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93POINTS
17¼/20
Callejuela La Choza 2018
Sherry Jerez - Manzanilla, SpainBrothers Pepe y Paco produce some incredibly dynamic Palominos from el Marco de Jerez, some fortified and some not, and some with flor and some without. Their father, Francisco Blanco Martínez, ‘el Blanquito’ founded the business in 1980. Originally, he worked as an almacenista de mosto, farming his own vineyards and selling the base wine to bottling houses. His sons came on board in the late 1990s, and consolidated the operation in a cellar atop the slope of Pago el Hornillo on the estuary side of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Today they own 28 hectares of vines across four pagos. La Choza is the Blanco brothers’ own small vineyard at 74m within the prized, warmer inland Macharnudo site. The old vines here are still cultivated the traditional method of vara y pulgar (stick and thumb), whereby each year the vines are pruned to an active arm (the stick), which will carry perhaps eight bunches, while the thumb side has the sprouts which will develop into next year’s stick. The juice is fermented in old Manzanilla botas, and the wine is aged on fine lees with 10% ullage for 7 months of ageing under a thin film of flor. The thin film, combined with shorter ageing, emphasizes more of the Albariza limestone (here, Albariza de barajuelas) over the yeast. The warmer site brings a gentle expansiveness to the palate, with toasted almond, warm hay, lemon and mandarin peel, honeysuckle, and smoked stone, before dissolving into an earthy toasted oat / barley note. Ample salinity rings throughout, and a savoury brown butter note lingers. So much concentration and intensity for 13%, with length for days, and time ahead in your cellar. Seriously impressive.Tasted: 08 April 2021Tasted by: Treve RingPrices:| BC | $36.99 | 500ml | select private retailers |
Grape: Palomino FinoCSPC: 43748UPC: 8437004778154
