A bottle of Sainsbury’s Rioja in late seventies England sparked an enthusiasm which turned into an obsession. Moving to Australia only made it worse. At least I know I’m not alone.
A splendid and extremely good value apero for the odd warm day at the start of Melbourne’s fickle summer. I’m very happy the ethanol barn that’s Dan Murphy’s direct import this and Barbadillo’s Manzanilla Solear. Encouragingly the stock turns over quickly. Much less happy that Dan’s didn’t persist with Barbadillo’s great Pastora and Principe Amontillado which were to be had at good prices too. Only serves to keep Sherry as a cheap option for lots of alcohol perhaps. I’m also keen to carry on at length about how the quality of Sherry has improved so much over the last decade or so. Compared to some of the basic, big label Champagne at three to four times the price, this yeast affected gem is a screaming bargain. This saca as the bodegas call drawing a new batch of wine from the solera again shows how much better are the base wines and how much more care is obviously being exercised in keeping things fresh and clean. This bottling is delicious. Smells of fresh bread, quinine and chamomile build with a salty undercurrent. Large flavours of golden apples, almond, green olive and a touch of bread dough are twisted into shape by some flor driven quinine and a flow of sweet ripe acidity and a mouthwatering dryness. Suspend those prejudices about gran’s sweet flagons and indulge in one of the wine world’s great traditions, now better than ever.
I know it’s now a much more consistent product but hiding the bottling date code in a faint glass etching makes it difficult to check freshness. Not that a year of rest does no harm now it’s screw capped and clean. Maybe clearly explaining the process of criadera and solera bottling on the back label would educate the more sophisticated drinker the Sherry industry badly needs?
According to Broadsheet, an on line review of the good and fashionable in Aussie food and drink, one of the booze trends of 2025 is the Sherry revival. Hadn’t really noticed there was such a thing but I do like to think I’ve contributed by downing my share. Not sure it’ll replace beer this summer but I’m convinced a bit more popularity wouldn’t hurt as there’s been such an improvement in quality in recent years. The base wines seem to so much better, the rules are slowly changing for the good and there’s much less dirty old oak flavour and bitter sulphide. I now frequently get the impression I’m primarily drinking a delicious glass of wine without the complications of flor and old barrels dominating, just a tasty seasoning. This is a lovely 500ml of Sanlúcar vineyard magic, well it could be from those great pagos facing the estuary or from just anywhere. The rules haven’t changed to the extent that Manzanilla has to be from grapes grown anywhere near Sanlúcar, just matured in barrels there. Lustau themselves are still wedded to the idea that where the barrels are kept is far more important than where the grapes are grown. Going to their website and clicking on the individual Manzanillas and all there is the frustrating 404 not found thing. Secret? Imagine the French allowing Montrachet to be made from anything, just so long as the barrels are in the Côte de Beaune. Err..maybe they did unofficially once? Enough of the grumpy, the revolution has a way to go and this is really delicious wine. Seaside and estuary breezes, bajomar or low tide as the locals say, golden apple flavours, chamomile and straw, fennel, sesame seeds and a touch of bread dough to finish as the quinine twist of flor begs another sip. There’s a serious swell of great fruit before those complexities of flor and barrel dry and savour. As this bottling or saca is now over two years old, there’s maybe some development away from the fresh and salty towards the golden and rich, perhaps for the better? One of the weird effects of flor aging is the way volatile acidity falls as the yeasty bits float and then drop to become nourishing cabezuelas at the bottom of the barrel. Seems to help these en rama Sherries drawn straight from the bota stay stable and just get tastier in the bottle without extra filtering. Doing less sometimes means more.
15% alcohol, the rules now say 14% and it can still be labelled Manzanilla or Fino. Cork. $45.
Suppose you could say it’s a pilgrimage for the lover of El Triangulo, the perfect geometry of Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barremeda. Thanks again to the undertheflor blog which has been a great reference in finding the good stuff. Just wish it was more up to date. And speaking of time passing, it’s obvious that things don’t change too much as the clock ticks in the Taberna der Guerrita. The same groups of old mates still prop the bar with a copa or caña of cold beer, families come in up to three generations to drink and eat a little, the kids sitting amongst the feet on the bar step.
But there’s an incredible choice of Sherry drinks. The son of the business, Armando Guerra, has a job with the progressive Barbadillo dealing with their special bottlings and new projects. He’s a passionate advocate for the new focus on quality around the old triangle but in no way has forgotten what makes this bar tick. There’s a house Manzanilla en rama straight from the barrel for €1.50 and to eat there’s great local ingredients, seasonal and well cooked, no cheffy flourishes. Should you have some carefully saved cash to splurge on a special bottle, there’s a huge list right up to a Selosse fizz, well, it’s all about the yeast, no? To keep it interesting, there’s an ever changing biological de El Marco by the glass too. Happily, the place is a good fifteen minute walk from downtown Sanlúcar. Too far for the idle tourist but not the Sherry freak or the locals who know a great pub.
