People sometimes ask me where to begin with sherry. They're eager to learn how to drink it, so we need to facilitate that. The choice is enormous, and I can easily imagine it being overwhelming. Fortunately, there's now a new category that perfectly meets this need: vino de pasto. This is a "regular" white wine from the sherry triangle; they are unfortified wines with an alcohol content below 15%. The word "pasto" comes from the verb "pacer," meaning "to graze" or "to feed," making these wines ideal for drinking with food. This category isn't yet included in the DO Sherry regulations (they find it very difficult), so the wines currently usually fall under IGT Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz or, more generally, Vino de España. Style-wise, a vino de pasto can be anything: sometimes with flor, sometimes without. Usually, it's salty and deliciously thirst-quenching.
Actually, vino de pasto isn't all that new. It used to be the norm in Jerez. They even made bubbles from Palomino Fino. But then, phylloxera and the popularity of sherry from the 1960s to the 1980s changed a lot and, in short, destroyed a lot.
Fortunately, there are now winemakers who are returning to this old tradition. Surprisingly, it took a Portuguese, Dirk Niepoort, to convince the Andalusians to revive vino de pasto. He kicked things off with his own version in collaboration with Equipo Navazos .
During Vinoble, I spent an afternoon exploring the region's vino de pasto. It all began with Territorio Albariza, a group of nine producers sharing a passion for vino de pasto.
- Luis Pérez , with Willy Perez as cheerleader of it all
- La Callejuela , which unfortunately closed due to a family feud
- Cota 45 , the project of Ramiro Ibañez with the famous UBE series
- Forlong , many cheerful bottles from El Puerto de Santa Maria
- Muchada Léclapart , collaboration between Alejandro Muchada (Cádiz) and David Léclapart (Champagne) in Sanlúcar de Barrameda
- Primitivo Collantes , which I knew from the Fossi Amontillado but which also makes great vino de pasto.
- M Ant de la Riva , collaboration between Willy Perez (Luis Perez) and Ramiro Ibañez (Cota 45)
- Meridiano Perdido , a young project by the Gómez Beser brothers
- San Francisco Javier , Peter Sisseck's project
It took a while, but now the major players from the triangle are on board. Barbadillo and Valdespino have even released several vino de pasto. I wonder when Bodegas Tradicion will change their minds. This house isn't that big; it's more of a boutique winery. I've tasted a few wines from their Criaderas that will eventually become fino. It was amazing, with a minerality reminiscent of a salty Burgundy. Will they finally change their minds?
Smaller producers sometimes choose vino de pasto for economic reasons. Spanish tax on sherry is higher than on table wine. This price difference can be particularly significant for small winemakers.
Favorite Pasta Wine
Primitivo Collantes Socaire 2018
The 2018 Socaire is a textbook example of a "blanco de albariza." Made from Palomino Fino grapes on albariza soil (Tajón subtype), this wine is aged for 24 months in old fino barrels. Although there is no flor development, you can still taste a subtle flor-like note.
Suddenly it's Primitivo Collantes first and Primitivo Collantes after, while you rarely heard about this bodega before. Logically, because until recently they were not allowed to make sherry. At least, they were not allowed to use the term Jerez-Xérès-Sherry. The bodega is located in Chiclana. Although it is in the production zone, it is outside the classic sherry triangle and therefore also outside the maturation zone. And the term Jerez-Xérès-Sherry was reserved for bodegas within the maturation zone. With the change of the regulations of DO Jerez-Xérès-Sherry in 2022 The triangle has been abandoned as a ripening zone, and Primitivo Collantes is now fully eligible. And they're going like a rocket! Olé!
Blanco de M Ant de la Riva El Notorio 2021
When Ramiro Ibáñez ( Cota 45 ) and Willy Pérez (Luis Perez) collaborate, you know you have to be there. This revival of the M. Antonio de la Riva label, founded in the 18th century and once famous for its high-quality sherries, is now being revived. Ramiro and Willy have purchased rows of the legendary Macharnudo vineyard and are producing a variety of terroir-specific wines. With their new wine, San Cayetano, presented at the prestigious Place de Bordeaux, they highlight the diversity within a single vineyard. Only 300 bottles will be produced. The grapes are carefully selected; only the best are used, the rest going to Luis Pérez's La Escribana (also a great wine). The flavor profile is exceptional: salty with notes of almond, hazelnut, and orange. The wine is aged for one year under flor, sometimes a little longer. Cheers to this incredible expression of Jerez!
Bodegas Forlong Stardust
Young, fresh, and quite distinctive. It starts with the labels, which, for a change, look cheerful and trendy. How else would you address someone who isn't already elderly? Alejandro Narváez and Rocío Áspera started in 2009 and have been flirting with sherry heritage ever since, but on their own terms. Forlong Stardust begins with an early harvest of 100% hand-picked Palomino grapes from the Balbaina Baja pago, located on the Albariza soil of lustrio With a small amount of iron on the surface, just 7 km from the ocean. The best grapes are selected and pressed, after which the must ferments spontaneously in old manzanilla barrels. After fermentation, the wine is topped up to "tocadeo" (completely full) to prevent oxidation and then aged for two years on its lees without flor.
Muchada Léclapart Universe
Muchada Léclapart is a collaboration between Alejandro Muchada from Cádiz and David Léclapart from Champagne (the champagnes are also highly recommended). Wouldn't you want to know more? Muchada went to harvest at Léclapart and became captivated by the working methods: biodynamic and with great respect for nature. He brought this to Sanlúcar and now makes four different wines under the Muchada-Léclapart name (Muchada handles the daily operations, Léclapart comes over during the harvest). Univers is made from 100% Palomino Fino, 30-year-old vines from Pago Miraflores in Sanlúcar. It's a wine you want to keep smelling: it's salty, smoky, so delicate and pure.
Bodegas Vinificate Mahara
I didn't come across this name on Vinoble, they might have been there, but I got this as a tip from My favorite wine shop in Jerez . There was only one bottle left, and I've already finished it. An incredible wine, a so-called "sherry light" with subtle floral notes, which creates enormous layers in the wine. Salted almonds, orange peel, dried flowers. Bodegas Vinificate was founded by brothers Jose & Miguel Gomez in San Fernando, a coastal town near Cádiz. They work with minimal intervention and let the terroir speak for itself in their red, white, and sparkling wines. The Palomino grapes come from Albariza soils in the Viña del Vicario vineyard in Pago Mahina (Sanlúcar de Barrameda). Spontaneous fermentation is followed by aging in clay amphorae with floral notes for six months.
Alba Viticultores
One of the few producers dedicated to making sparkling wines, a tradition dating back to the 19th century in the sherry region. It began as a group of four: Fernando Angulo and his wife Carmen Caballero, Alejandro Muchada (of Muchada Léclapart), and Miguel Gómez (of Bodegas Vinificate). Now, Fernando and Carmen run the business together. In their small bodega in Sanlúcar, the wines are made the old-fashioned way: grapes are often pressed by foot, and bottling and disgorging are all done by hand. In my favorite wine shop in Jerez, I came across a red Petnat made of 50% Palomino and 50% Tempranillo. Funky and deliciously glamorous. Maximum rosehip and red fruit, blood orange, and a touch of rustic.
There is more….
And I'm not quite finished yet, because Bodegas Yuste also makes a fantastic vino de pasta. Luis Perez's El Muelle is a great starter. Cota 45's UBE line is also worth trying, especially Paganilla. In short, there's so much to discover, and I'm far from finished tasting and writing. Stay tuned!
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