Manzanilla in Fall, Unfiltered
Barbadillo Manzanilla En Rama
Saca de Otoño 375ml
Out of all of our sherry offerings, Barbadillo's En Ramas are by far our most popular.
The explanation is simple: the intersection of quality and value is just amazing.
Barbadillo's Otoño is the only of their seasonal bottlings that we haven't been able to offer widely. The story is pretty simple: we sent out an offer on the Verano (summer) bottling and it sold out to such an extent that we even sold through the yet-to-be-released Otoño bottling.
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Barbadillo's En Rama series is based on two things: first, the seasonal changes in temperature encourage either the growth or the decline of the flor, the yeast that lives on top of Manzanilla. The flor thrives in the late spring and fall and then declines in the peak of summer and winter.
The growth and decline of the flor has a big influence over the wines. Broadly speaking, at the peak of flor-growth, the wines are a little more delicate and have a certain lees-y richness; during the decline the wines pick up more oxidative power.
The Otoño bottling boasts this delicacy and fineness with an energy and cut. And yet, for all of this, the mid-palate delivers a shocking complexity of saline minerality, florality, and almonds. It shows a touch of the oxiditive power that you would find in the winter bottling.
The second factor at play is that in an effort to capture the seasonal changes with the most clarity possible, this Manzanilla is minimally filtered - En Rama means from the cask. This is quite unusual, most sherries are aggressively filtered. When you taste filtered and unfiltered sherries side-by-side, you notice a texture, complexity and energy to unfiltered sherries that the filtered versions just can't match.
Barbadillo was one of the earliest proponents of En Rama bottlings, starting their series back in 1999. The En Rama series is sourced from a special Manzanilla Pasada solera that boasts 8 years of average age, which is old for Manzanilla. The best barrels of the younger solera that goes into their Solear are selected and drawn from to undergo further aging, gaining depth and complexity as they go along.
This is one of the most compelling and certainly best value sherries around. We've been tracking how Barbadillo En Ramas are evolving since our first offer in August 2012. The bottles improve with a year in bottle and it seems like there's an upside to holding on to them longer.
Barbadillo's En Rama sherries are produced in small quantities - around 1,500 bottles per season. We always take all we can get and it disappears in no time. If you're interested, this is the time to grab some bottles.
To order, please email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits