Tag: Ser

Wino i ser w domowym wydaniu

O łączeniu wina i sera powiedziano i napisano już wiele, również na naszym blogu. Do dziś wspominam przygodę rodem z Zakopanego, gdzie w zimowej stolicy Polski degustowaliśmy oscypki z samiuśkich Tatr wraz z przyzwoitym Shira…zem (chyba po ostatniej degustacji jeszcze do końca nie reaguję zbyt dobrze na dźwięk nazwy tego szczepu).

Krzysztof Rychlicki-Kicior
19 maja 2016
Brak komentarzy
Wino

I didn't put my hands on a Nouveau today, but hey

I didn't put my hands on a Nouveau today, but hey — Le beaujolais nouveau est arrivé! So going back to a very fresh and a very fond memory of Domaine des Roches du Py Roche-Grès tasted at @warsaw_wine_experience organized by @fermentwine this Monday. Very sappy, joyful and finely nuanced. We need more of this kind of stuff.

This and more via @mielzynski_poland

#beaujolais #beaujolaisnouveau #gamay #wine #wineoftheday #warsawwineexperience #mielzynski #redwine #youngwine

Day 7 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez - it's

Day 7 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez - it's a wrap!

Going through the finish line with a tasting of añadas thanks to @suminaseen. Moreish diversity, from sharp Manzanillas to luscious PXes.

Once a staple in Jerez, añadas, or simply speaking, vintages, went out of favour with the introduction of the solera. Nowadays it's getting renewed attention, with bodegas taking out old gems and trying out entirely new things.

Out of 12 wines, a few stood out for me:

@callejuela_bodega 7/11, a Manzanilla from 2012 released year by year from 11 individual botas since 2015. This one is a 7th saca, balancing on the cusp of amontillado. Broad, salty, full of hay and iodine, intense and deeply satisfying. Sadly, Callejuela seems defunct now.

@bodegasluisperez @willyperezv La Barajuela 2013, an unfortified fino outside the DO. Late harvested and dried Palomino from Barajuela albariza in El Corregidor in Carrascal without fortification. One foot fino, one foot white wine. Tense, chalky, mineral, lots of fruit; almost waxy and lasting forever.

@bodegastradicion Palo Cortado de Añada 1998, a superbly polished Palo Cortado with layers and layers of herbs on top of warming alcohol and oxidation full of finesse and dimensions. Every sip was something else. My wine of the evening.

@bodegaslustau Añada Dulce 1996, a sweet palomino with no PX added. A style virtually non-existent today. A mixture of lavender honey, dates sweet oranges with chocolate, roasted nuts and furniture polish that seems almost dry... until you learn it has north of 200g/l of sugar. Wow.

This tasting was something else and a perfect glimpse into the vintage and terroir diversity of Jerez that's very much different from what you get from soleras.

@equiponavazos @valdespinosherry @callejuela_bodega @bodegasluisperez @gonzalezbyassuk @williamshumbert @bodegastradicion @bodegaslustau @ximenezspinola @bodegas_alvear.

For #SherryWeek, we meet again in 2025. But sherry, that's hitting my glass on a regular basis.

#sherryweek #vintageshery #añadas #jerez #sherryweek2024 #wineoftheday #fortifiedwine #spain #spanishwine #andalusia #wine

Day 6 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez 😀 T

Day 6 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez 😀 This "write every day" journey slowly comes to an end.

For the past five days, I've discussed oxidized wines, but you can't talk sherry and omit the mighty Fino, can you?

In his latest Jerez report for @timatkinmw, @bonkowskimw writes: "Fino is also the category that has most suffered from the decline in sherry sales. This is a paradox, as the quality of Finos on the market has never been higher." I feel that Jerez is now like a huge toy store for Fino lovers. And one that won't make you broke no matter how bananas you'll go.

