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Sherry Bodega Visit: Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana

In September 2010 I visited several sherry bodegas. Here are pictures and a few notes from Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana, which is located in Sanlucar de Barrameda. 

(La Gitana is their most famous brand. It's a manzanilla; similar to fino but aged in Sanlucar.)

(The bodegas were wonderfully old, moldy, and dusty.)

(One of the old bullfight posters taped to the wall in the bodega.)

(Our host, a curmudgeonly sort who basically disagreed with everything we learned all week. We liked him anyway.)

(A view of the bodega.)

 

• More humidity and less exreme temperature swings in Sanlucar
• Flor is thicker and remains year round
• Make a single-vineyard manzanilla. It may be the only single vineyard sherry
• The vineyards and grapes not nearly as important as the place where the solera is
• Sanlucar is the oldest part of the sherry region- producing wines there the longest
• Most of the casks in these bodegas over 200 years old. They hate new casks. 
• Replace staves with staves from old casks bought on market
• La Gitana has 14 level solera. 
• Manzanilla typically has more ciraderas (levels to the solera) than fino. Have to move it faster between levels.  
• Tastes like salt spilled in the relish. Yum.
• Manzanilla can pair with asparagus- is most versatile with food
• Says you can leave an open bottle in the refrigerator 4-5 years and it will still be good 
• During the peninsular war, they supplied both Napoleon and the Allies. Now have both Napoleon and Wellington brands. 

 

Sherry Bodega Visit: Bodegas Lustau

In September 2010 I visited several sherry bodegas. Here are pictures and a few notes from Bodegas Lustao. 

 

(Barrels in the Lustau bodega.)

(The vinegar aging room smelled heavenly. I'd love to go back and just study vinegar.)

(These new casks are being prepared for Jameson Irish whisky that is aged in ex-sherry casks. These casks were not part of the solera system- just the wine in them. They hold sherry that absorbs into the wood. The sherry is then distilled and not used for sherry.)

(At lunch afterward, we drank Lustao sherry and had Lustao Vinagre de Jerez on a few dishes.)

 

• Albero soil used in bodegas is same as used in bullfighting rings
• It took two and a half years to move the bodega from one place to another
• Only company to have sherry aged in Jerez, Puerto, and Sanlucar
• The vinegar solera smells delicious!
• Brandy bodega smells like buttered popcorn
• Casks for Jamesons made here with their oloroso 
• Fino bodegas must have higher ceilings, cooler temps, more humid
• Different vineyards produce grapes better for fino, amontillado, oloroso sherries 

 

Sherry Bodega Visit: Bodegas Gonzalez Byass

In September 2010 I visited several sherry bodegas. Here are pictures and a few notes from Bodegas Gonzalez Byass. 

(The grounds of the bodega have grape vines covering the streets to provide shade.)

(A train takes people on a tour around the bodega.)

(One of the rooms for special events.)

(A barrel signed by Picasso.)

(Some Tio Pepe out of the cask. You can see the flor broken up in the glass.)

 

• Make Tio Pepe
• Over 200,000 visitors per year to bodega
• Tio Pepe grapes are and will always be collected by hand, not machine
• Higher vineyards considered better – get more of the wet wind
• Theyre one of the only companies to grow PX in Jerez. Others buy it from Cordoba
• Have a big catalogue of vintage-dated sherries- Anadas
• Corks are loose on sherry barrels to let air in, but most air freshness comes from when you change the levels of the sherry in the solera
• The El Duque brand starts as Tio Pepe fino, aged longer
• The higher the percentage of alcohol, the more lignin it absorbs from the wood. 
• Nuttiness comes from the grapes. Coconut comes from the wood.
• Palo Cortado- probably started back in the day when they couldn’t accurately meauser alcohol percentage, so they put too much in the fino and killed it

 

Sherry Bodega Visit: Bodegas Williams & Humbert

In September 2010 I visited several sherry bodegas. Here are pictures and a few notes from Bodegas Williams & Humbert. 

(The bodega is absolutely enormous.)

(There's a horse show inside the bodega for visitors.)

