Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana Manzanilla Sherry | 75 cl

Product Information

In recent years the family also started a restaurant chain and bought a wine bodega in the Rioja area, but most of these activities have been closed down and their focus is now on sherry again. They also produce brandy Fabuloso, vinegar, Ponche liqueur and table wine. Manzanilla En Rama is sherry at its very best – lightly filtered, unfined, pure free run juice directly from the barrel! Made from 100% Palomino grapes grown on white albariza soils at Hidalgo’s highest quality vineyards of Balbaina and Miraflores, this Manzanilla is released in extremely limited quantities (only 35 barrels of the solera are used) and can be considered the best value sherry in the world.

the fresh-as-daisies, natural yeasts, honest and elemental style of Manzanilla. This is a bone dry, palate-invigorating, sharply tangy sherry….”Intense, complex and balanced on the nose, this En Rama has a wonderful salty character influenced by the close proximity of the cellars in Sanlúcar de Barrameda to the sea (only 300m away) as well as the altitude of the Balbaina vineyard (110m). Matured using the traditional “Criaderas y Solera” process in American oak casks, under a layer of “flor” integrated by the yeasts, the wine is intensely gold with green tints.

The operations of Hidalgo – La Gitana are old-fashioned in a positive way, in times when most other bodegas have been modernized. First of all, it is a true family business (sixth successive generation) and one of very few remaining independent. Secondly, it still relies on its own vineyards in two of the best pagos: Balbaína – in between the sea and Jerez – and Miraflores, the great Sanlúcar vineyard. They own about 170 hectares in total – all organically farmed. Special releases like the Oloroso 1986, a vintage sherry from 12 old barrels filled in 1986 from the El Cuadrado vineyard. The wine matured for 20 years in the San Francisco bodega and 2800 bottles were filled in 2007. The grapes come from Hidalgo’s vineyards in the pagos Miraflores and Balbaina. Its solera system was founded in the early 19th century, the period in which the name Manzanilla started to appear as a specific product. It is made up of 14 scales, with a high refreshment rate and an average age at the time of bottling of around five years. Usually en rama releases come from a specific selection of casks, sometimes a bit older than the general release, but I couldn’t find any information about this for La Gitana En Rama. Just tasted…. La Gitana Manzanilla En Rama, Bottled 2020, If you can’t get to sunny Spain then the latest Manzanilla ‘EnRama’ release is the next best thing. Freshly bottled, straight from the cask, this is a bitingly crisp, salty, complex, light textured wine, at only 15 percent alcohol. It is a perfect summertime aperitif, ideally served with salted nuts and jamón"Manzanilla La Gitana En Rama, 300 bottles were released in 2011 for the first time. Since then two sacas a year. Hard to obtain.