Barbadillo
South + Sea + Wind = Barbadillo
The origin of everything. Barbadillo is the South and it is the Sea. It is Cádiz and it is the westerly winds. It is Sanlúcar and it is tradition. It is a centenary winery, yet it is the future. Barbadillo’s history dates back to 1821; the year in which it first began producing Manzanilla wine. Since, the Bodega has done nothing but evolve as then continue to produce unique, remarkable wines that leave their mark.
Bodegas Barbadillo began 200 years ago when Don Benigno Barbadillo purchased an 18th century bodega in the ‘Barrio Alto, the historic old quarter of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. This beautiful bodega is formed by four buildings joined to make a square, forming a tree lined cobbled courtyard within, giving its name to Bodega del Cuadro (the Square). Each of these for buildings has a name: San Joaquin, San Antonio, La Pastora, and Trinidad
Presently led by the skilful Monserrat Molina, the winery is known to let the terroir speak for itself. At the center of it all is the saline maritime air and the incredible white albariza soils in which the grapes are grown.
With an evolving portfolio of biologic wines, the recently introduced Manzanillas, and Vinos de la Tierra de Cádiz reflect a desire to return to its origins and produce wines with little intervention aside from the traditional use of asoleo (for Mirabrás) or solera for the manzanillas, with Pasada bottling (unfiltered).
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SábaloDenomination 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 2021 vintage
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PatinegroDenomination 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
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MirabrásDenomination 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. |
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Nave TrinidadDenomination 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. |
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PastoraDenomination 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. |
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Arboledilla Levante and PonienteDenomination 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.
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La CillaDenomination 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. 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. |
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