Bodegas Hidalgo, La Gitana Manzanilla Sherry En Rama, Spain
In 2010 the Gonzales-Byass launched a limited edition version of their Fino Sherry, Tio Pepe, under the ‘En Rama’ label. En Rama signifies a Sherry that has been bottled almost directly from the barrel, without undergoing the usual processes to prepare a wine for bottling such as filtering or fining. The idea is to taste the Sherry almost as if you had visited the bodega in Spain and dipped your glass into the barrel. Now Bodegas Hidalgo has bottled just a few hundred cases of its La Gitana Manzanilla Sherry ‘En Rama’. It has the classic ozone and salty tones of Manzanilla with a floral touch and plenty of nutty and dry apple fruit, but there’s a meatiness too. That meaty, umami flavour that is earthy and savoury follows through on the palate, giving this a broad mid-palate, before apple core and nuts and then a crisp, lemony acidity gives this a typically fresh finish. For more information on this wine and food-matching ideas, please watch the video. Around £14.75 from bidforwine.com, Noel Young and Cambridge Wine Merchants.
