Barbadillo Criadera Selection Oloroso En Rama La Compania Cellar

Description

Barbadillo Criadera Selection Oloroso En Rama is a dry Oloroso bottled unfiltered (En Rama). The Sherry is sourced from Barbadillo’s criaderas in La Compañía. This is a dry, nutty and rich Sherry.

Barbadillo is one of the ten largest and oldest family businesses in Spain. The company’s origins can be traced back to 1821 when Don Benigno Barbadillo and Don Manuel Lopez Barbadillo settled in Sanlucar de Barrameda in the province of Cadiz. They would release their first wine the Manzanilla Divina Pastor in 1827. The Bodegas Barbadillo Company was eventually established in 1954 and today is one of the largest and most respected Sherry, and Spanish Brandy, producers. They are widely regarded as one of the very best producers of Manzanilla Sherries, the salty, tangy Fino-style Sherries produced in Sanlucar de Barrameda. Today, the company exports to over 50 countries and has won numerous awards for quality and innovation in winemaking.

As mentioned above, this wine comes from the company’s La Campania Cellars. La Compañía is named after the Jesuit convent built on this site in 1630. The ageing cellar stands within the ‘new’ church completed in 1717, just 50 years
before Carlos III expelled the Jesuits from all Spanish territories. Barbadillo purchased the church at a public auction in 1942 and has used it for oxidative ageing since then.

Barbadillo Criadera Selection Oloroso En Rama is made from 100% Palomino Fino grapes. The grapes are sourced from the Gibalbín and Santa Lucía vineyards in the Jerez Superior region. The vineyards have a specific microclimate and are located inland on a site that promotes the proper ripening of the grapes. The vines have an average age of 20 years old and are planted on the famous white, chalky soils of the region known as Albariza.

After harvest, the Palomino grapes are pressed and the juice is fermented in stainless steel at cool temperatures. After fermentation, the young wine is fortified by adding neutral grape spirit to increase the alcohol content to around 15%. The wine is put into 500 litre Jerez casks and then enters the Criaderas and Solera ageing system, a fractional ageing process used to make Sherry, which allows for the traditional blending of new wines with older wines.

To produce Barbadillo Criadera Selection Oloroso En Rama the wine is fortified to around 17 or 18% ABV (slightly higher than for a Fino) which means that the Flor (a layer of yeast on the Sherry in the barrel) will not develop as the ABV is too high. Therefore the Sherry ages in an oxidative way. There is also evaporation from the barrels further concentrating the Sherry and this Oloroso is bottled at 19.5% ABV. This oxidative ageing process produces a richer, darker style of Sherry and has been aged for around 10 years. Bottled unfiltered (En Rama).