Sorry, proctor. I cribbed off Martin for dinner Tuesday-before-last: served Florence Fabricant’s chorizo baked clams tinyurl.com/y62kfm9f with marconas and (take-in) tapas including: calamari with marcona romesco; skewers of piquillo peppers, anchovies, manchego and green olives; and potatoes with garlic aioli.
Given the meal’s chorizo, I chose the Aurora, and not the Deliciosa en Rama. So far, it seems to me that the en ramas are potently sea-flavored (thank you Sr. Gallego)… and maybe, I wondered, less good with meat? In any case, the Aurora—nutty, briny, olivey, citrusy—went very nicely with the clams, with the marconas, and especially with the calamari’s marcona romesco. (Ix-nay on the anchego-may!)
It was at its best, though, with the meal as a whole, like a base I could return to after this bite, then that, of one unrelated food after another. Grounding. Satisfying. Made it all less a “meal,” more an “experience.”
It’s some work fitting these sherries into my life. I prefer a wine with dinner—not an aperitif with snacks—and putting together a selection of Spanish tapas is far outside my culinary comfort zone. A manzanilla is a vacation. A seaside vacation. And yes, sitting in my NYC apartment, I took my shoes off.
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Wow this brings a flood of memories. After immigrating to Canada at the age of 7 my parents made it their mission to return home to Andalusia every second summer.
As soon as flights were booked and family notified my uncle would promptly buy a jamon de bellotta and hang it in their postage stamp size laundry room.
Many a day do I remember my father and uncle sipping Fino La Ina and cutting slivers of ham with a plate on top of the washing machine sharing hopes, dreams and much laughter.
They have both been gone for over a decade but that memory is burned in my mind.
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My first experience with Manzanilla was when I went to Spain with the Leslie Sbrocco to visit Cariñena and she ordered Manzanilla sherry for a pre-dinner drink. I really respect her approach to wine and have held Manzanilla in high esteem ever since- even if I don't usually order it.
I bought the La Gitana and Valdespino and forgot to put them in the fridge on the day I planned on tasting them, so I tasted backwards - warm, and then cold.
I tasted the warm La Gitana first, and all I could think was "brine brine brine brine brine" to the tune of Rhianna's "Work". It was like the salt from the sea water that hardens on your arms, legs, and face when you get out of the ocean. It tasted like like eating one of those amazing, only in Spain huge Spanish green olives...smothered in anchovies. Thinking about those anchovies and olives, by the way, make my mouth water.
When I had it cold, the flavors were much more subtle, and much more wine-like. I enjoyed it, and I think this is how I would like to drink it if I were to have a glass, but when chilled, it lost those big, bold, almost exaggerated flavors of Spain.
When drank warm, the Valdespino has an almost Chardonnay/fruity characteristic to it -like spiked apple pie without the cinnamon. When cold, it tasted like spiced apple cider with a pinch of cinnamon. The southern lover of all things sweet in me liked this best, while the anchovy enthusiast in me was more for the La Gitana.
PS. Where does one get a sherry t-shirt?
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@Martina Mirandola Mullen
Zazzle.com carries at Tio Pepe t-shirt and a Regency Cream Sherry one
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@Martina Mirandola Mullen: Do you have the design? If yes, you can go online and create your own.
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I like fino and we had purchased the non-en Rama version of Valdespino in April when you had written about it and enjoyed it. It was easy to pick out the en Rama in the glass; the color was more golden. At first it seemed a bit too funky for a summer meal but we warmed to it as it warmed up. Manzanilla feels refreshing in the mouth without being a thirst-quencher. For both of us the Bodegas Yuste Aurora was the favorite.We went traditional the first night with Spanish cheese, ham, sausage, olives and rosemary almonds. The salty, nutty, citrus flavor went well with the food. Later in the week we had coconut rice with fish sauce and cilantro. I think dry sherry pairs well with Asian flavors. There is definitely a role for manzanilla in my life either as something to sip a bit of while cooking or eaten alongside a complementary meal.
1
We decided to serve all three sherries with a mélange of different appetizers. A shrimp platter, cured anchovies, almonds, olives and charcuterie were all offered with the wine selections. We just picked and chose.
