Two Slovenian Whites; Two Spanish

[Saina Nieminen]

Dveri Pax Benedict 2007 - Slovenia, tajerska
12,5% abv; Pinot gris 40%, Furmint 40%, Chardonnay 20%; 7g/l RS; 6,2g/l acidity. The scent is very attractively mineral and has a spicy, red fruit character that I have seen in the few varietal Furmints I have tried - but this character is somewhat like the better PGs I've tried, so this seemingly wacky blend does have a logic behind it. And what is most important, the blend works. Very lively, but quite full bodied, lively and terpsichorean. Mineral, refreshing and citrussy on the finish. Long. Nice!

Dveri Pax Traminec 2007 - Slovenia, tajerska
Mineral and floral, but unlike my last two bottles, this one is more like a Jura Savagnin than a Gewurztraminer. Fairly light but intense and persistent. Mineral finish. Lovely.

Can Rfols dels Caus Peneds Pairal Xarel.lo 2004 - Peneds
100% Xarel.lo; in chestnut barrels. I recently reported on a varietal Xarel.lo from Vall Dolina, so I was happy to taste another to compare with it. Where the Vall Dolina was slightly oxidative and smelled of apples, this had a bright scent with no oxidativeness, mineral and citrussy, some sea breeze, slightly reminiscent of the Ras Baixas wines I have had except not so peachy and forcefully aromatic as those Albario (and Albario based blends) are. I still didn't notice the vegetative quality that apparently this variety should have. Dry, medium bodied, lovely high acidity, perhaps some might find a fault in it being too austere but I love it. Long and mineral. Lovely.

Williams & Humbert Dos Cortados 20yo Very Old Dry Palo Cortado Solera Especial - Xrs
16,16 / 0,375; 19,5% abv; 4g/l RS; 6,8g/l acidity. Orange/brown. Beautifully lifted scent; nutty and slightly toffeed, with some citrus, rancio. Dry and crisp like a Fino but rich like an Oloroso - i.e. it does what it says on the tin. Palo Cortado seems to be the style of Sherry I most enjoy. Lovely.

I understand that what becomes Palo Cortado starts out life as destined for Fino or Amontillado but loses its Flor. What are the reasons that can cause the wine to lose the Flor and oxidize?

 

[VS]

I understand that what becomes Palo Cortado starts out life as destined for Fino or Amontillado but loses its Flor. What are the reasons that can cause the wine to lose the Flor and oxidize?

Not exactly, Otto. Theoretically, a palo cortado has never been under flor. When a must is sufficiently fine and light (usually coming from specific vineyard sites, such as Balbaina or Miraflores, that are closer to the sea, planted to the 'palomino fino' clone of the palomino grape and have a soil that's particularly rich in 'albariza' limestone), it's fermented in vats (formerly old oak, now mostly stainless) that are far from full, which enables the Saccharomyces yeasts to form the 'flor' or veil on the surface that will protect the wine from oxidation. These wines are destined to become finos (or, in the coastal town of Sanlcar de Barrameda, manzanillas). The flor eventually dies out. In some vats or barrels it dies faster, leaving the wine to continue its aging in oxidative fashion: this is amontillado, not palo cortado.

Palo cortado comes from the other side of the dry sherry family: the side that's aged under no flor from the start. When a wine shows 'gordura' (literally, 'fatness'), it's destined to become the smoothest, roundest, fullest type of sherry: oloroso. But in old, less scientific times, some of those sherries chosen to become olorosos steadfastly "refused" to develop the required roundness and showed a proclivity to be lighter, finer, more pungent: they seemed to strive to become an amontillado, not an oloroso. This was a palo cortado ('cut stick', from the chalk sign that was used for it on the barrels). In the recent past, this 'haphazard', almost legendary way of obtaining a palo cortado has probably been replaced with a surer method: simply, a fine, light must from Balbaina or similar sites is selected to be fermented without any flor, so that from the start it's pre-determined to become a palo cortado.

In practice, some wines that have seen flor can be labeled 'palo cortado', and possibly some wines that have never seen it wind up as 'amontillado'. Usually Jerez wines are finally ranked, at release, through tastings, and I've seen reports that the same soleras can be labelled differently at different times in their lives because their taste and aromatic profiles slowly mutate. Julian Jeffs wrote about Williams & Humbert wines from 1929 that in 1957 were being bottled as oloroso and in 1987 as palo cortado; or wines from 1937 that were initially amontillado but in 1987 had become palo cortado.

 

[Saina Nieminen]

Victor, excellent info, thanks! May I quote your reply on the UK forum since a bit of discussion is happening there about this issue?

 

[VS]

Of course. Everything anyone writes here is a matter of public record anyhow, Otto! No big secrets...