Manzanilla en rama Solear - birds of a feather (and a mouse)

For me the Solear en rama are the real jewel in the Barbadillo crown, one of my favourite wines and one of the most influential, important releases in the recent history of the sherry triangle.

They are a fascinating wine in themselves, a manzanilla with an average of 10 years under flor in an unspecified number of classes (the manzanilla term for criaderas) in a gigantic solera of 13,050 botas spread across five different bodegas. Barbadillo’s master winemaker Montse Molina has been releasing 100 magnums and an unspecified number of half bottles every season of every year since 2009. They were the first major release of en ramas and the seasonal sacas were revolutionary, providing a very useful insight into the action of the flor. In general, the winter and spring sacas benefit from more vigorous flor, while the summer and autumn sacas less so. When you add in variations in climate from year to year and season to season it can be remarkable how differently the wines - all from the same solera and bodega - show.

A really nice detail is that they decorate the label with the images of the local wildlife - a different species of bird or animal every saca. It is a tribute to the Doñana national park that you can literally see across the river from Sanlucar - one of the great wild spaces in Spain and one that to a large extent owes its survival to the naturalist tendencies of previous generations of winemakers.

The result is a beautiful collection in every sense - the wine itself is fantastic and the differences between sacas generate expectation time after time. The labels are attractive individually and together even more so. I have only been at them for the last four years and only started taking notes in the last couple of years, but already I have a nice little collection.

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From left to right we have:

• Winter 2013 aka Blacktailed Godwit - (preblog and no TN);
• Autumn 2014 aka Stonechat - (preblog and no TN);
• Winter 2014 aka the Serin/Siskin - Solear en rama – Saca de Invierno 2014  | undertheflor.com;
• Spring 2015 aka the Golden Oriole - Solear en rama – Saca de Primavera 2015 | undertheflor.com;
• Summer 2015 aka Rednecked Nightjar - Solear en rama – Saca de Verano 2015 | undertheflor.com;
• Autumn 2015 aka the Dormouse - Manzanilla en rama Solear autumn 2015 – again again | undertheflor.com;
• Winter 2015 aka the Razorbill - Manzanilla en rama Solear – saca de invierno 2015  | undertheflor.com;
• Spring 2016 aka the Roller - Solear en rama spring 2016 | undertheflor.com

As you can see it is one of the wines I try most regularly (many of them I have written two or three notes about). I have also had a chance to taste them alongside other wines.
• First - against a very different wine - one of Equipo Navazos’ “Fino que va para amontillado” - El fino que va para amontillado vs Solear en Rama | undertheflor.com
• Second - against two differnt styles of manzanilla - Three Manzanillas | undertheflor.com
• Last, and tonight, the latest two sacas against each other - Manzanilla Monday head to head | undertheflor.com - something I am going to come back to in future.

Really a fantastic series of wines - if you get a chance to try them and, even better, collect them, I really recommend it.[ResizeableImage=][/ResizeableImage]

Andrew, help me understand your comment about collecting these a bit better. I thought En Rama wines should be consumed as fresh as possible rather than cellaring. I’m pretty new to sherry, so am definitely interested in learning more.

The original idea of the en rama was, absolutely, for immediate consumption, and there is no doubt they are great in those first weeks. There is a lot of marketing aimed at that: “like it raw” etc.

However, neither is there any doubt that finos and manzanillas have potential for bottle ageing (I am not the expert but have had a couple of wines with a long time in the bottle, like this one - Terry Fino Maruja | undertheflor.com) and there are many who believe that the unfiltered wines have even more potential.

I personally haven’t kept enough of these Solear long and don’t have old bottles to taste, but recently had an absolute gem of an AB en rama from 2012 - Manzanilla Sacristia AB – 2a saca 2012 | undertheflor.com - and I have definitely seen enough of the effects of bottle on manzanilla pasadas and palomino table wines to believe it. (The old boys down there in the sherry triangle say the fruit goes “down mountain” and becomes spices and you can definitely see where they are coming from.)

Will they get better than they were in those first few weeks? Hard to say, but they will definitely evolve. There is only one way to find out, so I will get back to you in a couple of years (I really need a larger wine cabinet).

Came back to these this week for a couple of head to heads - last Monday the Winter 15 vs Spring 16 - Manzanilla Monday head to head | undertheflor.com - where I was certain I detected slight differences (a more mineral spring compared to a more vegetable winter). The differences were even more pronounced at the weekend when I finished them off - The three last glasses | undertheflor.com

Was a timely exercise in fact because in his big report on Jerez and Montilla on Friday Luis G doubted whether there was justification for tasting different sacas. I can certainly see his point, but there is no doubt that there are differences between the wines.

Just a postscript/update on this - the Summer 2016 is now out and is absolutely brilliant - highly recommended.

TN here: Manzanilla en rama Solear Summer 2016  | undertheflor.com
Also updated the “group” post: Solear en rama: the flock | undertheflor.com

And now the Autumn 2016 is available - Manzanilla Solear en Rama, Autumn 2016 | undertheflor.com
This really is one of the outstanding sherry releases and one I look for regularly. Would be fascinated to hear if this ever makes it over there to the States

I brought a bottle of the Verano 2016 back from Spain and it was absolutely stunning. Intensely flavorful, although perhaps that’s just because I don’t get to drink en rama sherries as young here in the States

It really is stunning - the summer saca has been taken from the solera after a period of great stress for the flor, so there is oxidation and concentration that you don’t get in the others. And that on top of the Solear en rama - the most powerfully flavoured of the manzanilla en ramas, and one that is strictly speaking a manzanilla pasada. I am really glad you enjoyed it!

I’ve a bottle of Valdespino Inocente with a driven cork. Perhaps pre-WWII. I’ve asked various people about it. I’m expecting something very interesting.

I have some Solear en Rama arriving next week, but not sure if it’s the spring or fall saca. I think the former, but I’m looking forward to trying it nonetheless!

How much does it differ from the regular Solear? Day and night difference?

Solear itself has six years under flor amd is sharp and vertical: the chalk and celery flavours are there, but it is a sharp, direct wine. The En Rama is only a couple of years older - seems to be on the cusp of oxidation - but being unfiltered (and from selected botas) has a much more pronounced intensity of flavour packed in. (Also being on that borderline between flor and oxidation the effect of the seasonal sacas can be pronounced - the flor suffers more in the summer and the wine gets more oxidation and autolysis, less flor action, in winter the opposite etc.) In short: there really is a lot more to it.

Thanks Andrew! I got mine very cheaply and it, possibly unfairly, suffers in my estimations accordingly. From your description the En Rama version does look like a big step up in quality. I’ll look out for it in future!

No, Solear is not at the same level as the En Rama but what you say is right - the very fact that it is so cheap conditions the way that you think about it.

I still love it though

Yes indeed - it is still a cracking wine at that price, and if it is all you can get then well worth it.