Cesar Florido Moscatel Pasas (375ML Half-bottle)
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This Moscatel comes from famous vineyards in the Chipiona region. Fermentation is stopped by the addition of neutral grape spirits, leaving quite a bit of the natural sugar.
Moscatel Pasas is best served cold (45°F).
César Florido was founded in 1887 and is currently maintained by César Florido, a fifth-generation descendant of the founder. The winery is the oldest bodega in the town of Chipiona, located five miles from Sanlúcar de Barrameda along the road which continues to Rota. César Florido is one of only two bodegas in Chipiona that are still operating outside of the cooperative.
Chipiona, famous for having the tallest lighthouse in Spain, is an area dedicated to growing the moscatel grape, but most of the wine produced here is sold in bulk to the Sherry houses of Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María, and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. César Florido, by contrast, is one of the few bodegas that is estate bottling and who presses his own mosto, or base wine, from family vineyards planted to palomino fino, as well as purchased grapes from long-time growers. Utilizing native-yeast fermentation, César crafts wines of incredible personality.
A longtime almacenista, César began estate bottling in 1988 and recently has emerged from obscurity to cult status for his enthralling range of wines which are uniquely Chipiona and have become among the best in the zone. He makes some of the most singular wines in the area, sought out by true believers in César.
He owns three separate bodegas in the town of Chipiona, one of which houses his iconic Cruz del Mar fino solera, just 50 meters from the ocean. With the closest proximity to the sea of any bodega in the region, his wines are imbued with the very spirit of this maritime climate through year-round, thick, luxurious flor. His fino is made from estate-grown palomino from Balbaína and Miraflores. Paired with fresh oysters or tiburon frito, Cruz del Mar is a guaranteed gastronomic supernova. His amontillado and oloroso bottlings are some of the best in class and as with the fino, everything here leads you back to the ocean and that incredible flor. The rare palo cortado aged in solera for forty years, Peña del Aguila, is César Florido’s Sacristía wine: a very rare, private wine bottled in tiny quantities.
Apart from the classics, we find many regional gems of different styles.
Late harvest wines are probably the easiest to understand. Grapes are picked so late that the sugars build up and residual sugar remains after the fermentation process. Ice wine, a style founded in Germany and there referred to as eiswein, is an extreme late harvest wine, produced from grapes frozen on the vine, and pressed while still frozen, resulting in a higher concentration of sugar. It is becoming a specialty of Canada as well, where it takes on the English name of ice wine.
Vin Santo, literally “holy wine,” is a Tuscan sweet wine made from drying the local white grapes Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia in the winery and not pressing until somewhere between November and March.
Rutherglen is an historic wine region in northeast Victoria, Australia, famous for its fortified Topaque and Muscat with complex tawny characteristics.
Known for bold reds, crisp whites, easy-drinking rosés, distinctive sparkling, and fortified wines, Spain has embraced international varieties and wine styles while continuing to place primary emphasis on its own native grapes. Though the country’s climate is diverse, it is generally hot and dry. In the center of the country lies a vast, arid plateau known as the Meseta Central, characterized by extremely hot summers and frequent drought.
Rioja is Spain’s best-known region, where earthy, age-worthy Spanish reds are made from Tempranillo and Garnacha (Grenache). Rioja also produces rich, nutty whites from the local Viura grape.
Ribera del Duero is gaining ground for Spanish wines with its single varietal Tempranillo wines, recognized for their concentration of fruit and opulence. Priorat, a sub-region of Catalonia, specializes in bold, full-bodied Spanish red wine blends of Garnacha (Grenache), Cariñena (Carignan), and often Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. Catalonia is also home to Cava, a Spanish sparkling wine made in the traditional method but from indigenous varieties. In the cool, damp northwest Spanish wine region of Galicia, refreshing Spanish white Albariño and Verdejo dominate.
Sherry, Spain’s famous fortified wine, is produced in a wide range of styles from dry to lusciously sweet at the country’s southern tip in Jerez.