This week Jerez played host to “Vinoble“. It’s the world’s only wine fair dedicated to noble and fortified wines. The “salón”, as it’s called here, started last Sunday, ended Wednesday and happens every second year. As wine fairs go, it’s not very big, but this is made up for by the many interesting wines and the beautiful setting. The stands were laid out in the formal San Fernando gardens and inside the Villavicencio Palace, all within Jerez’s moorish fortress – the Alcázar. The nature of sweet and fortified wines means many of the producers were small, boutique, family-owned, experimental and passionate. I was very lucky to be given a couple of tickets for the trade days by a good friend here in Jerez. It’s a pity I didn’t have the time to try every one of the wines being exhibited.

As I arrived on the first day I bumped into a local mate, Stuart. This was fortunate as it’s so much better having someone to compare notes with. As a student in Scotland, Stuart used to work in wine merchants so knows his stuff. He also has all the WSET certificates under his belt.

Trying not to go off piste too soon, I’ll write about the sherries first. Two of the sherries sampled stand out for me because their palate was so unexpectedly different to anything suggested on the nose.

The first is the Lustau 1989 Añada, an age-dated sherry, which in itself is unusual. Everything on the nose pointed to a dry oloroso. Nutty and woody with faint aldehyde character. On the palate however, it was sweet, smooth, full and warm with flavours of dates and almonds.

The second wine, the Bodegas Tradición Palo Cortado Muy Viejo, was the opposite. This 32-year-old wine had a soft nutty nose with a certain sweetness, possibly a hint of honey. On the palate it was bone dry, almost salty, with woody and toasted flavours.

Lustau make one of my favourite finos, which we also tried. Puerto Fino. Its nose reminds me of roasted and salted sunflower seeds. My friend Stuart didn’t like this aroma and described it quite differently! It had a smooth, silky mouthfeel, which was matched by a refreshing acidity. Flavours in the mouth were hazelnuts and a slight saltiness. The only other wine we tried at the Lustau stand was their East India Solera, a dark-brown sweet sherry smelling of nuts and dried figs with just a suggestion of something savoury and salty, Bovril perhaps? In the mouth it was sweet, full bodied, complex and balanced, with flavours of nuts, wood and caramel.

Rey Fernando de Castilla make a very interesting fino viejo called Antique Fino. Some of their fino butts selected for inclusion in the amontillado solera are bottled under this label. It’s a fino from butts where the flor has become patchy and a bit of oxidation has crept in, adding a touch of amber to the appearance and a nuttyness and fullness on the nose and in the mouth. For comparison we tried their Classic Fino, a pale lemon colour, green apples and straw on the nose and dry, flinty flavours in the mouth. Of their other wines we tried the Antique Amontillado which had quite strong aldehyde character on the nose, slightly medicinal with iodine aromas. In the mouth it was nutty, woody and salty with a long dry finish. Their Antique Palo Cortado had less aldehyde on the nose and a hint of caramel in the mouth. We were fortunate to speak with the owner of Fernando de Castilla, Jan Pettersen, and his commercial director Andrés Soto. They are a small company aiming high and it shows. Their wines and brandy are first class. Yes, brandy, because Mr Petterson kindly poured us a slug of that too. I don’t know which of their bradies it was, but it had a clean, fresh nose with aromas of apple and oak. On the mouth it was soft, smooth and dry with a long dry finish. Very nice!

More about other sherries in my next post, also the South African stickies and other assorted sweets at Vinoble…