Most basic Finos from big producers are always a safe bet; I dare to say there is no such thing as crappy Fino anymore. But then there is an ever-growing selection of treasures. Rich, unfiltered en ramas, Fino viejos and wines pushing how far the biological aging can go, limited bottlings from precisely selected casks, meticulously selected multi-vintage blends not from everlasting soleras, pago wines, and finally, a growing selection of añadas. We have forgotten grapes like perruno, beba, or vigiriega on the horizon, as well as Finos without spirit added (has this been finally approved by the EU, btw?). You won't be bored, that's for sure.

Jarana from @bodegaslustau ubiquitous Solera Familiar series is a fantastic mid-packer. Youngish (+/- 4 years); it still has lots of fruity freshness. The flor character is clear, but mostly on the green apple/almonds & bread dough front, not scaring away anyone who has yet to find pleasure in more pungent ones. Extremely drinkable and refreshing, obviously dry to the bone, but with quite a bit of body and weight on the palate. It's one of those I would call a "very-clearly-not-a-manzanilla" Finos. Lots of umami and lovely, almond-bitter finish. It snaps me back into my seaside vacation, and I so wish I hadn't been working in the city with the gloomy weather outside. Very good value.

#sherryweek #jarana #lustau #palomino #fino #bodegaslustau #jerez #sherryweek2024 #wineoftheday #fortifiedwine #spain #spanishwine #andalusia #wine

Day 5 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez 😀

Day 5 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez 😀

Today we sip a Palo Cortado. An enigmatic style shrouded in legends and myths. To the extent that a documentary called "Sherry & The Mystery of Palo Cortado" was made about it. But... is it really?

It's said that Palo Cortado is a wine of great complexity which combines the delicate bouquet of an Amontillado with the body and palate of an Oloroso. Unlike other styles, the definition lacks technical clarity. In the old days legend had it that some Fino casks developed differently, lost the veil of flor prematurely, and were thus selected for oxidative aging. Today "by surprise" is rather not a phrase in the vocabulary of modern producers. They really know their stuff. While this is a gross simplification, Palo Cortado can now be seen as oxidatively aged wine from a Fino quality sobretabla. A lighter Oloroso of sorts. Important thing is, these wines indeed have a mixture of Amontillado & Oloroso character, as well as increased glycerol levels and a hint of buttery note, attributed to malolactic fermentation. Every bodega does this differently and they rarely share their secrets. Mystery is a great marketing tool, isn't it?

Peninsula comes from @bodegaslustau Solera Familiar series, showcasing all sherry styles. It's a +/- 12 year old Palo Cortado following the canonical description religiously. A lovely mixture of orange peel, almonds, mushrooms, dried ginger and mocha with oxidative notes of hazelnuts, walnuts, toasted wood, chocolate and dark coffee. Fuller bodied, with zesty acidity and a hint of creaminess on the palate leaves a lasting sensation. A very good one indeed and I dare to say, perhaps my favourite from Lustau's three dry ones with oxidation in play.

#sherryweek #lpeninsula #lustau #palomino #palocortado #bodegaslustau #jerez #sherryweek2024 #wineoftheday #fortifiedwine #spain #spanishwine #andalusia #wine

Day 4 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez 😀

Day 4 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez 😀

We travelled a full circle, from a dry Oloroso through Cream, sweetened Medium to finally reach a dry Amontillado from @bodegaslustau — a style that always allured me.

It's aged both biologically under a veil of flor to gain oxidized apple, bready, creamy & leesy notes, and oxidatively, enriched with nuts, caramel, coffee, and chocolate, increasing pungency and concentration. Spread between two worlds, it gives producers much freedom in shaping the style. It's a balancing act between two aging regimes, with some wines veering on the very fresh side and others brimming with oxidation.

Los Arcos is the most basic amontillado of the whole bunch at Lustau — they have a handful of different labels, with a very exciting Almacenista range — and a gentle introduction to this style. Aged 4 years under flor and 4 years afterward, it sits firmly in between the two worlds. Very balanced, with crispy flor aged character on the slightly mushroomy side and mellow nutty, toasty oxidative character, with caramel, toffee, coffee, and roasted hazelnuts. The acidity is zesty and fresh, and, being a fairly young one, there is still some orange-like fruitiness on top of it. Maybe it's not the most exciting wine of all, but it's a solid & dependable bottle I'm always happy to serve.

