Wine Region: Jerez

(2024) From  the coastal town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, this is made in a traditional solera, seeing eight years of ageing minimum. 'En Rama' indicates that it is bottled without fining or filtration, and ‘Pasada’ indicates a longer ageing than is usual for Manzanilla. I have to say it is utterly delicious. It is a burnished yellow/gold colour and has the ozone and salty tang of Manzanilla, but a wonderfully creamy hazelnut and almond sheen too. Complex yeasty notes from the long ageing under flor add pungent layers of chamomile, bruised fruit and intrigue. Full, textured, more nuttiness and a certain meaty, umami character in the mouth, it has fabulous length and sparkling acidity. The £15.99 price for a full 75cl bottle at Carrington Wines at time of review is very good - half bottles are selling for £11 - £13 quite widely.

(2024) Manzanilla Sherry, from the salt-licked seaside vineyards of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, is one of the world's greatest, and most consistent wine styles. Aged for many years under a protective layer of 'flor', the combination of rich nuttiness and saline intensity is as gastronomic as it gets. Barbadillo's inexpensive example is top stuff: aromatics are concentrated with chamomile and almond, then the lightly oily palate is bone-dry, saline, and yet has an orange and lemon zestiness to the fruit too. It's 15% abv, so not much higher in alcohol than many table wines too. Watch the video for more information. Price given for a half bottle, but note Waitrose has full bottles reduced from £12.99 to £9.99 until 20th August 2024.

(2023) A Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz appellation wine made from Palomino, grown on the distinctive chalky soils of the Jerez region known as 'albariza'. The colour is medium to pale straw-yellow, and the nose has a buttery character, then golden delicious apples moving into more exotic fruits. In the mouth it has that dry, apple core and straw-like character that I associate with Palomino dry wines, but there is a hint of juiciness and easy-drinking ripeness, and the classy saline touch to the acidity in the finish. Different, only 11.5% abv, and very enjoyable.

(2022) Atamán is a Vermouth made from a base of fine Manzanilla Sherries from Barbadillo's bodegas in Sanlucar, that is inspired by very old Vermouths found in the bodega's cellars. It is blended with aromats including wormwood, quassia and rosemary, to produce a fabulous Vermouth. Yes it would make a fascinating Negroni, but in truth it is delicious to simply sip, over ice if you prefer. There's a huge depth of caramel at first, then the herbal top notes show through aromatically. In the mouth it is sweet with 140g/l of residual sugar, but the astonishing bitterness of the herbal additions builds and dominates the finish for a very grown-up and utterly delcious wine for rich fruit or chocolate desserts, or simply to sip and contemplate the meaning of life.

(2021) A deep burnished gold in colour, this is 100% Palomino, the average of the wines in the blend being 17 years. Truly fabulous nose, toast and butter, walnuts and Demerrera sugar, a suggestion of Seville orange too. Equally aluring on the palate, the wine has a real softness, a lanolin touch to that nuttiness, and an endlessly long finish with mineral and citrus acidity teasing out the walnut and caramel of the mid palate.

(2021) Pedro Ximénez, or 'PX' grapes are used to make this style: the darkest, stickiest, sweetest and richest of Sherries. The fully-ripe grapes are dried to increase their concentration, which results in a wine that pours mahogany brown, with raisin, chocolate and dried Chinese plum spiciness on the nose, and an engine-oil thick texture in the mouth. Flooded with sweet, plump dried fruits, a lovely edge of coffee and walnut, and just the right zesty orange and lemon acidity, balances the finish. At £12.95 for a full 75cl bottle this is a bargain, for sipping after dinner or matching to rich chocolate or Christmassy-style puddings. Watch the video for more infortmation and food-matching ideas.

(2020) This is a Manzanilla 'Pasada', so a slightly darker, older style of wine and a little nuttier than a typical Manzanilla. This is also 'en Rama', so bottled unfiltered, basically straight from the cask. It has a light- to medium gold colour and arresting nose of chamomile, shellac, walnut and bruised apple fruit. There's a liniment-like pungency. On the palate it is dry, but richly-textured, with walnut and nutty Cox's pippin fruit, a hint of orange too, and a delicious saline and citrus finish. This would be a terrific festive aperitif with olives or nuts perhaps.

(2019) From the seaside vineyards of Sanlucar, again eight to ten years old on average from a Solera composed of around 10 stages. Lighter aromatically than the Fino, more floral and less marked by the flor, almond and candied peel, elegant and briney. In the mouth dazzling freshness and bite, there is a little bread dough softness in there, but it is a dry, concentrated style, a note of verjus, with a tang of bittersweet orange peel and very good length.

(2019) Not much information on the Piñero website about this bottling with its bright golden colour, but it comes from a solera with an average age of around 20 to 25 years. Lovely nose, the complex oxidative notes do not dominate but add a lovely walnutty richness, a touch of caramel and cappuccino, olive too in a layered set of aromatics. In the mouth very dry, though not as uncompromisingly dry as the Fino for example, the long ageing having smoothed the framework into a nutty, Seville orange marmalade richness, though still cut by lemon and salt mineral acidity.

(2019) A Manzanilla, made from the Palomino grape grown in Jerez, and aged in a solera system in the humid conditions around Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Tasted from a white wine glass, this pale yellow, 15% alcohol Sherry does have the distinctive iodine tang of briny sea air, as well as dry nut husk and apple notes. On the palate it is intense and oh so dry, but it is rich, again it is nuttiness that floods the palate here, with that fresh and vital salty acidity giving great length. Pound for pound in terms of world wine quality, these Sherries remain such a bargain. Watch the video for more information and food matching ideas. Price and stockists below for half bottles. Full bottles in Waitrose and others, at around £11.00.