DO Montilla-Moriles
For some odd reason I cannot trace the article I wrote, having visited Bodegas Pérez Barquero, DO Montilla-Moriles, Andalucía. I’d like to put a link here, but I’d also like to re-read it myself. It was a fascinating visit, with some really biologically aged wines.
Recently this area of production, so long in the shadow of nearby, DO Jerez, has been coming out to play, and I’m delighted as they have so much to offer. Recently there has been a move to make what we might consider traditional wines – I’ve tasted some, a Verdejo for example, and they are worth seeking out. However, it’s the Montilla-Moriles spin on the sherry style biologically aged wines that I really love. Plus, although wine types often mention the excellent value of Sherry, their equal in MontillaMoriles are often even more economic!
Add to the above the fact that DO Montilla-Moriles also has several entries in the excellent
Guía Proensa 2020 Spanish Wine Guide, perhaps the best and most accurate of the guides, and well you can see why I caution – don’t miss DO Montilla-Moriles! http:// www.proensa.com/producto/ guia-proensa-2020/
Furthermore – of those several entries in Guía Proensa, Bodegas Pérez Barquero has by far the most! So, when at Barcelona Wine Week in February I was pleased to be able to have the opportunity to ‘re-visit’ this 1905 founded winery, which had a stand, ironically near the Sherry corner! https://perezbarquero.com/en/
Pérez-Barquero is the family name bequeathed to the winery by its founders, three brothers from the north of Spain. Nowadays the winery is owned and run by the Córdoba, Ruz and Gracia families, who continue and enhance the tradition established by those turn of the century pioneers.
The old winery is a pleasure to visit (now there’s a trip for you when all this house confinement is over!) – we were first led up to the high level where the very old, huge cement ‘tinajas’ have their openings – pictured above. The Pérez Barquero wines are fermented here. Some are destined to become dry white wines, so are bottled after fermentation, but the majority are then sent to the solera/ criadera area to undergo the traditional biological ageing of the region.
Large oak barrels, some dating back to 1905, are placed on the floor – on top of them another tier is placed, and so on, perhaps until 5 tiers high. The bottom tier, the solera, supplies the fortified wine for bottling. That which therefore leaves the barrels is replaced by the criadera above, and so on. It’s a tried and tested, centuries old tradition, resulting in wonderful rounded wine that speak of the region and its history!
The same gentleman who showed me round, in situ, was also in Barcelona – though so busy with samplers like myself he hardly had time to talk to me. Now worries, though, the wine’s I tasted were eloquently voluble enough!
I started with the traditional, water-coloured fino. What a lovely aperitif Gran Barquero fino is, and how tasty with ‘chipirones’, as well as pan fried almonds and olives. However, for me, this perfectly pleasant wine was eclipsed by its ‘en rama version – I’ve been talking about én ram’ wines for a while now, you have to try them, they are a game changer, for sure!
The Barquero Amontillado was also to my taste. I hesitate to compare Montilla-Moriles wines with Sherry, I’m sure they are fed up with the comparison, but perhaps not so, when I say that, I think I probably prefer this Montilla-Moriles version because of its slightly higher natural acidity. Try this wine with the above, but also use it to cut through the fat content of Serrano ham and some ‘semi curado’ cheese. Super!
The Barquero Oloroso wasn’t very different in colour to the Amontillado, though noticeably less acidic and a touch richer and less dry. It’s dry though, it’s nothing like the sweetened (why?) Olorosos often found in the UK!
And now it’s time to say which was my favourite – but once again, as I often do with biologically aged wines, I’m going to have to sit on the fence! You see, I tried the Gran Barquero Palo Cortado as well – and it’s wonderful, too!
Palo Cortado style biologically aged wines are quite a rarity. They begin life as a Fino or Amontillado, ageing under flor, that layer of yeast that covers the wine beneath, However, apparently inexplicably, sometimes a barrel loses its flor, leaving the wine beneath to continue its journey, ageing oxidatively as would an Oloroso. The result is a fine wine that has some of the characteristics of Amontillado but also some of those of Oloroso, respectively the crispness and acidity, as well as the richness.
(Interestingly, the name Palo Cortado translates to ‘cut stick’, which relates to the fact that the bodegueros, on discovering such a barrel, would cut a nick into the barrel!).
colin@colinharknessonwine.com Twitter @colinonwine Facebook Colin Harkness www.valleyfm.es www.colinharknessonwine.com