Sherry galore!

About a month ago a wild bunch of winefreaks headed for Restaurant De Vinis for an excellent dinner with 22 different sherries. This frankly ambitious initiative was the brainchild of Jesús Barquín, who rarely travels to Madrid for a single tasting. He wooed the President of the C.R.D.O. Jerez-Xérès-Sherry-Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Jorge Pascual, into this project of his, and the President kindly acceded to attend the dinner, bring the superb wines, lecture and answer questions.
But there was more: the dinner itself was superb…

As I walked in I was greeted by familiar smiles, a few of them still purple from earlier that afternoon. A bunch of Elmundovino regulars were there too, including Víctor and Luis. The wines were being chilled, but a perfectly ready bottle of Barbadillo’s Manzanilla Solear was produced and served. Much as I had liked many of the raw reds poured that afternoon, I must say this flowed though my mouth as a liquid blessing. So fresh, so crisp, so balanced it was. What unreal freshness and complexity. Even the pros were impressed, and they solemnly pronounced it one of the best bottles of Solear they’d ever had. This was a 94-96, which is no small feat for a Manzanilla produced in such huge quantities.

After that we sat at the table while the last guests arrived. Domecq’s Fino La Ina was a solid effort but it failed to impress me that night the way it had in late May during Vinoble. The nose was shyish which is not normal in this Fino. Again, one of the most convincing mass-produced finos, which for some reason didn’t excel that Wednesday night. (91)

In comparison, Fino Pavón (from Bodegas Luis Caballero) was at its best, deliciously elegant, very noble if a tad too light for my taste. (90-92)

Then the Manzanillas “en rama” attacked: it was a pity that Pedro Romero’s Manzanilla Aurora en Rama was off. It is decidedly the most incredible Manzanilla you can imagine when it’s singing, but it was not the case. The nose was dull and unremarkable, but this is a risk we were aware of: this is a most fragile product, not commercially available save by direct order to the winery, and it travels rather capriciously. A good bottle, however, reconciles you with the world at large and the human race and many a Martian I know…
After that, and for a good laugh, we tried an experiment: a fino from California (ever wondered what “Imported Sherry” meant on the shelves in NY wine shops, Gastro? Now you know, and wish you didn’t!). A friend brought a bottle of some Sheffield Very Dry Fino. To begin with, it was sweetish. The nose was dead, and in the palate it had a vague stale echo under the sugar. On a desert island I’d much rather filter my urine through a t-shirt…

Then two different Manzanillas en rama appeared. Against all odds the Spring “saca” (bottling) held its own against the Autumn label (which was by definition more recent); so much so that there was general consensus about its superior quality. None was as good, however, as this Spring saca in Vinoble, where it blew my socks off.

Next came a most original product. A wine expressly bottled for this tasting that corresponded to the raw stuff that (once fortified) goes into the sobretablas that will eventually become Valdespino’s Fino Ynocente. This was intended to offer an idea of the quality of the musts that go into great sherry. Perfectly decent white wine (you see, in Spain common knowledge holds that Palomino is at best a neutral variety that works only for sherry—and even that only after extended biological crianza, so this was served as proof that there is some intrinsic personality when the raw material is of the highest quality. The wine showed high yeast presence, of course, but was as good as your average Rueda, for example).

The following creature stole the show: a “criadera” of that same Fino Ynocente before filtration. 100-pointer for lack of comparable referent. Brutally complex, beautifully balanced. There is no way I could describe i