Manzanilla La Guita

Bodegas Hijos de Rainera Pérez Marín, founded in Sanlúcar de Barrameda in 1852, has been known as La Guita from the start. This Manzanilla is made from Palomino grown on the bright albariza chalk soils around the lower Guadalquivir, where the cool, humid Atlantic air of Sanlúcar shapes the wine. The maritime climate sustains a thick layer of flor, the film of yeast that grows on the wine in part-filled American oak butts and protects it from oxygen. Roughly four years of biological ageing under flor through the criaderas and soleras system strips the wine of glycerine, consumes acetaldehyde and leaves the saline, bone-dry character typical of Manzanilla. The flor also contributes the bready, almond-like aroma that marks these wines. The colour is pale lemon yellow with greenish reflections. The nose is very fresh, with chamomile, green apple and a salty, yeasty lift, while the palate is light, dry and persistent, finishing on almond and a coastal salinity. Serve well chilled at around 7 to 9 degrees in a white wine glass, ideally fresh from a recently opened bottle.