There’s always kind service with a smile or a crack if your Español is up to it.
Good things to eat, ready to plate and a short list of calientes.
About nine o’clock, the best tortilla in the world makes its appearance. Keep a beady eye on that bar.
Quietly convivial, raucous and fun sometimes, to find a table or a place at the bar, sip great wine and eat what’s local and fresh and time seems to melt. If hospitality is meant to come from deep pride in a job well done and satisfaction at seeing customers feel like friends, then this bar is worth your time. Spend some time and watch the happy ebb and flow. A great, great bar.
When it comes to El Marco it takes a while to unravel some of the complications of vineyard, method, product and just who’s really making the best wine. Thanks to The Spanish Acquisition from Melbourne introducing me to the irresistible force of Willy Perez and the undertheflor blog helping me recognise a Cota 45 bottle when it came up at auction, I’ve come to realise Willy Perez and Ramiro Ibañez are just about as good as it gets. Coming so far, I spent a fair amount of time trying to find a way to visit both the partners in the de la Riva collaboration. The only possible visit to Luis Perez for the punter seems to be the disappointing tourist option. Nice enough but the only Palomino you get to taste is the entry level El Muelle, the rest was their red wines which is fair enough as they did much to establish their iconoclastic presence in El Marco. Things have changed and maybe they should highlight the more recent brilliance in Palominos a bit more? The cellar tour frustratingly passed what’s probably an increasing number of old botas containing all those wonderful single pago Palominos. The reds are good and generous but they’re not what was so close but so far.
I however did get lucky wrangling a tasting at Bodegas Ramiro Ibañez. The Australian importer was tenacious in getting me in, sadly they went bust shortly afterwards which would have closed the door as Ramiro doesn’t do much in the way of self promotion apart from the infrequent Insta post. Finding the bodega in Sanlúcar involved a bit of head scratching. The sometimes errant emails from the importers didn’t help and got more difficult as they did indeed go of business soon after arranging the visit. What was Cota 45, Ramiro’s old name for his business, started in a small riverside bodega and at first glance is what comes up in searches. But no, there’s a spanking newly renovated bodega in Calle Palma, right up in the old town near Barbadillo. Google maps still shows it as a ruin which is a bit off putting when making sure you’re headed in the right direction. It even needed a tentative WhatsApp message on arrival just to make sure it was the right address. Finally the right place. The new bodega is thoughtfully renovated, no corporate bling but a tasteful reuse of the old with a bit of thought in the layout, beautifully maintained ancient botas and clean new gear. Travel being what it is these days, Ramiro was in Thailand. Nonetheless his right hand enologist in winemaking and a seriously clever thinker, Estefania made our visit one of the best. First a drive out to the great pago of Carrascal and its Las Vegas plot.
Old vines in great health, still green weeks after harvest. The Albariza here is Lentejuelas which is one of the more open structured and soaks up moisture. The ridges are built by horse and plough in autumn to help catch the Atlantic winter rains,
Old vines pruned in the old vara y pulgar way. Basically cane pruned with respect to the way the sap flows. Makes the most of the productive buds towards the end of the cane and mechanically minimises cutting and the chance of disease getting into the vine wood.
It’s a compelling site, three old clones of Palomino and a sea breezy view of the estuary and the pago of Miraflores. Estefania’s love and understanding of the place made it extra good. Such a wild place at the very liminal edge of Europe and the Atlantic, growing grapes like nowhere else. There’s a definite change in flavour ripeness from the vines close to the sea to those only a few kms away closer to Jerez. Linear and bright to round and savoury, perhaps but not really that simple.
Back to the bodega to taste. Four current releases from four pagos. No Carrascal this time and I forgot to ask if there’s a 2024. The Miraflores, both the blend and the Alta looked fresh, linear and saline in the best way. Paganilla from further inland on Barajuela and Tosca Cerrada Albarizas was wider, more petro chemical, in a good way and apples. Finally El Reventón is from a pago nearest the river on Tosca Cerrado, the tough one. Deep and round. Loads of estuary smells, what the locals call bajamar, low tide stinky. Apples, baked and nuts too. The richest and widest. If you want to see the real contrast in vineyard, Miraflores Alta and El Reventón are close in geography but so different in soil and flavour. Such good wine and all around 11 to 11.5% in alcohol but ripe and rich. All made the same, simple way. Picked, whole bunch pressed, pretty much free run only, fermented in old 500 litre botas and left under flor for just a few months. The results, stunning, elegant to use an overused word but appropriate here, precise and clean.