The Hidalgo was thin, pale and coarse. It seemed alcoholic on the mouth. The best match was with the shrimp platter especially when it warmed in the glass.
The Yuste had more body with a doughy mouth feel. The finish was somewhat bitter but seemed to blend well with the cocktail sauce offered with the shrimp.
The Valdespino was worth the wait. It was smooth round and waxy. When it warmed up it was even better. It went well with all the appetizers but especially with the almonds. It was our favorite wine of the tasting.
The group did not think that manzanilla was going to play a significant roll in our lives. George Erdle – Harper’s Fine Dining – Charlotte, NC
Good Afternoon: Sorry the food/Sherry pairing didn't work for Mr. Barron; probably just a case of different tastes as opposed to anything wrong with the wine.
San Francisco has enjoyed wonderful weather today, so took the afternoon off. Had a very late lunch/very early dinner ("linner?") with the Bodegas Yuste Aurora and a large plate of tapas: shrimp with two sauces, green & red; grilled hearts of palm; charcuterie and cheeses; roasted Brazil nuts and rosemary almonds; olives and caper berries. Music: "Joy" by the AKA Trio, a quietly spectacular work.
Color: brilliant gold tinged with orange; Nose: green apple, lemon peel, orange peel, chamomile (!); Taste: same as the nose, plus orange juice, hint of caramel (!), very slight residual sugar (!), steely, earthy, dates. Lot of unexpected flavors. Nice texture--mellow character, smooth finish. As it warmed, the Sherry did not develop new flavors, but the flavors already present intensified. Went well with all of the tapas as you might expect. One surprise; did just fine with dessert, a home-made dulce de leche with candied orange peel. The acid in the wine cut through the thickness and sweetness of dessert.
Afterwards, walked onto the fire escape overlooking Haight Street. Evening fog walking in, multitudes of people walking home; they had decided that whatever they had to do at work could wait until Monday. Good thinking, I say. Another successful wine; might try the Deliciosa later this month.
2
School is where you are exposed to new experiences. The sherry assignment was certainly new territory for me. But life is an adventure! Tried the Aurora. First tasted cold without food. I liked the light gold color in the glass. Unfortunately, the experience went down hill from there. Both odor and taste reminded me of preserved insects in 9th grade biology. Not my favorite high school memory. I usually like to have wine with food, but I could think of nothing in the kitchen that would help. Taste improved as the sherry warmed. Improved should not be confused with good. My wife had exactly the same reaction. So, Wine School taught me something today. Taught me I don’t like sherry. This makes me wonder how the same wine can be pleasant for one person and horrible for another. Genetics or structure of central nervous system, perhaps? I suppose that is why there are so many different bottles in the store.
Wasn’t fair—too many variables—but as much as I did not enjoy La Gitana, found it sour and mean—that’s how much I was awed by La Gitana en Rama. Its flavors—fuller, intenser, nuttier, sea-muckier than its filtered counterpart—were a two-hour idyll.
How different was the wine itself? Don’t know. This time I sampled it first, hours before, as an aperitif; kept it cold; paired more tapa-ish foods, especially seafoods; and, what had to have been the clincher, took Eric’s last word of advice [now cut from the original article?], that Manzanilla is best enjoyed barefoot. Monday’s warm summer night dinner was out on the deck, shoeless, surrounded by trees, in a place that looked like deep hardwood forest and felt to me as if the Andalusian seashore.
Deep-fried clam bellies paired best. If I said it was like drinking sea muck, would you recognize the high praise intended? By contrast, the bellies tasted genteel. It was transportive. Cod cakes were less good, a bit too sweet. Lightly vinegared artichoke hearts went nicely; they brought out a pineapple note from the wine. Tartar sauce was wild and crazy, also tropical. A black olive tapenade started good, finished weird—the flatbread it was on didn’t help. Nothing-special french fries paired shockingly well. I don’t get how so potently flavored wine can be so delicate as to light up a plain potato, but that’s what it did.
That, and carry the evening off to la playa, it did, where I nibbled beach food and scrunched toes in wet sand.
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@Dan Barron La Gitana en Rama, on top of being unfiltered, is a couple of years older. That explain the very notorious difference
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@Santiago Gallego
Thank you, Sr. Gallego.
