El Muelle de Olaso, Luis Perez 2021

The Pérez family have been viticultores, estate workers and winemakers for several generations. In 2002 Willy Perez and his father Luis, a professor of oenology at the University of Cádiz and former winemaker at Domeq, set up their bodega just north west of Jerez. They are interesting in exploring the historic pagos or single estates that used to define and give character to Jerez wines. The albariza soil in the Jerez region isn’t homogenous, it has many sub-types for example their vineyards in pago Balbaína Alta are on Tosca Cerrada soil which fractures easily allowing the vine roots to spread out, and this pago’s proximity to the Atlantic gives a freshness to wines produced from there. They work with the traditional varietals like Palomino Fino, Pedro Ximenez and Tintilla de Rota (genetically related to Graciano) in Balbaína, Añina, Macharnudo and Carrascal. They want the origin of their grapes show over biological and oxidative ageing techniques so they don’t fortify their Fino or Oloroso.

El Muelle de Olaso is named after a well-known pier that used to stand in Sanlúcar. This unusual non-fortified Palomino is a blend of wines cool fermented in stainless steel plus 20% of sun dried grapes fermented in seasoned oak. The savoury touch and mineral finish really expresses the layed albariza soils where the grapes come from. 

Producer  Willy and Luis Perez 

Origin Sanlucar De Barameda, Andalucia, Spain

Grapes 100% Palomino

Vintage 2021

Alcohol  12.5% ABV

Style Medium body natural white

Bottle size 750ml

Winemaking Manual harvested, grapes picked from the vineyard in several stages over a two month period, the grapes for El Muelle are the second pick at ‘normal’ ripeness levels. 80% of the grapes are fermented straight away at low temperature in stainless steel. The rest is left in the sun for 6-8 hours before being fermented in seasoned American oak barrels. The wines are then aged for 6 months on lees. They are bottled after a light filtration with cellulose or bentonite.

Notes Natural, Organic