Unfortified Palomino
Unfortified Palomino
It has been my intention to write an email about unfortified Palomino from the Sherry region for several years. I can't explain why it hasn't happened until now, but I'm glad that I "waited" (or just never got around to it), as the timing could not be better. There are only a handful of producers focused on making unfortified, and in most cases, non-oxidative wines, and availability of wines has fluctuated, due mostly in part to how little is made. However, this particular moment has provided the opportunity to highlight four producers who stand out to me as some of the most important (if not THE most important) names in the region. I always intended to focus on the wines of Ramiro Ibáñez, Ale Muchada, and Willy Perez, but as of two months ago, I became aware of the man locals call "El Piraña," Juan Francisco Pulido Cabral. He makes wines under the label Vinedos El Piraña, and though the label is relatively young, his family has been in the region for generations. He is consistently the champion of the local "Concursos de Mostos," (the famous grape must tasting competitions in the region), and his wines - even the entry level "Primario" - have impressed and delighted us! The wines from these four producers tell an incredible story and offer a glimpse of what I would consider one of the unexplored and underappreciated wonders of the white wine universe! -Eben Lillie
Our esteemed colleague Ben Fletcher helped me immensely with this project and shares my love for unfortified Palomino. As he explains: "Palomino's prominence in the area around Barrameda, and eventually through the whole Marco de Jerez, is probably explained by its transparency: it reflects so clearly the events of the vintage it is made in and the character of the soils it is grown on. The increasing tendency to blend and fortify wines made with Palomino in a standardized sherry style obscured this throughout the 20th century, but the return to parcel and vintage specific wines is an exciting revolution, allowing wine drinkers to taste a less convoluted and more precise expression of grape, place, and time."
Ben continues: "Two of the projects we've selected to highlight are based in or around Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the spiritual and genetic home of the Palomino Fino grape variety. Palomino came to increasing prominence in the 18th century, used for a wide range of biological (aged under flor, protecting the wine from exposure to oxygen) and oxidative (aged without flor and exposed to the influence of oxygen) wines. Palomino is historically closely associated with Manzanilla, the apple-inflected, biologically influenced product made in and around the town of Sanlúcar. Ramiro Ibáñez (whose wines were formerly called COTA 45) makes wines that are in many ways a revivification of early, unfortified Manzanilas; Juan Francisco Pulido Cabral (of El Piraña) makes wines in a somewhat less oxidative style upriver from Sanlúcar in the important town of Trebujena."
A big thank you to Ben!
Now back to my less eloquent prose! The other two projects we are highlighting today are from Willy Perez, who makes the Luis Perez wines (named after his father) and Muchada-Leclapart, a collaboration between Alejandro (Ale) Muchada (from Sanlucar) and David Leclapart (from Champagne), which specifically approaches making non-oxidative, unfortified white wines from the chalky soils of Miraflores in Sanlucar (pictured at the top of this email).
The Luis Perez wines come mostly from the Pago called Carrascal, which is directly north of Jerez, and 20km east of Miraflores in Sanlucar. Willy's family has deep roots in the region, with his great grandfather and great-great grandfather both serving as cellar masters at the famous Gonzalez Byass sherry house, but his fascination has been with making wines the way they were produced before the sherry boom. He first read about the classification systems based on pagos and the unfortified wines of the region in a book from the 1800s and since then he has made it his mission to recreate the wines, a passion he shares with his former classmate, Ramiro Ibanez!
The Muchada-Leclapart wines are from biodynamically farmed vineyards, and come from a total of 4 hectares of vines, mostly in Miraflores, the famous pago in Sanlucar. Ale and David met when Ale was in Champagne working with David at the Leclapart estate. Seeing the great potential to make white wines on chalky soils (the soils of Sanlucar are similar in many ways to the soils of Chablis and Champagne), Ale returned home, with David's encouragement, to start this passion-project in the mid 2010s (their first vintage was 2016 if I'm not mistaken). The wines, though relatively expensive compared to some of the others offered today, are truly some of the greatest examples of unfortified Palomino I've ever had, especially in recent vintages as Ale hones his skill. Though they have changed distributor recently, I feel compelled to thank Ana and Alvaro from Selections de la Viña for introducing the Muchada-Leclapart wines to the US market, at a time when unfortified Palomino at white Burgundy prices was a very hard sell. Not that it's much easier now, but thanks to the restaurants and retailers stocking the wines, and great articles like the Eric Asimov piece in the NY Times last year, interest is increasing, and for good reason!
El Piraña 2022 Primario
El Piraña’s family has spent the last twenty plus years caring for their land organically and selling their grapes to the sherry houses. In 2011 they made a steady switch to creating their own must with their Palomino Fino and...
$24.99
El Piraña 2022 La Rosa
The family of Juan Francisco Pulido Cabral (aka El Piraña) has been in Trebujena for many generations, historically selling their grapes to the sherry houses. His father converted the farming to organic in the 90s and in 2011 they made...
$32.99
El Piraña 2022 Alventus
The family of Juan Francisco Pulido Cabral (aka El Piraña) has been in Trebujena for many generations, historically selling their grapes to the sherry houses. His father converted the farming to organic in the 90s and in 2011 they made...
$32.99
Ramiro Ibanez 2023 UBE Paganilla
Paganilla is typically quite saline on the nose and attack. The finish is clean and fresh. Kowledge about the soils was very important as people would try to blend fragile young wines with older wines in the coastal areas in...
$35.99
Ramiro Ibanez 2023 UBE El Reventon
Reventon is the vineyard that Ramiro used to play in with his childhood friend, throwing tosca at eachother. There is a slope in the parcel that he particularly likes, and there is a bit more weight here compared to Paganilla...
$35.99
Ramiro Ibanez 2023 UBE Miraflores
Ramiro explained to us that thre are all types of soils in Miraflores but there is always freshness. No stress on the vines, and very forward and fresh wines. Notes from importer: From four different plots in Miraflores Alta and...
$35.99
Perez, Luis 2022 El Muelle de Olaso Blanco
El Muelle is a delicious, unfortified Palomino, from Willy Pérez, who started his winery (named after his father Luis) in Andalucia in 2002 with the intention of making unfortified wines in the Sherry region. Pérez is using old botas (VERY...
$21.99
Muchada Leclapart 2022 Lumiere
Lumiere is THE wine from Muchada-Leclapart, at least as far as we're concerned. All Palomino from their oldest vines, planted mostly in the 60s to massale selection vines. Aged in fiberglass and neutral barrels for 11 months, with 10mg/l of...
$64.99
Muchada Leclapart 2022 Univers
Univers is an introduction of sorts from Alejandro and David (Muchada and Leclapart respectively). All Palomino, no flor, aged in neutral fiberglass tanks, from their youngest vines in Miraflores. 10.5% Alc!
$41.99