But I’m confused. How can you know the age, with the "NV" bottling?
Also, I thought en ramas had to be drunk young. Is that wrong?
@Dan Barron The Gitana “en rama” was so different that I asked someone working in the bodega...
The first producer to sell a “en rama” was Barbadillo. Its Saca or Solear en rama is an old manzanilla, around nine years and, consequently very different than a normal Solear that should be around five, six years. It puzzles me that producers do not show the age of its wines, which is very confusing to novel drinkers who tend to think, rather wrongly, that an old manzanilla is per se better than a young one. In my drinking opinion they are overselling and exaggerating the role of the “en rama” presentations.
2
I revisited La Gitana and Aurora with Florence Fabricant’s Clams Baked With Chorizo. Tasting the Aurora again after sampling a slice of Spanish chorizo surprised me with flavors of tropical fruit. I think the idea of baking clams with some sort of parsley and marcona almond pesto with chorizo was brilliant. I started the evening watching the Spain episode of “Parts Unknown” and got in a very Andalusian mood thinking how great all these tapas would be with chilled manzanilla sherry. It was a tight race between both wines and a kaleidoscope of flavors. Hidalgo was lighter in color. Both were nutty, and of course salty; there were floral notes too. Hidalgo was more tart, and Aurora more oaky and tropical. I loved them both. I think of trying them with Bittman’s garlicky Pimentón Shrimp. I would love to have these wines tapa barhopping in a Spanish summer night. My first Manzanilla ever by the way was a 2008 Domecq about 10 years ago. It seems to be unavailable in the US. Does anybody know what happened?
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Manzanilla producers drink their wine directly from the casks, i.e., at around 20 C (68 F). Manzanilla lives and ages in the casks at around that temperature.
Why, then, is it that even producers recommend to drink it at a much lower temperature? A marketing reason. Usually, manzanilla, a wine that spends between 3 and 9 years in a oak cask, has to compete with, let’s say, a Chardonnay that maybe has not been ever in a cask and, consequently, has to be drunk very cold because there are not secondary flavors or aromas.
But just try. Go and buy two bottles from a reliable producer (Delgado Zuleta or Barbadillo), put one on the freezer and compare.
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First whiff of La Gitana was like a summer evening at the seashore.
And—sorry, readers; sorry, VSB; sorry Eric—that was the high point.
Paired it Thursday night with VSB’s southern fried chicken (take-in) and Eric’s Roasted Artichokes with Anchovy Mayonnaise tinyurl.com/y6fhgapw . Barb and I both found La G lighter and more delicate than any sherry we knew (including Hidalgo’s much richer, and sweeter-smelling Napoleón Amontillado Sanlúcar, which I greatly enjoyed in Wine School’s Fino Sherry class). Barb called La G “like an aperitif.” The wine did nothing for our chicken and was overwhelmed by the artichokes and mayo.
Should have read the label more carefully. Hidalgo recommends the wine as, sure enough, an aperitif, and also with light seafood. It did go well with some Marcona almonds on the side. And some chicken incongruously slathered with the anchovy mayo wasn’t bad either.
Could this have been a bad bottle? Martin’s “sea” flavors excepted, I got none of the attributes he and VSB describe. For me, based on this bottle, La G is not a dinner wine and no, it does not have much of a role in my life.
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Trying to suss this out, I wonder if I served La Gitana too warm? Checking notes, early in the meal, when it was cooler, I couldn’t tell if I liked the wine or not. Later, I knew I did not. Didn’t notice it changing, but maybe that fits with VSB’s observation that La Gitana’s flavors didn’t so much change with warmth, as intensify. Also Martin’s, that he wouldn’t want these Amontillados lukewarm.
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Mr. Asimov seems to have overlooked the glories of manzanilla pasada... which is allowed to remain under flor for an extended period of time, takes on a golden hue, and can retain the crispness and salinity of young manzanilla while developing rich and complex aromas and flavors of chamomile, white chocolate and grilled nuts. Equipo Navazos has bottled some great manzanilla pasada; Hidalgo recently released an anniversary bottling, which spent about 15 years in wood, to commemorate the establishment of the company in 1792.