(For barrel tasting, the venenciador (in this case, the chief oenologist) inserts the venencia into the barrel to pull out a cup of liquid, then pours above a glass to aerate.)

(From a high perch in the bodega, you can see nearly the whole thing. Center in the picture is a tour group.)

 

• They make Dry Sack - actually a medium sweetness sherry
• Huge tourist visitor center- enter through the bodega and go to the horse show
• Brandy de Jerez is very popular in the Philippines
• Bowmore 1964 was aged in their casks
• Macallan new casks prepared here
•     New wood with aged sherry added to them
•     The sherry is not sold afterward- too woody
• Fino was first developed in an industrial way in the 1920’s and 30’s
• Dry sack is the top selling medium sweet sherry in the world. 
•     Tio Pepe is top selling fino. (Not made here.)
•     Harvey’s Bristol Cream is the top cream. (Not made here.)
• Dry sack is blended with PX right at the beginning  before it enters the solera system
• 15 year oloroso is very yummy. 
• I also liked Gran Dulque de Alba XO
• They make the Dos Maderas rums
• Liked the VORS amontillado, VOS Palo Cortado

 

Sherry Bodega Visit: Bodegas Sanchez Romate

In September 2010 I visited several sherry bodegas. Here are pictures and a few notes from Bodegas Sanchez Romate. 

(Our guide used a barrel as a chalkboard.)

(Our host.)

(The bodega is relatively small and sort of goth.)

(We signed a barrel.)

• Not a touristy bodega- don’t do tours
• Fino has more oxidation than manzanilla because the flor dies in winter and summer in Jerez. 
• Delicious amontillado 5 years under flor
• Muscatel was like blueberry pie filling with curry
• Brandy Cardenal Mendoza top selling brandy de Jerez in US

Sherry Bodega Visit: Bodegas Osborne

In September 2010 I visited several sherry bodegas. Here are pictures and a few notes from Bodegas Osborne. 

(The logo for Osborne is the silhouette of a bull. You see it all around.)

(This is barrel with a clear end so you can see how flor (a layer of yeast) lives on top of the sherry. The yeast consumes nutrients in the alcohol, and also protects it from oxidation in fino and manzanilla sherries.)

(Aging sherry.)

(After the Osborne bodega visit, some local food to soak up the sherry.)

 

• Huge company with biggest selling products port, water, ham, etc.
• Their fino has a five level solera, fairly unique
• Have a “Fino-Amontillado” with a lot of time under flor. It’s their signature product.
• Want more humidity in bodegas where fino is aged

Sherry Bodega Visit: Bodegas Grupo Estevez

In September 2010 I visited several sherry bodegas. Here are pictures and a few notes from Bodegas Grupo Estevez. 

(Sherry sleeping peacefully in the bodega.) 

(One of the warehouses is named for flamenco dancer Lola Flores.)

(Horse stables and ring behind the bodegas. Jerez is home to flamenco, dancing horses, and sherry.)

(The interior is a fancy place with fine art and marble statues.)

 

• Tio Mateo, Agostino, Tesoro, La Gita are some of their brands
• They used to have several bodegas, centralized them all to the one we visited 20 years ago
• One bodega named after flamenco dancer Lola Flores 
• La Gita manzanilla from Sanlucar is the only manzanilla that has a production date on the bottle- should help us Americans know when its too old to buy
• Inocente Fino is fermented in the barrel not in stainless tanks. 
  
  
  

Sherry Bodega Visit: Bodegas Tradicion

In September 2010 I visited several sherry bodegas. Here are pictures and a few notes from Bodegas Tradicion. 

 (The small and beautiful bodega.)

(Drinking out of the barrel.)

(Criadera refers to the level of the barrel in the solera system. The 1/18 refers to the number of the barrel and the total of the set. )

(They also have an art gallery in the bodega. I call this painting "Laserdove".)

 

• Bodega only started in 1998
• Only produce old sherries -  VOS, VORS. 
• They buy them from other bodegas already aged and put them into their solera system.
• To my palate, older sherries are effervescent, literally. Very acidic. Lively jumps in your mouth.