Wines

94 points Wine Advocate
Barbadillo is somehow a specialist in Palo Cortado, and they now offer a younger, gentler and more straightforward NV Palo Cortado Criadera Selection from the stock in La Cilla, where they keep their Palo Cortado. It's an elegant oxidative wine, with an average age of 14 years, with a peachy nose, gentle and tender, but with a more saline and sharper palate with a bitter twist in the finish. It has an Oloroso nose and an Amontillado palate. 906 bottles were filled in March 2024.
100% Palomino o sourced from particularly fine musts and aged primarily oxidatively for a total average of between 10-15 years in old American-oak botas o sourced from criaderas in the Sacristía bodega o bottled en rama (minimal filtration)

Organic / Biodynamic

50% Garnacha blanca 50% Tempranillo blanco

Near Sojuela, at an altitude of 800 metres, lies the Cañada Real Galiana, where sheep on transhumance stopped to drink at an ancient spring of crystal-clear water before beginning the ascent towards Soria and across the Moncalvillo mountain. Made with Trempranillo Blanco and Garnacha Blanca grapes, this is a clean and fresh wine, full of aromatic nuances with hints of the fruits and flowers that mark this shepherds' route. A white wine different from the typical Rioja ones.

Organic

60% Pinot Noir 40% Chardonnay
12 to 18 months Champagne method.
Long lees contact.
Minimal Dosage.

95-96 points Wine Advocate
I love the 2021 Flor de Pingus, a more ethereal vintage that is very harmonious. A co-fermentation of some 3% Garnacha with Tempranillo, it's an elegant wine in the style of 2018 and 2016, subtle and very balanced, with elegant tannins that give it very good silkiness. It is focused and fresh and has a sense of harmony and very integrated oak.

95 points Vinous
The 2021 Flor de Pingus hails from several vineyards in La Horra, Ribera del Duero and spent 18 months in French oak barrels. Purple in hue. The complex, subtle aromas include sour cherry and blueberry intertwined with rose, herbs and garrigue hints. On the palate, it's dry and velvety, with a balanced, fairly intense, chalky character that's low on freshness but high on energy. This is a distinctive, delicious red that reflects a modern approach to Ribera.

94 points Wine Advocate
The 2019 San Vicente was produced with Tempranillo Peludo, a special strain of Tempranillo planted from a massale selection in 1985 in the village of San Vicente de la Sonsierra. Like all their reds (except the carbonic maceration ones), the destemmed grapes fermented in French oak vats, and the wine matured in new oak barrels (90% French, 10% American) for 20 months. This wine is quite regular, and I found similar wines in 2019 and 2018, the two vintages that I tasted together, combining power and elegance and juicy fruit with good ripeness but without excess and good acidity and balance and fine-grained tannins. - Luis Gutierrez,

One finca and one 18-hectare vineyard supply the Tempranillo fruit for this ultra modern, 90% new oak-aged red from clay-limestone soils at 580 metres. - Tim Atkin

95 points James Suckling
Ripe, tarry plums and black cherries with violets, rocks, coffee and graphite. Refined notes of balsamic fruit and cocoa powder, too. Full-bodied and juicy with an iron fist of tannins, yet at the same time so velvety and polished. Very long, focused finish, showing lots of finesse and layers. Drinkable now, but better after 2025.

94 points The Wine Advocate
The 2019 Alion was cropped from a drier vintage compared with the average, and the wines from that year tend to be powerful, concentrated and with structure. They shortened the maceration by 11 days and used concrete for part of the elevage, trying to reduce the impact from the oak in the wine. They define 2019 as a powerful, concentrated and juicy vintage, sensual and unctuous. The wine is ripe at 15% alcohol and has mellow acidity (4.4 grams) and a pH of 3.88, reflecting the warm and dry year that delivered powerful and concentrated wines, similar to the wines from 2015. It's quite fruit-driven, ripe and juicy, with abundant, slightly dusty tannins despite the limited pumping over they did to avoid extracting too much, and the maceration was also shortened. 256,526 bottles, 7,005 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in June 2021