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A so-so Manzanilla is an excellent sub for Chinese Shaohsing wine, which is used constantly in Chinese recipes.
You can find Shaohsing wine in Asian groceries, but I've never found it without salt added, and I haven't been able to mail order the real deal (saltless). So Manzanilla is the best substitute. Trust me!
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Good Morning: Found all 3. Selected Aurora & La Gitana because of their labels--the empty bottles will become great candlesticks. Isn't that how everybody buys wine?
Served La Gitana on July 5th with leftover fried chicken (one thigh cold, one reheated), potato salad, fresh tomatoes and radishes, grilled hearts of palm. No music this time; binged on Season 1 of Breaking Bad.
Color: brilliant straw gold, almost glows from within. Nose: Nutty, flor, steely, lemon, grassy, grapefruit, orange peel. Taste: same as nose, plus salty, floral, orange, peach, hint of vanilla (!). Texture: not as sharp as other Manzanillas, almost velvety. Temperature: as it warmed, no new flavors emerged, but those already present grew even more intense.
*Might* have found a miraculous food/wine match: Manzanilla and cold fried chicken. Had marinated the thighs in buttermilk with salt, pepper, garlic, chipotle powder, ground Aleppo chilis, smoked paprika and a surprise; smoked cinnamon (from NYC's La Boîte a Epices). Also complemented and improved the reheated thigh, potato salad and all of the vegetables, so yes, Manzanilla has amazing versatility. But Manzanilla and cold fried chicken--wow. Just. Wow. Hope you all have the chance to try one of the 3 Ms with any kind of fried chicken dish this month.
Already a sherry fan; now a big sherry fan.
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Next attempt the Aurora versus “La Gitana” with Bittman’s Shrimp in Green Sauce and Jamon Iberico and other home assembled tapas. Just when I thought I figured out the Manzinalla this one tasted more of chamomile to me. I liked “La Gitana” better it was taking a middle position between the Chamomille Aurora and the super savory Deliciosa En Rama. None of these wines I would like to drink lukewarm. I did my best to keep them between 9 and 11C (48 and 52F), the temperatures recommended on the Equipo Navaros website. The flavors of these wines are still crystal clear at these temperatures (I think the lack of sugar helps here: No increased viscosity at lower temperatures, no impact on the taste).
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The first thing coming to my mind while tasting the Hidalgo ‘La Gitana’ is that it tastes like the sea, its bold umami flavors were in love with the salty, briny, tangy green olives mixed with anchovy filets. I found the name Manzanilla confusing. Apparently it translates into Chamomile tea. While other Finos have a lot in common with cold unsweetened Chamomile tea (the standard remedy for an upset stomach in my childhood) this Manzanilla has departed towards more Worchestershire-sauce type aromas. It was bolder than the Finos I know and I loved it, excellent with marcona almonds, grilled shrimp and anchovy-olive mix. I thought it would be perfect to be consumed well chilled in a Tapas Bar at the sea side. Maybe Manzanilla and Fino relate to each other like Greenland and Iceland (Iceland being green and Greenland icy)
The Valdespino Deliciosa En Rama was even more on the savory side I liked it best of all three. At the time it was striking me as an aged white wine with a nutty quality to it. I found its smell mouthwatering. Since it is unfiltered or less filtered now I think maybe the yeast is what brings the savory umami flavors. Maybe the seaside climate helps the yeast grow better or differently?
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@Martin Schappeit
Yes, Manzanilla is chamomile tea.
As a raving insomniac, I was very concerned when a Mexican girlfriend served me some late one night. She assured me it contained no caffeine. I was dubious.
But there it was at the supermarket for the undocumented, "Manzanilla" and in very small print "chamomile."
Amontillado always reminds me of the look of shock and delight by the military man in the film, "Babbette's Feast."
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If you have a cool place to store manzanilla and, for that matter, any dry sherry, store it there. The refrigerator should be a last resort, and if the bottle is refrigerator cold, best let it sit for maybe twenty minutes at room temperature, because refrigerator cold tends to dull the wine and sherry should be anything but dull.
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There is always a bottle of the Barbadillo in this house and my local store had Los Arcos and the Hildalgo. This month will be easy.
Eric wrote: “store them in... a cool place.”
Before opening?! Uh oh.