With all this amontillado allure, I just hope I won't end up like Poe's Fortunato 😉

#sherryweek #losarcos #lustau #palomino #amontillado #bodegaslustau #jerez #sherryweek2024 #wineoftheday #fortifiedwine #spain #spanishwine #andalusia #wine

Day 3 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez 😀

Day 3 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez 😀

We're again staying with @williamshumbert (for the last time this week though). Today, oloroso theme is gone, but sweet tooth stays.

A Winter's Tale represents the medium category of sweetened sherries. A much less obvious one than cream, as it's sort of a chameleon. Unlike cream, where the level of sweetness fits in a narrow band of 115-140g/l, mediums can range from pretty much dry to almost as sweet as creams. They are also less strictly based on just a single type of dry wine. You will often find them as sweetened amontillados, fresher, lighter, less oxidized, but oloroso or amontillado/oloroso blends are not uncommon.

A Winter's Tale, with a Shakespearean name, is a sweetened amontillado with sugar hovering around 80g/l, so on the sweeter side. And, once again, this is a very fair wine. Reminds me of, guess what, winter. Baking spices, nut mixes, dried orange peel, Christmas cake, ginger and turkish coffee. It's much lighter than Canasta, much less oxidized, with zesty acidity. Again from W&H, a very nice sherry and great value for money.

#sherryweek #awinterstale #palomino #pedroximenez #sherrymedium #amontillado #williamshumbert #jerez #sherryweek2024 #wineoftheday #fortifiedwine #spain #spanishwine #andalusia

Day 2 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez 😀

Day 2 of #SherryWeek with @sherrywinesjerez 😀

We're staying with @williamshumbert for now, and not departing from the oloroso theme just yet. However, this time we're having a sweet tooth.

Canasta is supposedly the most popular sherry cream in Spain. I could not verify that, but that wouldn't surprise me at all. A very well rounded cream, with very forward oloroso character, full of spice, nuts, figs, raisins, coffee and a touch of tannins & astringency, rounded up with a mouthful of sweet dates, sweet turkish coffee and raisin syrup. Not devoid of acidity, thankfully, and thus very smooth yet not cloying. I'm more a medium kind of guy, typically (reopen Instagram tomorrow for that 😉), but this is a very respectable cream for absolutely stellar price.

What one has to love about sherry is that even fairly basic and affordable wines give you a real glimpse into a given style, and already lots of pleasure. Surely, you can go much-much higher. But you don't have to. Let's enjoy some basic Canasta now.

#sherryweek #canasta #palomino #pedroximenez #sherrycream #williamshumbert #jerez #sherryweek2024 #wineoftheday #fortifiedwine #spain #spanishwine #andalusia

Let's get #sherryweek @sherrywinesjerez started! 😎 This year I'm more ready than ever before, with 7 different sherries for 7 days of the week. I'm going to shuffle things a bit and rather than with a light #fino, I'm starting with an #oloroso. @williamshumbert was one of the first producers I've encountered on my sherry journey, with their Jalifa Amontilado.

Today, I picked a mid-range Don Zoilo 12 years old Oloroso (I believe newer bottlings are labelled as 15 years old). Comes from Añina & Carrascal pagos in Jerez de la Frontera and it's named after Zoilo Ruiz Mateos. An intriguing one, as it's on the mellower side of the spectrum. The colour immediately suggests a lighter wine. We're talking almonds, walnuts, figs, dried apples and orange marmalade here, with zesty acidity, medium intensity and very supple mouthfeel, rather than everlasting tannins, wood varnish and fierce concentration. On the complexity and length front it falls a little bit short, but it's a very drinkable Oloroso - something I wouldn't say often. For the price though, it's stellar.

#sherryweek #sherryweek2024 #palomino #oloroso #sherry #jerez #jerezdelafrontera #williamshumbert #drinksherry