Those precious old botas.
The microcosmic world of the velo de flor. Higher fill levels here than normal Fino or Mazanilla. Ramiro and Estefania maintain the fruit from Sanlúcar contain distinct compounds to Jerez and feed the flor in a different way, different flavours. Finally a taste from tank and bota of the new season sweeties. A PX from Sanlúcar and a Moscatel. Again transparent and no cloying.
Very happy and now more informed taster. Able to go on a length about El Marco well beyond the bored to sobs stage.
Viva El Marco and its warm, generous people. There’s a forthcoming post concerning the best bar in the world.
I coughed up and downloaded Tim Atkin’s MW good value report on Jerez 2025 and noticed a separate section on Vino de Pasto, the revolucíon continues, olé. Top of the list on a mere 99 puntos was this bottle. Never ever had a 99 wine before and the itch to find and try needed a scratch, particularly as a few days in Cádiz were looming. Similar single plot Macharnudo wines from this partnership between Willy Perez and Ramiro Ibañez have been listed in Australia for a mere $A250. What turned out to be an extraordinary wine shop in Cádiz had this for €70, so I did a click and hopeful collect before the extravagant mood faded. Reading a bit of background, it seems these de la Riva single plot wines come from some old Domecq vines which have been carefully sought and looked after. All made in pretty much the same way, picked, six hours of drying in the blinding Andalusian sun, asoleo that is, fermented and left under a little flor in bota before bottling. The soil’s the thing here, Albariza in the form of Barajuelas. White chalk laminated under what was the sea to form what looks like a deck of cards. Well, this bottle certainly was ace. These fragrant and detailed wines do need a lot of air and to warm in the glass. There’s perfumes you only find in the greats, blossoms of some sort, jasmine maybe, limes and citrus peels and most of all chalk dust, hay and green olive. Tastes the same with harmonious chords of baked apple and honey without the sugar. Simultaneously rich and fino like but fine and linear. An incredible freshness and sapidity to make your mouth water despite the intensity. A finish to make you sit back and ponder. The sort of grape quality found only in great vines.
14% alcohol. Cork and a heavy bottle, there has to be something to criticise. €70.
I don’t think any of the small output from Juan Piñero is imported into Australia. Reading the sherry nerd blogs like the excellent Sherry Notes and the lapsed undertheflor, there’s obviously some love for the wines. I did try a couple by the glass at the classy La Carbona Restaurant in Jerez a while ago and have memories of quite graceful but developed wine. The producer’s website is not one of the wine world’s most commercially minded but there is an email contact, so I sent a hopeful message asking about visiting. About ten days later, an email arrived with cost and bank transfer details, no easy credit card payment here. It all worked and me and a couple of Sherry aficionados turned up on warm autumn day in sea breezy Salúcar de Barrameda. The main output is Manzanilla Maruja, an old brand bought in the early 2000s by Juan Piñero, a local construction baron. The bodega building itself helped a love of the hometown drink as it was bought to develop apartments but was too lovely to demolish. Sadly he died in 2021 from Covid. Such was his passion and love for Sherry, he employed the great Ramiro Ibañez as consultant and bought fruit to fill the botas from the Callejuela brothers’ pago of Hornillo. These choices are certainly reflected in the quality in the glass.
One of the Maruja soleras. Quite a few around El Marco seem to be three botas high. This Manzanilla gets to pass through four which may help explain the extra development.
The visit was both really fascinating and a bit lost in translation too, as the young and energetic capataz, Robert, was technically on top of his game but his English stumbled and my lack of Español made it worse. Thank the great god iPhone for google translate. It was obvious he had great respect for the influence of Ramiro Ibañez.
To the bottle itself. All the salty, savoury and stripped back confrontation of a Manzanilla on its way to Amontillado. But there’s gentle orange peel, nuts, hay and a bit of the old chamomile. Reading Sherry Notes’ review from a while ago, I can’t help but find myself paraphrasing their much better note than mine. There is indeed a lovely glycerol roundness to cushion the savoury tang and even a touch of floral honey. Not a big mouthful but poised, linear and gently fading towards its end. While I must say I get most pleasure from the fruit forward, clean recent bottles of Manzanilla, Fino and especially the Vinos de Pasto, these old treasures are certainly sipped with some wonder. This one could be up to twenty years in learning to be a Pasada and maybe we’re now drinking things as they were nearly two hundred years ago. Treasures not lost.
