LUIS PEREZ Caberrubia Saca VIII
Al Drinkle on the Caberrubia Saca VII
"The Caberrubia vineyard boasts albariza de Barajuelas soils, which Willy describes as “a laminar loam that resembles a pack of cards”. Though the vast majority of the fruit comes from a single harvest season, it’s bottled as a non-vintage wine in order to place all importance on the vineyard site. Essentially a non-fortified fino, the grapes are harvested in various passes for almost two months with ripeness varying wildly from start to finish. Soleo, or sun-drying of the grapes, is utilised to varying degrees, and fermentation takes place in very used barrels, followed by 42 months of aging under flor. It smells sweet and sunny with a tingle of chalky bitterness, causing one to wonder what is flor, what is albariza and what is the Palomino grape! In the end, it doesn’t matter because they’re all combining to make this extraordinary, resonant, palate-encompassing wine of illimitable breadth. Admittedly this is primarily for lovers of sherry, both present and future — but I believe that we’re all sherry lovers, even those of us who don’t know it yet."