Fernando de Castilla – Manzanilla Clásica

Lovely structure, bursting with salt, flor and fruit; the tangiest Manzanilla I know. Outstanding.

94/100

Alvear – Fino

Absolutely classic Fino style, saline with a touch of green apples and almond.

90/100

Amontillado Antique – Fernando de Castilla

A rather lighter style of Amontillado, still with the salt and the tang of flor characteristic of a Fino among the nuts and raisins.

90 / 100

Amontillado NPU – Sánchez Romate

Bronze with orange highlights, dark by the standard of Amontillado. The nutty, dried-fruit richness of the bouquet is more suggestive of an Oloroso, while I find the bouquet massively evocative of Sherry cask Speysides, to the extent of capturing the mahogany-and-furniture polish quality. As is the way of these things, the palate is very dry even while the bouquet is suggestive of something richer and sweeter. Powerful and complex, but also somewhat lacking the light touch.

89/100

Maestro Sierra – Fino

N1 likes the saltiness – she says it’s more Manzanilla-like, and that’s a compliment for her. A classic nutty Fino. The tang of flor is not as pronounced as it can be.  

90/100

Marismeño – Fino – Sánchez Romate

Pale, appley and almondy. Not as salty as some Fino can be, but the lanolin character is more marked – definitely a touch of the pharmacy about it. 

86/100

Remírez de Ganuza – Reserva – 2004

Dense colour even at the rim; rather darker than what one expects in Rioja. Very sweet, with highly-charged oak; feels like something from California. N1 thinks it has been “oaked to death”. There are also flavours of mushroom and coffee grounds, while the aftertaste is stem and earth. Plenty of fruit under the oak, and it is the classic sort of Rioja fruit, even if in a somewhat beefier manifestation; this is not a wine devoid of terroir in the way that some new and aspiring “super wines” can be. The tannins are not a problem, but the wine as a whole still feels rough, with a variety of dissonant elements jostling for attention; needs a decade to come around.  

93/100

Château Bahans Haut-Brion – 1998

Little brother to the first-growth - in more recent times it has been renamed Le Clarence de Haut-Brion.

Noticeable bricking. A cedar and smoke bouquet, with the fruit somewhat secondary; the palate is surprisingly delicate. The tannins still don’t seem quite resolved.

92/100

Marquis d’Angerville – Volnay – 2009

Pale and delicate, cherried, smooth tannins, just a touch of leaf and a little pepper coming through on the finish. I think strawberries, N1 says raspberries, but neither descriptor is so sharply marked as to be unmistakeable in the way that they can be in more mature Burgundy.  

Seems like a classic sort of Volnay, fine, but definitely well short of full aromatic development. While one never quite knows when best to drink a good Burgundy, the answer here is clearly: not yet.  

90/100