Bodegas Poniente Fino

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This rare Fino is named after the Poniente winds, cool and humid Atlantic western winds. Following the arc of history, winemaker Alberto Orte embraces his family’s rich tradition of solera system wines from Montilla-Moriles to create this unparalleled project from El Aljibe. Poniente sherries are the product of the thoughtful blending of precious, treasured soleras and criaderas from the 18th and 19th centuries, refreshed in the traditional method each year with wine from our own organically farmed estate vineyards (San Cristóbal, San José y El Aljibe) in the Pago Añina, one of only three Pago sites in Jerez designated as Jerez Superior. The wines are produced and aged in our historical estate, a restored house tucked among the vines of El Aljibe.

WHAT MAKES THIS WINE UNIQUE?

This Fino comes from a system of four criaderas and one solera, with a median age of over 8 years. The wines used to refresh the fourth criadera comes from our organically-farmed estate vineyards in the Pago Añina, from a meticulous clonal selection of more than 200 ancient and mostly forgotten clones of Palomino. The first saca (bottling) of this wine occurred after 2 years resting in the winery before bottling and release.

RATING HISTORY:

NV 94+WA, 93JS, 93 IWR, 91D

GRAPE:

100% Palomino

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS:

We recommend serving chilled in a white wine glass, starting around 45F with optimal consumption reaching 54F. A gentle decanting will help the wine express itself more swiftly. This wine was neither clarified nor stabilized, only lightly filtered before bottling. One may also age this wine in a temperature-controlled cellar. The qualities that develop with time will differ from the young wine, gradually deepening the secondary characteristics and losing the more primary “biological” notes.

VINIFICATION AND AGING:

This Fino comes from a system of four criaderas and one solera, with a median age of over 8 years. The wines used to refresh the fourth criadera comes from our organically-farmed estate vineyards in the Pago Añina, from a meticulous clonal selection of more than 200 ancient and mostly forgotten clones of Palomino. The first saca (bottling) of this wine occurred after 2 years resting in the winery before bottling and release.

LOCATION, SOIL, CLIMATE:

The wines are produced from estate vineyards (San Cristóbal, San José y El Aljibe) in the Pago Añina, and aged at our historical estate, a restored house tucked among the vines of El Aljibe. Jerez is one of the most southerly growing regions and is known for hot dry summers mitigated by the Atlantic Ocean influence. The growing season, spring and summer, are marked by the influence of the Poniente (cool and humid westerly wind) and the Levante (hot and dry wind from the south east). The area receives a predominately high exposure of sunlight hours ranging from 3,000 to 3,200 a season. During the fall winter an average of 600 meters (almost 2,000 ft) of heavy rains drench the parched white loam of chalk and clay known as albariza, which forms a crust and locks in the moisture for summer reserves.

TASTING NOTES:

This is golden in color. It feels old, complex, developed and with volume, with classical aromas and a bone-dry palate. Superb! - Luis Gutiérrez

ALCOHOL CONTENT:

15%

UPC CODE:

8437015799773

BOTTLE WEIGHT:

1.4 lbs (.65 kg)