Tuesday 14 June 2016

Fino Arroyuelo en rama 15%, Primitivo Collantes

Appearance
Mid strawy brassy gold, some legs.
Nose
Fairly serious, slightly savoury flor at first with a slight trace of buttery autolysis, notes of dry scrub, a little salinity and quite bready with an olive brine touch and traces of dried green herbs, there's some character here.
Palate
Quite full with a fairly intense entry, lots of bitter and briny flor and that slight pasada note coming from the dead yeast cells at the bottom of the butt and a trace of oxidation. Moderate acidity, very dry but very good length with a very slightly tangy savoury even lively farewell.
Comments
Aged under flor for an average of five years, this Fino was bottled on 23rd October 2015 with no clarification at all. Judging from the hand-written panel on the back label it is a blend of wines selected from butts nos. 16, 32, 96 and 117 of the Fino Arroyuelo solera. Being from Chiclana which is in the production zone but not the ageing zone, the wine cannot carry the DO Sherry seal, but is very much the equal. It is sealed with what looks like a 2 inch driven Amorim Twin Top cork. It scored 90 points from Parker - the wine that is. It just shows the difference between a wine bottled from selected butts without filtration and a wine from the same solera bottled from all of the butts and filtered. The standard Arroyuelo is excellent (see post) but this has so much more depth and character. I could drink it all night....
Price
15 euros per 75cl bottle from Cuatrogatos

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