Essence of Sanlúcar – behind the scenes at Delgado Zuleta

We began our tasting odyssey in the Bodega Tio Paco, where they age their biggest selling wine – the young Manzanilla Zuleta.  At two and a half years average age it’s fresh and still fruity, with a citrus zing and only a little of the salinity we associate with Manzanilla.  The bodega holds 1200 barrels and the very next day they were due to start bottling and running the scales.  The system has three clases (Solera, 1st and 2nd) and it takes four days per scale, moving 50,000 litres of wine per day.

We moved on to Bodega 250 Aniversario where they mature Barbiana and La Goya.  Barbiana has five years average age whilst La Goya has eight.  And then, hidden deep in the bodega, we found the Goya XL – a ‘reserve’ version of La Goya aged for an average of twelve years.

In Sanlúcar, the flor grows thickly at all times of the year, but in May and June it’s at its thickest and most active.  We were lucky to be tasting in May, when it’s at its most expressive.  As in any bodega, the microclimate means that the wine tastes different from barrel to barrel, and with the Barbiana I got to choose which barrel we tasted.  I made a good choice, even if I do say so myself!  The fruitiness we tasted in the Zuleta was all gone, replaced by a rounded, subtle wine which much more pronounced salinity.  Lovely.

Then it was time for La Goya, the bodega’s most famous wine.  Launched in 1919, it’s named in tribute to a famous singer and friend of the family who often came to and hosted parties in the bodega.  The La Goya system is fed by Manzanilla Zuleta, but the additional years of ageing lend a lovely complexity to what is still a delicate and refreshing wine despite its age.  On the nose it was an intriguing mix of creamy, savoury and white flower aromas.  On the palate it was like smoked salted almonds.  I drink a reasonable amount of La Goya, but the complexity when tasting it unfiltered from the barrel and a little warmer was a revelation.  In fact Salvador recommends drinking La Goya at 10-12 degrees, rather than fridge-cold which is how we normally drink Manzanilla. 

As often happens when touring a bodega with the winemaker, we spent a lot of time chatting about life, the universe and everything bodega-related.  These rows of barrels are Salvador’s office – he knows them all and their peculiarities.  And it was here that we met the monsters.  Don’t worry, this isn’t the point where the article turns into a trashy science fiction cartoon, and the monsters were pretty tiny.  Salvador started lifting the plugs from the tops of barrels, looking at the base for a moment and replacing them, until he found what he was looking for.  In a small number of barrels, you can find a white bloom on the base of the plug, and this indicates the presence of microscopic spider-like organisms called acaros.  Whilst Salvador calls them monsters they do something pretty remarkable and delicious – they impart a distinctive lemongrass aroma and flavour to the wine. 

After our delicious encounter with the monsters, we moved on to little enclave where Goya XL is matured.  There are only 130 barrels of this 12 year old Manzanilla, which launched only a couple of years ago.  La Goya selected for XL ages through four more clases before bottling, and because of the wine’s age the flor lies much thinner with visible holes.  This creates a wine on its way to Amontillado, with a rich golden colour and flavours of roasted nuts and caramel alongside the classic La Goya flavours that still remain. 

And so as we wandered back to the offices having tasted the whole family tree of Delgado Zuleta Manzanillas, I asked Salvador the question I always ask on visits like this: What’s your desert island wine?  No hesitation, no moment of reflection, he didn’t even miss a beat:  La Goya.

It’s our brand, it’s the one I nurture.  And it’s in the state of maturity that I really love – it’s in its prime.

I have the smell of La Goya imprinted on my memory. It’s there in my nose, all the time.

And just like that, I really wanted his job, even if there are monsters in the bodega!