"The NV Palo Cortado Obispo Gascon, produced from Palomino grapes averaging 20 years old, and shows the telltale nose of Palo Cortado with its lactic touch and an off-dry nose of apricots, blond tobacco and spices. The palate is dominated by the salty notes (common to all Barbadillo wines), sharp, medium-bodied, with great length. Drink 2013-2019." 92pts WA

The Palo Cortado sherries are particularly special within the Jerez-Xèrés-Sherry Designation of Origin. This is because despite the fact that production follows the similar physical-chemical process of oxidative ageing as with the olorosos, the result is quite different with their organoleptic characteristics falling somewhere between those of an amontillado and an oloroso.

Barbadillo is, without a doubt, both the largest and the leading bodega of Sanlucar de Barrameda. Created in 1821 by Benigno Barbadillo, the company it’s still owned today by the seventh generation of the Barbadillo family, dozens of stockholders spread throughout Spain, although not necessarily involved in the operations. The business has also expanded, not only within the Sherry district, where they sell an impressive 12 million bottles of wine annually (a lot of it is the young and fruity Castillo de San Diego, which at one point was the biggest selling white wine in Spain), 40% of which are exported, but also in Ribera del Duero and Somontano. They employ 300 people and their wines are available in 39 different countries. In Sherry they own 500 hectares of vineyards, stock around 60% of the total production of Manzanilla which ages in 12,500 botas in their great cellars in Sanlucar, mainly in La Arboledilla winery, the tallest bodega in the Marco de Jerez, an impressive 16 meters high, and in a network of 16 other large and small bodegas in the Barrio Alto, the High Quarter of Sanlucar de Barrameda. They are constantly innovating and experimenting, be it with red or sparkling wines or within the Manzanilla world, as they were the first to bottle Manzanilla en rama (unfiltered) back in 1999, doing four sacas (bottlings) per year, one during each season, which they sell in half bottles with labels that clearly identify the saca and year. Other than that, their range is pretty exhaustive, from entry level wines, through VORS and an exclusive Reliquia range from the oldest, family-owned botas, some of them containing wines averaging 80 to 100 years old. As a curiosity, they probably stock more Palo Cortado than any other winery (on earth),120 casks, as the famous Toto Barbadillo had an obsession with that category and purchased all he could get his hands on. I had a great visit there with winemaker Montse Molina who arrived in Sanlucar from her native Cataluna 15 years ago and she has not looked back since. Tasting wines from the bota, listening to a knowledgeable winemaker and realizing how different and how complex the wines are is one of the pleasures one should experience at least once in a lifetime.

Organic

Spontaneous fermentation in stainless tanks with native yeasts. Aged in stainless tanks for a few short months before bottling

95 points Wine Advocate
The classical 2016 Imperial Gran Reserva was produced with a blend of 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo from grapes that were picked between October 10 and 25 with good ripeness, delivering a wine with 14.5% alcohol after fermenting in small oak vats followed by malolactic in concrete and two years in barrel and three in bottle. I was quite surprised, because the wine was quite closed and needed energetic swirling and time in the glass to reveal its true colors. It has more stuffing and finesse than the reserva. 2016 was a very good vintage, with freshness and balance to develop nicely in bottle. The tannins are very fine, and the wine is tasty and long.

