MCF Rare Wine
Lovely, Lovely Palomino
There are many places in the wine world where exciting trends or stylistic shifts in winemaking are happening, and one of the ones I'm currently most excited about is happening in a place most steeped in a unique and ultra-traditional style - Jerez.
The exciting trend I'm talking about is that of producers making unfortified, estate-fruit expressions of the region's legendary Palomino grape.
And two such exciting examples are what we have today, from Corta y Raspa, a collective of five small growers in Sanlucar, who're each bottling their own expressions under the same label. Today, we have two different vintages of the same wine made by Antonio Bernal Ortega, from his La Charanga parcel in the Pago Maína.
The reason I love these wines so much is because they take all of the elements I adore from a good Manzanilla or Fino (all those wonderful salty/savory/nutty things), but they also allow the unadulterated flowery/mineral/textured character of the Palomino grape and its corresponding terroir to shine through.
And they also age beautifully too, as today's two wines will expertly show...
The Charanga parcel is less influenced by the sea and is, hence, less breezy of an expression, and sits more on the textured/floral/honeyed end of the spectrum. The wine spends time on and off under light flor for about a year.
The 2021 Charanga is currently more tight-lipped and dense, but it delivers everything you could ask for from a wine of this type. This is just deliciously drinkable, perfectly blending the fresher citric aromatics with a kiss of the salty/savory minerality on the finish.
The 2020 Charanga, on the other hand, is, after an extra year in bottle, letting the oxidative elements run wild. The texture and acidity have loosened up, allowing the wild, salty, nutty, cheesy depth to act as the perfect counterpoint to the flowery, exotic notes that soar high above.
For me, these are the perfect springtime whites, bridging the gap between the rich flavors that cool weather demands, and the racy freshness we'll require when the warm weather we're all looking forward to finally arrives.
(They also pair really well with April baseball games...)
CORTA y RASPA La Charanga de Antonio Bernal Ortega
2020
2021
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Matt Franco
MCF Rare Wine, Ltd
249 West 13th Street NYC 10011
212.255.8870
Looking for a wine you loved from a past newsletter or a favorite you can't find anywhere? Email Raphael at raphael@mcf-rarewine.com, and we'll do our best to find it for you!
