from the unauthorised grapes.
Palate
Fresh, deeply tasty and dangerously moreish. Acidity is comparatively low, but it balances perfectly with a delightful slightly clean salty tang at the finish. It has a lovely light weight and considerable elegance and complexity, still with lots of Manzanilla character, but it is at the crossroads (encrucijada) between the latter and Palo Cortado. Interestingly it tastes lighter than 15%, but it is.
Comments
What an interesting and delicious wine! Made from Rey (30%), Perruno (50%) and Palomino (20%) from the albariza soils of the pago Miraflores. Two of these grapes were used in the past before Palomino took over and they were dropped from the regulations, and Ramiro wants to recuperate them to add complexity to the wine, which he has certainly done. The grapes were sunned for two days to avoid the need for fortification. This adds a certain degree of ripeness to the character of the wine. It was aged for two years, four months of which were under flor in seasoned Sherry butts. The result is a beautiful style of wine, a young Cortado, which had disappeared, yet neither the symbol nor the words "palo" or "cortado" appear on the label any more. (this is the third release) Brilliant stuff, which should age beautifully for many years in bottle, which is sealed with a good quality driven cork. Only 1,000 bottles were produced.
Price
25 euros, Er Guerrita

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