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Temperance and wisdom emerge in the Collection Finos Palmas 2017 by González Byass, which represents, as reflected in the labels for this season: "the Ages of Tío Pepe". As every year, at the end of summer, Antonio Flores, top winemaker at González Byass, has gone into the stillness of the cellars to discover and pre-select those barrels whose fino wines have been infused with the vigour of the flor yeast veil.
For the 2017 season of the Tío Pepe Finos Palmas Collection, Antonio Flores has been joined by the knowledge and skills of MW (Master of Wine) Pedro Ballesteros. The two masters spent together a tasting day where they toured, venencias in their hands –the implement used for pulling sherry samples from the barrels– the different Amontillados Finos soleras seeking the most elegant notes coming from the casks that have been chalk-marked as One, Two, Three or Four Palmas.
The result has been sublime: the unmistakable style of Tío Pepe is intensely present in these wine masterpieces, from the salinity of the Macharnudo and Carrascal soils to the ageing in the cellars under the flor yeast veil. Freshness and vitality in Una Palma, which gives way to beautiful evolutions in Dos and Tres Palmas, to reach full maturity in the Amontillado Viejo Cuatro Palmas.
Tío Pepe Una Palma
The splendour of the flor yeast veil: pale gold hues, an elegant nose and distinctly saline notes. Its solera, with more than 6 years of biological ageing, consists of 142 barrels of which only three have been selected: numbers 22, 26 and 78.
Tío Pepe Dos Palmas
A fino wine with a long 8-year ageing under its flor veil, a yeast layer that marks the character of this exceptional wine in which the albariza soils and the dark cellars are truly present. It is the ripe fruit of a selection from barrels numbers 41 and 75 of the 150 that make up this solera.
Tío Pepe Tres Palmas
Fino Tres Palmas can be defined as the perfect evolution of Tío Pepe poured into a glass. Its 10 years of ageing under the flor yeast layer lend it a unique personality. Only one barrel, number 32, has been selected among the 150 of this historic solera.
Tío Pepe Cuatro Palmas
The quietness and peace of the Tío Pepe cellars have delicately guarded this Very Old Amontillado. Fifty-two years where a thorough selection –where the very origins of Tío Pepe can still be felt– have been the keys for the making of this cult wine. It is the definitive selection from a single barrel, number 6, which has aged at the La Constancia cellar before reaching our fino glasses today.
What are Palmas?
Palmas are designations that, as Manuel María González-Gordon defines in his book "Jerez-Xerez-Sherry", are applied to those sherry fino wines that excel because of their cleanliness, finesse and delicacy in flavour, the number of palmas awarded being proportional to their level of ageing.
These wines result from the enormous task of selecting and classifying –by ageing time and delicacy– the best fino wines that the company has being carrying out since 1880.
"We have managed to put in a bottle the full strength of the albariza soils and the magic of the flor yeast veil"
(Antonio Flores)