8/15/25 - 

Though terroir has long been linked with quality in Andalusian wines, its full potential has often been overshadowed by the winemaking itself, coupled with the prestige of the given bodega. Though the once-popular single-vineyard wines of the region lived in notable obscurity for over a century, more recent times have seen experimentation in the region proliferate, with producers trending more towards vinous, unfortified expressions that look to highlight the intricacies of their soils and climate. Today, we are incredibly proud and excited not only to be offering some of the most head-turning wines the region has seen in recent times, but also to be putting the spotlight on two producers who we've come to really admire and respect: Bodega de Forlong and Ramiro Ibanez.

Rocio Aspera and Alejandro Navaerez named Bodega de Forlong after a British merchant who historically owned the land they now cultivate in their hometown of El Puerto de Santa Maria. The couple started with six hectares of abandoned farmland purchased in 2007 by Rocio’s father.  After both receiving masters degrees in winemaking (Rocio more specifically for viticulture in hot climates), Alejandro further refined his skills in some top French estates including the distinguished Smith Haut Lafitte. In 2014 the bodega was completed and the two began fermenting and aging their wines in their collection of 2,000 liter clay tinajas, steel tanks and barriques. In a region that you could argue had at one point lost some sense of individuality amongst producers, it feels like a special moment in time to see these two having fun being their brilliant, forward-thinking selves through their wine. The approach in the cellar is completely their own, just take their 80/20 cuvée for example: a direct press of Palomino which ferments with the P.X skins left over from another wine. It should also be noted that Rocio and Alejandro’s vineyards are organic-certified, and they employ biodynamic treatments along with a low-no sulfites approach.

As Julian Jeffs writes of Andalusia’s famed albariza soils in his definitive guide to sherry: “From a distance, especially in bright sunlight, they look almost as white as snow; but when you are walking through them you see many colours—shades of grey, brown, ochre, and even red—while some, with hardly any topsoil at all, really are white.” This kind of site-specific nuance is the foundation of what Ramiro Ibáñez manages to evoke in his wines. Ramiro focuses on unfortified white wines meant to capture the differences between three different pagos, including perhaps the most coveted in all of Sanlucar de Barrameda, Miraflores.  All 3 of his wines on offer today come from grapes of different pagos, and all 3 were aged under flor. The oxidative element here works in great harmony with Palomino’s fruit quality; the wines all have a potent minerality and salinity, but each with a different primary character. 

In a world that can seem constantly caught between ‘classic’ and ‘new-school’ wines, producers like these are great examples of those two things not being mutually exclusive. These are creative wines that are helping to open up a completely new frontier for an otherwise very traditional region, but those steps forward couldn’t be taken without lessons learned from the rich traditions that have preceded them. Drink up, and savor it !
 
-Nicolas Douglas

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