TDG: Wine Camp: Use It Or Lose It . . . Sherry

[malarkey]

Thanks for the great article Craig. And I'm happy and proud to say that I indeed have sherry bottles in my recycle. I'm a regular consumer of Hildago La Gitana and also a huge fan of the Lustau wines. (which, incidently, are harder to find so now I know why..) but I'm lucky to live close to The Spanish Table and they have an awesome selection of sherries. I've always felt these were highly underrated wines.

[Craig Camp]

I've always liked the sherry glasses that they use in what seems like every bodega in Andalusia. They're perhaps 100-125ml in volume, made of normal wine-glass material, and look like squat champagne flutes with a 1-2cm stem.

Copitas - the name of the glasses you see in Spain can be hard to track down. However, the official INAO tasting glasses are relatively easy to find and not too expensive. They work great both for Sherry and Port.

[Craig Camp]

Wow!  What an education.  Of course, I never touch the stuff.  Now, if you could just do the same thing for port.....

Coming this winter to a wine column near you.

[Phil Ward]

"La Gitana Manzanilla from Hildago competes for the "best aperitif on the planet" award. "

Here, here!

When I first had this wine over 10 years ago, it was an eye and mind opening experience.

[Craig Camp]

Good news from Stephen Metzler, the dedicated and passionate owner of Classical Wines of Spain, of one of the top importers of quality Spanish wine. He has convinced Hildago to bottle La Gitana in 500 ml. which is the perfect size to help you keep your Manzanilla fresh. BEST OF ALL they will include the bottling date in plain English on the new label.

Compliments once again to Steven and Classical Wines of Spain for their commitment to quality. Look for their label on bottles of Spanish wine and you will be rewarded.

[badthings]

For my birthday, my girlfriend made me a tapas meal with a special tasting flight, devised by her native genius (with some help from the guy at Spanish Table):

Manzanilla La Cigarrera

Alvear Fino "en Rama" 1998

Barbadillo Palo Cortado "Obispo Gascon"

Barbadillo Oloroso Seco "Cuco"

Unfortunately, I didn't read Craig's latest article until this morning, so I did not take notes.

All were excellent, the Manzanilla fresh and refreshing as a good manzanilla should be. The fino, as Craig noted above, was 100% PX, from Montilla Moriles, and "vintage", so no solera. I would have liked to compare it to a "normal" fino, because it tasted exactly like a (very good) normal fino in my mind -- bone-dry, nutty, flor-al. I sort of felt that the regular 8-10 degrees C was too cold to really tease out the complexities, but my palate is still a little out of sorts.

We concluded the meal with the last two and a cheese plate. As you can imagine, they were amazing, particularly with the manchego/membrillo combination. By this time, I may have been a teensy bit wasted, because I find it hard to come up with appropriate adjectives. How many times can you say "nutty"? I will say that a good cheese plate is brilliant with powerful sherries like these -- every bite seems to wipe your palate clean, so that each sip has that incredible "first sip" oxidized feeling. Luckily, there is much more of the last two, so I will be able to ponder their deliciousness for weeks to come.

[Alberto]

Hello all.

Is that little print (for example L170403) on Hidalgo wine's rear label stating when that batch has been bottled, say, April 17th? In this case it would be a nearly plain information.

Thanks,

Alberto