If you want to taste place and grape, extraordinary care in the making and find out just how good Palomino can be, stop here and enjoy. I think this probably isn’t the high yielding Palomino California clone but from older versions producing fruit with flavour. And what flavour. From the great pago of Macharnudo Bajo, naked hill in Arabic derivation, there’s some intricate making including a green harvest to produce wine used to acidify the later much riper pick. There’s a brief twelve months under flor in botas filled higher than the normal Fino. The soil is classic Albariza, dazzling in white, and a particular type called Barajuela, layers of chalk stacked like a pack of cards. The grapes are influenced by the inland warmth of the east wind, the Levante, to create richness rather than the fresher nature of those grown closer to Sanlucar and the sea. And in the glass, there’s so much flavour albeit of acrobatic balance. Looks like Fino in its green and gold but tastes so much more…er…fine. All the best possible bits of Sherry but no heat and ungainly breadth. Savoury sweet dried hay, an incredibly difficult to describe unami green pith, sort of yellow peach or perhaps juicy melon, a tonic bitterness from the touch of flor, a pistachio green nuttiness and a final tangy hint. All these flavours and textures carry long and clean to be finally waved bye bye with a puff of fine acidity and a grape skin ruffle. Not finished yet, the second day it was richer and more Sherry like for want of a better word but still so clean and balanced. As close as great craft and intelligence in wine gets to art. Not just a drink.
13.5% alcohol. Another half a degree and it could be labelled Fino thanks to long overdue rule changes. Cork and a too heavy a bottle the only criticism. €22 in Spain, happy as it’s $92 in Australia thanks to a stupid tax law.
Spanish supermarkets seem to vary quite a bit in their wine offerings. The big Mercadona in Mahon, capital of lovely Menorca, only has a small range of cheap, large scale production Tempranillo and Verdejo which is very uninspiring, particularly as it has really good food offerings on display. Oddly, the small supermarket in the dreamy seaside village of Binibequer had this fresh bottle on the shelf for about €10 amongst other tempting things. Think the producer’s full title is Bodega Sanchez Romate Hermanos, quite grand. The back label said L24319 which means it was bottled in 2024, possibly on the 19th March? I can never remember how the numbers run. As there’s no 31st September, I could be correct? You have to be grateful for something more interesting than the boring Tempranillo and Verdejo which seem to clog the shelves in Spain in the same way cheap Shiraz and kiwi Sauvignon Blanc do in Australia. This is a delicious version of how good the winemaking has become in some parts of El Triangulo in recent years. Loads of savoury flor, chamomile and yellow fruit. Stony sea smells and an austere bite of yeasty straw, all nicely cushioned by comforting glycerol like cream texture and soft acidity. All nicely clean and easy. A mouthful after a bite of one of those gilda spears with anchovy, tiny pepper and olives, and you’ve got one of the best value taste sensations on the planet. Did I mention I like Spain?
15% alcohol. Screw cap, things are changing in Jerez. €9.95.
An incredible bargain from the shelves of Dan Murphy’s ethanol barns. Normally about $AU40 reduced to a members’ offer for $AU21, a whole 750ml bottle too, not a half. I’ve already banged on about how Barbadillo are doing great things for the quality of their sizeable bit of El Marco, but really, this is delicious. What is old is new again in a sense as this is a revival of the first Manzanilla ever bottled in 1827 as the back label says. Reading the excellent sherrynotes.com website it seems this is taken from the vast Solear solera as a six year old and moved in barrels to the La Pastora bodega a street away for a further three years for the flor to abate, pasada. This shows in a deeper yellow than the standard Solear. It’s beautifully rounded in smell and taste with yeast mixed down into salty sea smells, dry chamomile and mellow yellow apple and apricot fruit. A long rich and clean end spiked with a tang of salty bitterness. History and renewal of a special wine place. Hankering for a return visit.
15% alcohol. Cork. $21 ludicrous.
95 points.
A 2024 bottling was just a good even if it took a while to unfurl. Bit more definition in the flavour department, great yellow apple and clingstone peach, a shimmer of almond paste and over brewed chamomile tea. Great consistency over bottles.
Probably one of the best buys from Dan’s direct imports and surprisingly the stock turns over fast enough to put splendidly fresh bottles like this on the shelves. L23 equals bottled this year. Yes, Barbadillo are one of the biggest producers in the Sherry triangle but they’re extraordinarily good too. If you’re lucky enough to find yourself in downtown Sanlucar de Barrameda, a pilgrimage to the Taberna der Guerrita is obligatory. The list is chosen by a son of the business who also works as major influence in the wine making at Barbadillo. Another of those talented young people rescuing Sherry from its past. The Taberna has a great shop attached where the only non Marco de Jerez white was a Jura Vin Jaune, bit of a flor theme? If you want to see how good modern Fino can be, try this. Classic but clean smells of flor, estuary breezes, savoury olive brine and dried chamomile. Gentle but strong in the mouth, starting with chiselled flor, middling and ending with bruised apple and yellow peaches, floating on great acidity. All the good clean bits of good Fino. A bargain.
Cognitive Bottle Therapy 