Valdespino Deliciosa Manzanilla en Rama

Valdespino Deliciosa Manzanilla en Rama comes from Valdespino, one of the oldest bodegas in Andalusia, with roots traced to a fourteenth-century land grant in Jerez de la Frontera. It is made from Palomino grown on the chalky albariza soils of the Jerez region, whose pale limestone holds winter rain and reflects sunlight through the dry summer. The base wine is fortified to around 15 percent and aged biologically under a veil of flor yeast in the criaderas and soleras of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where the cool, humid Atlantic air keeps the flor active all year. The flor consumes oxygen and feeds on the wine, protecting it from oxidation and giving Manzanilla its pale colour, fresh attack and saline edge. This one spends six years under flor and is bottled en rama, lightly filtered to keep more of the bodega character. The wine is pale and bright in the glass, with chamomile, green almond and a yeasty, dough-like note. The palate is dry and direct, fresh and saline with green apple and lemon through a crisp finish. Serve cold at 7 to 9 degrees in a white-wine glass.