Sábalo

Denomination of Origin: IGP Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz

Variety: Palomino fino, 100% organic

Sábalo is the inaugural wine of an ecological division based on a profound respect for the land and the age-old traditions of the region. For Bodegas Barbadillo, an ecological commitment is a natural process that comes from a great knowledge of the land.

Carmen Romero García (yes, Carmen who is co-owner of García de la Jara!) is responsible for this new organic division.

Barbadillo has launched the organic project with 25 hectares of its own vineyards that will be certified for the 2022 harvest. The first harvest in 2019 used grapes from two growers who have been deeply involved in organic viticulture for many years and will continue to be part of the Barbadillo project.

The Sábalo cuvée is therefore emblematic for this project. It reflects the specificity of the two Albariza vineyards as well as their differences, which allowed the winemaker, Montse Molina, to select special blend for this wine, which is both silky and intense.

Vineyards: The grapes come exclusively from two Albariza vineyards (15 hectares). One of them is located near the sea in Sanlúcar and is a vineyard more than 35 years old (organic for 17 years). The other vineyard, more internal, is located on the watchtower of a hill from where you can see the marshes between Sanlúcar and Trebujena. The vineyard is more than 25 years old and has also been certified organic for more than 12 years. These two vineyards combine the marine influence with that of the Guadalquivir River and the marshlands. The average yield is 6,500 kg/ha on a combined 15ha for the Plantalina and Burujena vineyards.

Vinification: The grapes from each of the two vineyards were hand-picked and then vinified separately to make a blend.  Spontaneous alcoholic fermentation with controlled temperature at 17C in small capacity stainless steel vats.  Aged on lees for four months.  Production of 5,500 bottles.

Analytical characteristics of the 2022 vintage

• Alcoholic strength : 11.5 % vol.
• pH: 3.35
• Residual sugar: < 2 g/l

Patinegro

Denomination of Origin: IGP Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz

Variety: Palomino fino, 100% organic

Patinegro is the logical follow-up to Sábalo . Equally certified organic, is it basically the same wine as Sábalo, also aged in stainless steel vats for 4 months on lees, but then instead of bottling, it undergoes a further ageing of 12 months in old botas used for manzanilla. Production of 1,500 bottles.

Analytical characteristics of the 2020 vintage

• Alcoholic strength : 13.0 % vol.
• Residual sugar: < 2 g/l

Tamarix

Variety: Moscatel, 100% organic

Tamarix is Barbadillo’s first skin-macerated white wine under the Barbadillo en Singular series.

Made from moscatel vines averaging 30 years in a certified organic 1 Ha plot of Pago Macharnudo whose soil is a typical Alabariza composition, very rich in limestone and chalk.
The harvest started in the middle of August and lasted until the end of the month.
Hand picked grapes were macerated on the skins for 4 weeks at a controlled temperature prior to soft pressing. The must continued its indigenous-yeast fermentation in stainless steel tanks at 17C.
Production of 3,000 bottles.

Analytical characteristics of the 2023 vintage

• Alcoholic strength : 13.0 % vol.
• pH 3.3
• Residual sugar: < 2 g/l

Mirabrás

Denomination of Origin: IGP Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz

Variety: Palomino fino

Mirabrás is a return to the roots with the reintroduction of an ancestral method of winemaking.

In 2014, Montserrat Molina, decided to ferment the musts from the oldest vines in Cerro de Leyes in Jerez barrels, and in doing so, she sought to reintroduce a traditional production technique combining asoleo (drying the grapes for 3-5 days in the sun), vinification in old Jerez barrels, and then patience, control and luck in equal measure.

During the asoleo, the grapes lose about 10% of their weight in one day. During the night, the bunches of grapes are covered to avoid the risk of rehydration and potential rot due to dew, and the next day they are turned over to equalize the sunshine. The proportion of malic acid and, to some extent, tannin will be reduced, while that of tartaric acid will increase.

Mirabrás is a deep and expressive wine, with little-known registers that remind us of biological ageing under a veil of yeast (flor), passing through pure albariza or old oak barrels.

The wine rested on fine lees for several months, and was then kept for 18 months in almost full casks, almost to a “tocadedos”, that is, almost a finger’s breadth from the top, before being transferred to stainless steel tanks.

Nave Trinidad

Denomination of Origin: Manzanilla – Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Variety: Palomino fino

The Nave Trininad is one of the naves in the bodega El Toro, the first warehouse that Benigno Barbadillo bought when he started his company in 1821. It is an old style of bodega, more or less rectangular with four independent sections around a central patio.

Each of the naves has slightly different ageing conditions, and Trinidad is the one oriented towards the sea (cooler, more influenced by saline air). It was named Trinidad after a ship that was part of Magellan’s expedition around the world.

This part of the bodega now houses a new Manzanilla Fina launched in 2019 by Barbadillo. The idea was to create a premium manzanilla but younger (4 years) than the existing Manzanillas that Barbadillo is well known for, like Pastora en Rama.

To create this younger style manzanilla, Montse Molina selected 36 botas from existing soleras to support this new identity. She decided to bottle “En Rama”, i.e. without filtration, since it allows to have a representative sample of the botas from which the bottle comes. Part of the selected botas was used to fill 20,000 half bottles while the rest is kept aside to be replenished and to develop its own personality for future bottlings.

