La Bota de Fino No 18. Macharnudo Alto NV
Spanish Sherry

Wine Tasting Notes:
La Bota de Fino (18) "Macharnudo Alto" is a new release—extracted in December 2009—of the soleras that already yielded similar ventures in June 2006, April 2007, and June 2008. As always, our aim has been to reflect with as much authenticity as possible the essence of the wide array of soleras and criaderas of the oldest and most complex fino available in the centuries-old Valdespino cellars, in this case as of autumn 2009.

For this purpose we have chosen from three different groups of butts—in almost identical proportion: solera butts whose average age is 10 ½ years, with a wine marked by a hint of oxidation and the fat derived from the autolysis of “flor” yeasts; second-criadera butts of average age 8 ½ where the wine is closer to the apex of biological ageing and therefore shows a pleasantly pungent nose; and finally first-criadera wines whose character and average age are somewhere in between the other two.

Valdespino is one of the few Sherry houses, if not the only one, that still today lets its finos ferment following a traditional practice: in the butts where they are to remain afterwards to complete the biological ageing process under the veil of flor. Much of the credit of this achievement must be given to Maribel Estévez, one of the owners as well as oenologist in this House.

La Bota de Fino “Macharnudo Alto” is also a terroir wine, since its scales are refilled exclusively with musts from the Macharnudo Alto vineyard, a truly privileged terroir to the north of Jerez, in the best area of the mythical Pago Macharnudo, that has belonged to Valdespino for centuries.

This is a wine for connoisseurs, bottled unfiltered in order to preserve its intense color and racy character. It can be enjoyed upon release, but its evolution in bottle will continue to delight consumers for quite a while, provided it is carefully stored. Some of us fondly remember bottles of this wine opened after 35 and 45 years of storage.

It performs best at temperatures ranging from 9/10º C, where it shows a lighter and fresher profile, to 14/15º C, where it fully displays its complex and rich aromatic range. On the table it is a most versatile wine: scargots a la llauna, lamb sweetbreads al ajillo, red tuna sushi, cap i pota, fried fresh bocartes, sférico olives…