Jerez de la Frontera, so named as the boundary between warring Christians and Moors in the 13^th Century is the home of bodegas Valdespino. And just look at this amazing cellar, in the dim light and controlled moisture haze it seems to go on as far as the eye can see!

This is where the solera for the excellent Inocente Fino and the Tio Diego Amontillado live. Both contain wine made from the highest point of the Macharnudo Alto single vineyard.

The best vineyards in the sherry triangle have Albariza soils which are a mix of limestone, silica and clay. These soils absorb moisture in the winter and then form a crust during the dry growing season retaining moisture and slowly releasing it to the vines. The gently sloping vineyards have a series of troughs, called Asperpia, worked into them to catch water and let it soak into the soil.  

The Macharnudo Alto vineyard has a little more elevation than elsewhere and so catches the cooling Poniente breeze from the Atlantic and the albariza soils here contain a particularly high level of limestone both contributing to more concentrated grapes.

In the cellar the solera systems sit side by side each with 10 criadera and the final tier of solera.  The Inocente barrels all contain flor and as with all Finos the resulting wine has been fully matured under a layer of yeast. Wine is removed for bottling from the bottom solera layer, where the wines are oldest, each spring and autumn when the flor is thickest. The wines therefore have an average age of around 10 years. The barrels in the solera are then topped up successively each from the criadera above it until new wine is added to the first set of barrels. The nutrients within the fresh wine added helps to feed the flor yeast and keep it alive.

The first three criadera of the Tio Diego Amontillado solera system have flor and then more spirit is added fortifying the wines up to 17% ABV which kills it off.  The wine matures in the remaining layers of the solera oxidatively resulting in a wine with both yeasty flor character and nutty, caramel type notes and a of course a darker colour. There is more evaporation without the floor and so the abv rises by another few degrees. Wine is only drawn off the solera once a year meaning that the average age of the Tio Diego is more like 17-18 years.

There is one other wine connected with these soleras and that is the Palo Cortado. Every now and then the wine maker recognises that one or two of the barrels ‘want to be’ Palo Cortado. It may be that the flor has died or the barrel displays some extra concentration or individual character.  These barrels are moved over to join the Palo Cortado solera producing Viejo C.P. or even the PC  VOS (Very Old Sherry).

There are 11 layers within these solera systems and there are 70 barrels in each making 770 in total. This sounds like a lot but less than 40% is taken out each year and with an average age of 10 and 17 years respectively it takes a lot of time and space not mention care and attention to make these fantastic wines.  

For tasting notes of the Inocente Fino see wine of the month