Gonzalez Byass is one of the greatest, historical names in Sherry (and Brandy), as well as the largest in Jerez, and the Tio Pepe brand and image one of the icons of Spain, and the best selling Fino in the world stored in an impressive solera of 30,000 botas. Gonzales-Byass was founded in Jerez in 1835 by 23-year-old entrepreneur Manuel Maria Gonzalez, who exported the first cask of Tio Pepe to London in 1844. Gonzalez was advised by an uncle of his, a man called Jose Angel de la Pena. Uncle Jose had a small bodega with his own solera of Fino, which had direct access to the street as he liked to come and go as he fancied. People called Jose are often nicknamed Pepe in Spain, so the solera of uncle Jose (tio means uncle), or uncle Pepe gave name to the famous Tio Pepe brand. The original bodega del Tio Pepe still exists, is in use today, and in fact holds some of the best botas of Tio Pepe Fino. Gonzalez took different partners, and the company changed names a number of times, like Manuel Maria Gonzalez & Cia or Gonzalez & Dubosc. In 1855, the year the people of Bordeaux were really busy making the classification of their chateaux, Gonzalez sold some company shares to his importers and distributors in the UK, Robert Blake Byass. The name of the company was definitely set to Gonzalez Byass & Co., which has been kept till the present day. Today the fifth generation of the Gonzalez family still own and manage the company. Through the years the company and its holdings have been greatly expanded, and the winery today is akin to a small town of 37 hectares, as it has incorporated some of the streets that connected the different bodegas, La Constancia, La Concha (a unique round bodega attributed to Gustav Eiffel), Los Apostoles, La Cuadrada, and the more recent Gran Bodega Tio Pepe, Las Copas or Marques de Bonanza. As a curiosity, if you visit their premises you?????ll be able to see the largest working weathervane on earth, in the shape of a bottle of Tio Pepe!

Organic / Biodynamic

97 points Wine Advocate
The 2021 Ponce has a moderate 12.5% alcohol, lower than the 2022 that I also tasted next to it, which references a cooler year in which he decided to age the wine in 600-liter oak barrels, which allowed him to include smaller lots into the final blend. It feels very young and lively, a wine that is going to age nicely in bottle. It has an expressive nose combining floral, berry and herbal notes...
Drinking Window: 2024-2034

Organic / Biodynamic / Natural

85% Cartoixà (aka Xarel•lo), 15% Macabeu
Making of: the grapes are destemmed and pressed. After settling (debourbage) for 24 hours, the clear must is racked into and stainless steel tanks, where it ferments naturally for 18-20 days at low temperatures (around 14-15ºC). The wine spends 9 months in tanks with weekly lees-stirring (batonnage) to obtain a lush, smooth texture. No fining or filtration, no sulfur added.

Personality: a mixture of yellow peach, apricots and tropical fruits like pineapple, lychee and papaya. Generous, well-structured palate with zesty citrus freshness. A wine to enjoy every day, on its own or with light dishes like salads, fish, or vegetables.

The Celler 9+ vineyards are located only a few kilometers from the Mediterranean coast and benefit from its warm and mild climate – there’s enough rainfall, and the constant breeze called Marinada cools off and dries the grapes, helping them to stay healthy and ripen evenly.

The farm focuses on indigenous grapes and maximum sustainability. As Celler 9+’s winemaker asserts, "Our philosophy is that the future will be environmentally friendly and sustainable … or there won’t be one at all."

Organic / Biodynamic

60% Tempranillo and 40% Garnach blended from multiple parcels. Vinified seperately in order to get a fresh, and “fluid” wine. A mix of saignee and direct press.

94 points Wine Advocate
Even the 2022 La Vizcaína La Vitoriana shows the effect of the warm and dry year with a darker color and higher ripeness and alcohol. It has notes of dark cherries and plums. It's under 13% alcohol, but the sensation of the wine is of higher ripeness. It has a juicy and velvety palate with fine tannins. 10.000 bottles produced

Organic / Natural

60% Pinot Noir, 40% Syrah

Raul Moreno spent a few years working at iconic domaines including Domaine Dujac. Focusing on organic farming and sourcing old vines, Raul makes wines that redefine what is possible in Jerez.

