Barrero Sanchez Ayala 'Gabriela' Manzanilla 375ml
Sanchez Ayala’s trademark wine ‘Gabriela’ Manzanilla was named after a world famous singer and dancer of the late 19th Century, Gabriela Ortega Feira. It harks back to a time when the culture and the wines of Jerez and Sanlucar de Barrameda were the height of European fashion. The wines have definitely fallen from grace since then but the core identity of Gabriela Manzanilla remains very much the same. The wine has always been produced from the bodegas’ own parcel in the Balbaina vineyard which lies on the road between Puerto de Santa Maria and Jerez de la Frontera, The vineyard is planted on pure Albariza chalk but it is close enough to the coast to be heavily influenced by the Poniente winds blowing off the Atlantic. The result is a vineyard that should show characteristic chalkiness alongside a lighter, more delicate palate than vineyards like Macharnudo which lie closer to Jerez. Grapes from Sanchez Ayala’s parcel are handled in house, fermented with indigenous yeasts before being transferred to soleras for aging. Sanchez Ayala’s style revolves around the position of their bodega, with the floor of the aging halls sitting more than a meter below sea level and the edge of the bodega less than 400 meters from the ocean, the solera’s here develop especially thick, rich flors. This in turn allows for aging exclusively in larger format 880L botas and much lengthier aging for the base wines. Manzanilla Gabriela, the youngest wine, is released with a minimum of five years aging under flor. After aging the wines are lightly filtered prior to bottling. They do not use the term ‘En Rama’ to describe Manzanilla Gabriela but the similarity between Gabriela’s house style and other Manzanilla En Rama’s is immediately obvious, these are textured and full flavoured sherries, made in an artisan manner, they are also incredibly good value drinking.
