SPRING 2021
spring 2021 includes…
EXCLUSIVE: - Every member receives 1 of 500 bottles made of the very first bottling of Buelan Compañía de Saca’s manznanilla, "Las Canciones No. 1 Mirador Manzanilla" named after a new song of the same title!
1) PALOMINO (UNFORTIFIED)
Ramiro Ibañez, Cota 45, Miraflores 2019 (Sanlúcar de Barrameda)
When Ramiro Ibanez speaks about the history of Jerez, you should take notes. He is a renegade and one of the most knowledgeable winemakers in all of Jerez. His project, Cota 45 (45 refers to the meters above sea level is where the best albariza can be found) was started in 2012 after working for the co-op and consulting for several local wineries.
This wine is UNFORTIFIED Palomino, just like the Jerezanos of the 19th century favored. This might require you un-learning everything you think you know about sherry. The palomino is sourced from 5 different sights in Miraflores Alta and Bajo with the grapes around 80-90 years of age on 3 different types of albariza. Fermented in old manzanilla barrels and without temperature control, this cuvee is bottled about a year after harvest.
2) FINO
Bodegas Emilio Hidalgo Fino (Jerez)
Bodegas Hidalgo was founded in 1874 in the heart of Jerez de la Frontera. Now the fifth generation is running the operation and some of the same soleras established in the 1870s are still producing wines today. The pale, clean color of this wine belies its beauty and complexity. Made from 100% Palomino, the wine is elegant and bone-dry on the palate, yet the finish lingers on.
The finesse of this wine comes from the fact that Hidalgo uses finos from aged soleras, sometimes 6 and 7 years old, when many producers choose to bottle their finos at 2-3 years. This extra aging adds refinement on the palate.
3) MANZANILLA
Buelan Compañía De Sacas, Las Canciones No. 1 Mirador Manzanilla (Sanlúcar De Barrameda)
a single barrel bottling, Bota #18, of manzanilla selected with the help of Willy Perez and Ramiro Ibañez of M. Ant. De La Riva. A saca of 500 bottles from almacenista, Bodegas del Río, in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, led by 3rd generation capatáz, Luís del Río.
“Las Canciones” is to be a series of barrel-selected sherries named after songs. “Mirador” Manzanilla is named after Nick’s song of the same title, released in December 2020, inspired by Mirador de San Nicolás in Granada, Spain, a church and lookout or watchtower overlooking the city and the Alhambra.
It is a young, lively manzanilla with an average of 3yrs in solera with intense notes of citrus, sea shells, and salt. Literally a stone’s throw from the sandy, brackish delta of the Guadalquivir River...a short drive north past the very end of the Bajo de Guía, it truly captures the terroir of Barrio Bajo in Sanlúcar. The barrel was selected from a row of barrels along the warmer wall of the bodega, and a warmer side of the room, leading to a fresher, more playful expression.
4) AMONTILLADO
Bodegas Barón, Micaela Amontillado (Sanlúcar de Barrameda)
Bodegas Baron is run by the Rodrigo Carrasco family who are now running this estate with a 400 year history. They currently own two vineyards in Sanlucar opposite the hills of the Guadalquivir river, El Poedo and El Hato. This amontillado starts as a manzanilla, and then is refortied when it is aged oxidatively for another short time. It’s a young expression of amontillado, 4-5 years of aging total.
5) OLOROSO
El Maestro Sierra, Oloroso 15yr (Jerez)the history of El Maestro Sierra is one of self-improvement, non-conformity, and a firm desire to fight for a clear goal that has challenged the established norms of the local wine business in Jerez. El Maestro Sierra was founded in 1830 by master cooper José Antonio Sierra, who ran a prosperous barrel-building business called La Merced. Recognized as one of the top coopers in the area, he longed to become involved in the Sherry trade itself. Eventually, he set about building a small winery with the aim of making the best sherries possible. As the sherry business was, and remains to this day, dominated by aristocratic families, the idea of a humble worker joining their ranks was met with open disdain. After many hardships he was able to establish and grow his business, becoming one of the most respected almacenistas (stock-holders) of high-quality sherry. It is still run by his descendants, located in a privileged part of Jerez on top of the hill, exposed to the cool Poniente winds which nourish the elegant wines. As a reminder of the bodega’s struggles, the labels depict a hunting scene with a hare being chased by the nobles, alluding to José Antonio Sierra’s struggles founding the artisanal house in a social climate dominated by the aristocrats of his time.
El Maestro Sierra was passed down through the family and protected by the legendary Doña Pilar Pla Pechovierto from 1976 until her passing in 2020. She was a brave and resolute woman who inherited the business after the early death of her husband, Antonio Borrego. Pilar managed to drive the business forward despite the prevailing machismo of the time. El Maestro Sierra became the first and is still one of the few bodegas run entirely by women. When her husband passed away in 1976, she resisted the intense pressure to sell and kept the winery going through tough times by selling wines to the locals in jugs. In 1997, while the men were away from the Consejo Regulador, she was stealthily able to obtain the first bottling permit for an almacenista house, which was forbidden until that point. Pilar was an extraordinary individual with a singularity of purpose: to maintain the grand estate of El Maestro Sierra. Because the wines have remained virtually unmoved due to the slow business in the following decades, the stocks at El Maestro Sierra are some of the oldest and most undisturbed in Jerez.
The Oloroso is aged of an average of 15 YEARS!!!!
6) SOMETHING SWEET
Valdespino, Moscatel La Promesa (Jerez)
Valdespino is a tiny crown jewel of a winery that exists within a much larger wine and spirits company called Grupo Estevez. The goal of the winery is to use all the possible resources of the company to make some of the finest, most distinctive and artisinally-produced Sherries that are available today.
The origins of this historic bodega date back to 1264 when Don Alfonso Valdespino, one of 24 Knights responsible for expelling the Moors from Jerez, was rewarded for his efforts by the king, granting him land in the city of Jerez. And thus began Bodegas Valdespino! The estate was purchased most recently by Grupo Estevaz in 1999.
The NV Moscatel Promesa is produced from Moscatel grapes grown in Chipiona and aged in a solera system with an average age of four years. It is bottled with 237 grams of sugar and 17% alcohol. Promesa is aged in the traditional system of criaderas and solera. The American oak barrels used for the aging are old barrels that were used to hold Amontillados and Olorosos giving Promesa added complexity.