Organic / Biodynamic / Natural

100% Single Vineyard Tempranillo; 21 months in barrel & 24 months in bottle

"Very deep colour; clean and bright. Intense cherry and purple glints. Very complex and elegant nose, red and black ripe fruits (cherry, mulberry) between complex tertiary aging aromas like liquorice, coffee, vanilla, roasted, leather and tobacco, with a characteristic mineral touch. Very elegant and velvety. With the same aromas founded in nose, complex. Ripe fruit, coffee, liquorice, leather, wood and roasted." Winemaker Notes

What: Pedro Ximenez

Where: Sherry, Spain

Why: Because for the money this is one of the most intense PX?????s we?????ve ever tasted. Why? Lets start with honeyed raisins, oranges and almonds. Then there?????s chocolate and coffee and figs. But that?????s just the sugar talking. After those candied notes hit you they give way to salt, herbs, coffee grounds, tar and licorice. The flavor show does not stop... ever.

94 points Wine Spectaor
A fresh, graceful red, with dense, sculpted tannins creating good tension while finding fine integration with a lovely range of ripe black plum and black cherry, cured tobacco, balsamico and minerally iron and tar notes. Firm and racy on the lasting, spiced finish. Tempranillo, Graciano and Mazuelo. Best from 2025 through 2035. 4,166 cases made, 500 cases imported

91 points James Suckling
A juicy and expressive garnacha with ripe plums and spiced cherries. Sappy and ripe with lots of tart cherries and strawberries. A hint of coffee and vanilla in the medium-long finish.

90 points Wine Spectator
A bold but balanced red, leading with aromatic tar and black licorice notes that are well-meshed with raspberry ganache, mocha, dried thyme, fresh orange peel acidity and supple tannins.

93+ points Wine Advocate
The 2013 Viña Bosconia Reserva even in a cooler and rainier year, like 2013, has a rounder body and still 13.5% alcohol. They also insisted that "remember that we can use 15% of wine from another vintage, and perhaps we topped this one up with wine from 2015. We want consistency year after year." This matured in barrels for five years and was bottled unfiltered but fined with egg whites. It's expressive, elegant and subtle, clean and complex, with polished tannins and very good acidity (pH 3.3 and 6.7 grams of tartaric acid per liter of wine).

92 points Wine Advocate
There is a new range of not-so-old wines from different styles, like the NV Oloroso Criadera Selection, a gentler and younger wine with around 20% alcohol. It was produced from the soleras and criaderas dynamic style of blending vintages, and it aged in topped-up barrels without flor in an oxidative style. This is a little darker and younger than the Amontillado and Palo Cortado, gentle, with a peachy nose with some spiciness from the old wood, low-pitched, wider and warm. It's tasty and long. Only 690 bottles were produced. It was bottled in December 2023.

100% Palomino o sourced from particularly fine musts and aged primarily oxidatively for a total average of between 10-15 years in old American-oak botas o sourced from criaderas in the Sacristía bodega o bottled en rama (minimal filtration)

Organic

95 points Wine Advocate
There is a change in the 2022 La Canoca, as this year it's no longer a single-vineyard wine but a paraje, or lieu-dit, wine that includes more plots from the same place. Therefore, volumes have grown from 500 bottles in the previous vintage to 3,200 in 2022. This is surprisingly fresh, harmonious and elegant, getting closer to the character of the 2021s, closer than any of the other 2022s. It slowly opened up in the glass to floral notes, hints of wild herbs and crushed stones. The palate is solid and complete, with fine, chalky tannins and a long and tasty finish. It was bottled in September 2023.

Jose currently farms 5 hectares of vines located in the villages of San Vicente, Labastida, and Briones. Practices are manual and organic although he is not certified. The vines range in age from 5 to 130 years old with the majority Tempranillo, a small percentage of Viura. The oldest vineyard plots are co-planted with tiny percentages of other grape varieties which include Garnacha and Palomino. When the grapes reach the cellar after being harvested by hand, they are fermented either whole-cluster, or partially destemmed. All fermentations are by indigenous yeasts and extraction is gentle. After pressing the wines are racked into 225-300L French oak barrels and transported to the aging cellar in San Vicente.

Organic / Natural / No Added Sulfites

100% Trepat made in a crushable light red style. Make sure to put a chill on it!