Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, pale gold, legs
Nose: clean, med intensity, developed, brine, almonds, hint dried citrus peel, hint meaty, citrus, hint vinegar
Mouth: dry, med+ body, med acid, low fortification, med+ flavour intensity, hint brine, almonds, cashews, hint meatiness, fleshy finish, med+ length
All in all: Apparently, a flawed bottle despite my original guess of very good quality. I obviously need to drink more sherry.
Identity Guess: Mid-priced Amontillado from Spain.
Is really: High-priced Manzanilla (En Rama) from Spain.

[Tasted during WSET Diploma class – Section 2 – Week 2]

Flawed bottle, unfortunately (oxidized?). I definitely need to drink sherry more, because I hilariously thought that the wine was better than it was (which was flawed). I will shamelessly praise myself for guessing Amontillado, which apparently this wine seemed like. I will give myself further credit for smelling some dried citrus peel, because Richard Hemming detected a similar thing. I’m sort of like a dead wine whisperer! Which kind of sucks.

I’m not entirely familiar with the style, but apparently “en rama” refers to sherry that has been bottled straight from the solera without any fining or filtering (among other things, I’m sure). I’m pretty confident that there was an article about it in Decanter that I didn’t bother to read but now I feel guilty about skimming through it at the bus stop after work. I think I flipped right to the “weekday wines” section. I’ll read it tomorrow, stop yelling at me.

This would’ve been an interesting one to taste.

Producer: Bodegas Hidalgo
Designation: “La Gitana” En Rama
Region: Spain
Sub-Region: Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Variety: Palomino
ABV: 15%
Vintage: NV
Tasted: January 15, 2014
Price: $42