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CURDY VAPOURS: SHERRY AND MADEIRA
By Stuart George
The Big Fortified Tasting, or b.f.t, is an annual tasting held in London that celebrates the diversity of fortified wines. It showcases Sherry, Madeira, Port and local variations on these classics. The only snag is that it is impossible to taste everything and still be standing at the end. Despite the treats on offer, consideration for my overworked liver meant that I tasted only Fino and Manzanilla Sherries and some Madeiras.
Fino Sherry is one of the greatest drinks on the planet. The best examples are a finely balanced combination of the Palomino grape, chalk soil and wooden barrels in a solera. The finished wine is bone dry and needs to be drunk young and fresh. It is a difficult wine to replicate: the only Australian “Fino” that I know of is by Peter Lehmann, who makes it in exactly the same way as the Spanish original, though I have never tasted it.
Manzanilla, made in Sanlúcar de Barrameda using the same methods as Fino, is a little bit lighter and has a brackish quality that allegedly comes from the town’s proximity to the sea.
My too hasty trip round the b.f.t began with a pair of wines from Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana. The Manzanilla La Gitana was as good as ever – an absolutely delicious wine. Pasada Pastrana Manzanilla is a single vineyard bottling created in what Javier Hidalgo calls an “old-fashioned” style. It is richer and nuttier than La Gitana and more austere, especially on the finish.
Delgado Zuleta’s “La Goya” Manzanilla lacked the aromatic freshness of La Gitana but had a punchier finish. The Solear Manzanilla from Antonio Barbadillo was crude by comparison to the previous wines, with a texture like a rumpled bed.
The ubiquitous Tío Pepe Fino from González Byass was clean and simple, lacking the intensity and length of the Manzanilla wines above. Lustau’s Puerto Fino Solera Reserva was toasty, suggesting new – or at least young – wooden barrels. It was a bit listless and lacked the puckish quality of the best Finos.
Sandeman is part of the Sogrape empire, which is better known for Ports than Sherries. There was a slight cheesiness to the Don Fino. The Manzanilla Papirusa was richer, though, with a bit of spiciness.
Fernando de Castilla is owned by Jan Pettersen, a Norwegian who has made a career as a winemaker in Jerez. His Classic Manzanilla was clean, simple and crisp – a good example. The Classic Fino had better length.
Williams & Humbert’s Alegria Manzanilla was excellent, with that salty, brackish tang to it. Its Dry Sack Fino had some toastiness like the Lustau Puerto Fino. “Sack” evokes Sir John Falstaff’s drinking exploits in Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 2: “A good sherris sack hath a two-fold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish and dull and curdy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble fiery and delectable shapes, which, delivered o’er to the voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes excellent wit… If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack.”
Equipo Navazos is the brainchild of Jesús Barquín, a professor of criminology at the University of Granada (and a brilliant taster), and Eduardo Ojeda, technical director of Grupo Estevez, which encompasses Valdespino and La Guita, among others. Barrels (or butts, as they are called in Jerez) and soleras are carefully chosen and bottled under the Equipo Navazos name. “I Think” Manzanilla En Rama was deeper-coloured than the usual dawn-pale hue of Manzanilla. It had very good flavours, with some grip on the finish that pushed it towards the esoteric. Tannin is not something that is seen often in Manzanilla Sherry!
The No.22 La Bota de Manzanilla “Navazos” was again deeper, with a golden rim as bright as a smile. Even more intense and complex than the En Rama, this superb wine is perhaps the apotheosis of dry Sherry. At any rate, it was the best in breed at the b.f.t.
Having survived the Finos and Manzanillas, I braced myself for seven Madeira wines from D’Oliveiras. These were tasted according to varietal and dryness/sweetness rather than age.
The off-dry Reserva Sercial 1971 was first. Even after the bracing aromas of the Sherries the pungency of this was overwhelming. It made the Colheita Terrantez 1988 seem less powerful by comparison. A bit sweeter than the Sercial, the extra sugar was counterbalanced by acidity as sharp as an arrowhead.
The Colheita Verdelho 1981 was more elegant and better balanced than the first pair, as was a 1966 Reserva Verdelho 1966. This had even more pulsating acidity than the previous wines.
The intensely sweet Colheita Boal 1984 smelled of toffee but retained some grapey freshness. For such a “young” wine, the Colheita Malvasia 1990 had a sugar/acid combination that cut like a butcher’s knife.
Finally, the D’Oliveiras Reserva Boal 1922 was a striking combination of age and vigour – like Ricky Ponting! Caressing rather than slapping the palate, it was long, rich and delicious. Like most Madeiras, this wine is indestructible. Drink now to 2111!
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