Unfortified sherry steps forward
Las Mercedes de Callejuela (Callejuela - Sanlúcar de Barrameda)
DO - Made outside the current regulations of DOs Jerez - Xérès - Sherry and Manzanilla - Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Variety - 100% Palomino Fino
ABV - 12,0%
Price - €13,95 from Decántalo (2020 añada), €14,15 from Bodeboca (2019 añada)
On a visit to Sanlúcar de Barrameda last year I got to know many of the unfortified white wines that are appearing in the portfolios of the town’s leading bodegas and those of other producers in the Marco de Jerez.
Many are single pago (vineyard) wines made from Palomino grown on albariza soils; others are being made with Moscatel and Pedro Ximénez.
However, these wines are not really a new development, as the winemakers making them often stress that they are recovering older styles of white wine, manzanilla and fino before fortification became the norm and part of the rules of the DO.
The departure from established tradition is the emphasis on terroir and the ability of the wines to express their origins and personality from the particular soils, altitude and orientation of the pago, compared to interventions in the bodega.
The Consejo Regulador, the governing authority for the DOs Jerez - Xérès - Sherry and Manzanilla - Sanlúcar de Barrameda, recently allowed wines to be labelled fino and manzanilla even if they are not fortified, providing they reach a minimum alcohol strength of 15% ABV without added alcohol, and have at least two years of ageing under flor.
The incorporation of unfortified white wines below 15 degrees, and without the minimum period of ageing, into the DO has been left pending for now. Las Mercedes de Callejuela is one of these wines and our focus for wine of the week.
Callejuela: Terroir Sanluqueño
The brothers Paco and Pepe Blanco are mayetos, as wine growers who make their own wines are known in Sanlúcar. Although they started as almacenistas de mosto, selling base wine to sherry bodegas, since 2005 they have made their own wines under the Callejuela brand name.
With 28 hectares of vines across four pagos, they own parcels in Callejuela and el Hornillo (Sanlúcar) and Macharnudo and Añina (Jerez).
Paco and Pepe currently make four unfortified Palomino whites. Blanco de Hornillos is a blend from four different pagos, and aged without flor.
There are also three single-vineyard, terroir-driven whites, all fermented in old manzanilla botas and aged on their lees under flor.
La Hacienda de Doña Francisca from a small vineyard at 62m in pago Callejuela.
La Choza from a small parcel at 74m within the Macharnudo pago.
Las Mercedes from a parcel in pago Añina at 83m.
The wine has a deep gold colour. On the nose it shows ripe, sweet stone fruit, poached quince, lemon skin and apple. There are also notes of yeast and bread.
On the palate it has an inviting texture. Wide, savoury and balanced, with a chalky, mineral earthiness and a long, dry finish with lingering briny traces. The flor influence doesn’t dominate, but it’s there as an active backstage presence.
Here are a few more unfortified whites from the Marco de Jerez that are worth seeking out.
Los 30 del Cuadrado (Palomino,13%), Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana (€13,50 at Bodeboca).
Viña Macharnudo Alto (Palomino,12,5%), Valdespino (€11,90 at Bodeboca).
El Muelle de Olaso (Palomino,14%), Bodegas Luis Pérez (€9,95 from Decántalo).
Gallipato (Pedro Ximénez,14.5%), Bodega Delgado Zuleta (€12,90 from Bodeboca).
Tarabilla (Moscatel,12%), Bodega Delgado Zuleta €13,50 from Bodeboca).
UBE Miraflores (Palomino,13%), Cota 45 (€18,95 from Decántalo).
