MARUJA MANZANILLA PASADA by JUAN PINERO

Wine description

Terroir

Vinification

Awards

Criticism

Luis Gutiérrez, Robert Parker's wine critic, writes:

Last time I tasted the normal wine and this time I got the NV Manzanilla Pasada Maruja, which comes from a single vineyard, the Pago del Hornillo in Sanlúcar. This is a new wine on the market; the second "saca" I have ever tasted. The best barrels of Maruja are selected and set aside; it has an average age of 12-15 years and some barrels still develop a thin layer of flavour for a short time. The barrels are not completely filled, but the empty space is quite small, so the oxidation is also quite gentle. It is very concentrated and spicy with strong flavours and pronounced bitterness. The wine is sharp and very dry; it tastes like seawater, i.e. salty and vertical. They produce about 2,000 half-litre bottles a year, about 1,000 litres a year, which is the limit they charge to keep the old age average of the wine.

Last time I tasted a few of Juan Piñero's wines, most notably the Manzanilla Maruja, and now I've tasted a whole range of wines that are not currently exported to the US. Juan Piñero bought an old "bodega" from the early 20th century in Sanlúcar in 1995 and acquired the Maruja-Solera from Terry. He worked as an "almacenista" and sold his wines mainly to La Gitana, but has recently started bottling and selling his wines. They have ageing facilities in Sanlúcar for the Manzanilla and in Jerez for the Fino. They do not have their own vineyards, but buy the must from Pago del Hornillo - a renowned winery in Sanlúcar. They store 3,000 old sherry casks, which are between 40 and 100 years old, and produce an average of 50,000 bottles per year.