Still More Sherry

J

Jay Miller

Jay Miller
After being alerted that the NSA had gotten word of our projected third Sherry dinner and sent drones to hover in the dining room of PDH and record anyone caught drinking the stuff we outfoxed them by switching our venue to Ping.

And so the four people in the NYC area who like Sherry enough to risk being seen drinking it in public gathered to drink some wonderful wines accompanied by fried silverfish, whole fish, duck tongue with soy, and bangin' Peking Duck.

The main impetus was for Ross and David to open the complete range of the Gonzalo Byass Palmas bottlings. A fascinating project where barrels of fino are followed from when young (1 Palmas) to as they age and the flor eventually dies off (4 Palmas). The 3 is from the very few barrels to maintain a thin layer of flor after 10 years, the 4 is a full Amontillado. The 3 is really a Fino Amontillado but that is no longer a legal designation.

Gonzalo Byass Palmas 1 - Saline,pure, long, soaring. Excellent match with the fried silverfish.
Gonzalo Byass Palmas 2 - a bit heavier and sharper, nice but I'm preferring the purity of the 1. This really picked up with some duck tongue.
Gonzalo Byass Palmas 3 - A warm comforting blanket. Enchanting
Gonzalo Byass Palmas 4 - Powerful but ethereal. Wonderful

This night Numbers 1 and 4 were my favorites.

2008 Colet-Navazos Reserva Extra Brut

A flor influenced sparkling wine produced in collaboration between Colet and Equipo Navazos (for details see here Colet Navazos )

Nice, a bit rain watery, a pleasant sharpness and a touch of sherry-like richness. The flavors are subtle and intriguing. Great match with the fried silverfish. I look forward to trying future vintages as well as the version made from Xarel.lo

Valdespino Oloroso 1842 VOS - Light smooth and lovely. Unfortunately the sweetness somewhat overpowers the latent complexity.

Valdespino Oloroso Majestad - Intense, precise, powerful. A very impressive Sherry, though as with the Cardenal I won't be buying again at this price point.

Bodegas Tradicion Amontillado
Bodegas Tradicion Oloroso
Opened late, as with the same bottles last week I was past taking notes. The Amontillado didn't do that much for me but the Oloroso had a precision that I found very attractive.

Some Sherry
Some More Sherry
 
The palmas were very impressive. The freshness of the 1 palma made it very enjoyable in this setting (as opposed to the frenzied atmosphere at sherryfest), but it still had enough depth to be intriguing. The 2 palma still strikes me as the odd one out, not communicating as much about the evolution of a fino. The 3 palma is still my favorite, simply due to the relatively uncommon fino-amontillado style. Fortunately these are becoming available in the us, although the quantities still seem to be quite scarce.

I did enjoy the Majestad, although I feel that the VORS from Valdespino are a bit pricey for what they are-- except for the unbelievable Toneles.
 
The palmas were very impressive. The freshness of the 1 palma made it very enjoyable in this setting (as opposed to the frenzied atmosphere at sherryfest), but it still had enough depth to be intriguing. The 2 palma still strikes me as the odd one out, not communicating as much about the evolution of a fino. The 3 palma is still my favorite, simply due to the relatively uncommon fino-amontillado style. Fortunately these are becoming available in the us, although the quantities still seem to be quite scarce.

I did enjoy the Majestad, although I feel that the VORS from Valdespino are a bit pricey for what they are-- except for the unbelievable Toneles.
 
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