Pastora

Denomination of Origin: Manzanilla – Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Variety: Palomino fino

Barbadillo bottled the first manzanilla in 1827 when it was mainly sold by the glass in local wine bars, and to customers who brought in their own jugs.

This Pastora Manzanilla Pasada En Rama was resurrected by Barbadillo in 2015 to replicate the original manzanilla. This manzanilla is special because it is aged for two more years, 9 years instead of 7, to give it more complexity and depth. This wine is made in the traditional style, using a solera system, and bottled without filtration or fining (“En Rama”) as if the bottle were a sample of the botas it comes from.

Solera ageing is carried out in a very specific area of the La Pastora winery, facing the river, on the dike that separates the upper and lower districts of Sanlúcar.

Pastora spends six years in the Solear solera (bodega El Potro) until a selection of barrels is moved some fifty meters down the road, to the bodega La Pastora, where the wine spends an additional three years.

Arboledilla Levante and Poniente

Denomination of Origin: Manzanilla – Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Variety: Palomino fino

Arboledilla is intended for all wine lovers, but above all, for those who seek to immerse themselves in the essence of the flor.

A younger manzanilla (5-6 years) matured in the cathedral-shaped bodega, in the nave called Arboledilla. The solera extends from the eastern seaside part of the nave to the west side facing inland, hence Levante and Poniente. Interestingly, the manzanilla express subtle nuances depending on the bottling from botas 130m apart.

This is a pet project of Montserrat Molina, Barbadillo’s Director of Oenology and Production. Her goal here was to allow manzanilla lovers to understand the importance of the architecture and how the building is a fundamental, integral part in the process of elaborating a Manzanilla. The wines are different, although they are the same. The yeast will have adapted differently due to details of the environment, but everything else is the same. It looks like magic, but it’s biology.

The bottling is done En Rama, seeking that the qualities of the wines in the botas are respected and transferred to the bottle.

Salicornia, manzanilla en rama

Denomination of Origin: Manzanilla – Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Variety: Palomino fino

The origins of this Manzanilla date back to September 2019 with the first vintage of Sábalo, with a growth in 2020 with the addition of Patinegro to the Barbadillo en Singular projet.

Sábalo and Patinegro are made from palomino from two organic vineyards, one in Balbaína (close to Sanlúcar), the other in Burujena (near Trebujena and the Guadalquivir river). The vineyards contributing to most of the blend is the Balbaína, the first in the entire Marco de Jerez to obtain the ‘organic’ certification, in 2003.

For both Sábalo and Patinegeo, the grapes are vinified separately, matured on lees in stainless steel casks and blended after. The difference is that Patinegro gets an extra ageing in old Manzanilla casks.

For each vintage, a number of botas are added to the solera. The foundation in 2019 started with a solera of 27 botas originating from Sábalo. Each year, the additional botas create a new criadera. Together these wines from an organic collection named Cielo, Tierra y Mar (Sky, Earth and Sea).

As of 2024, the salicornia has a total of 100 botas that make up a solera system of three criaderas, aged in the north-west corner of the legendary bodega La Arboledilla. For those luckly enough to be familiar with the Poniente release from La Arboledilla, this nave of the bodega tends to be exposed to yeast that will provide a more maritime character due to the prevaling cold and humid winds from the Atlantic.

Salicornia is bottled from the 27 casks that make up the solera row. It is named after the pickleweed – a wild plant with strong saline nuances that is closely linked to the marshes, salt flats and the Cádiz coast.

The wine is obviously bottled as a Manzanilla En Rama in order to preserve its unique character. In the first release of Salicornia, only 3500 bottles.

La Cilla

Denomination of Origin: Jerez-Xérès-Sherry

Variety: Pedro Ximénez

Pedro Ximénez or PX, as it is better known in its abbreviated form, is the very richest, and onctuous style of Sherry to be found.
The Pedro Ximénez grape is picked and sun-dried to produce very concentrated sugars in the raisined grape – The result is a sweet wine with unrestrained texture and flavor.

La Cilla is obtained from grapes which undergo a traditional process known as Asoleo, whereby the fruit turns to raisins. Musts are obtained after pressing which have an extraordinarily high concentration of sugars and a certain degree of color. The fermentation is stopped by adding wine alcohol before all the sugars are converted. Ageing is exclusively oxidative in nature, facilitating a progressive aromatic concentration and increasing complexity, though always ensuring not to lose the fresh, fruity characteristics of the grape variety.

Jopo de Lobo

Denomination of Origin: Jerez-Xérès-Sherry

Variety: Pedro Ximénez

Jopo de Lobo’ is a wine that comes from hand-picked grapes , which undergo a twenty-day sun exposure using the technique known in the Sherry region as ‘asoleo,’ resulting in slow and progressive moisture reduction of the grape.. It is estimated that only about 200 litres of raisin wine are obtained from each ton of fresh grapes. From there, ‘Jopo de Lobo’ is fortified with wine alcohol to reach 15.5% alc./vol. and aged for three years in American oak casks using the tradition ‘solera system’ (first botting).