Quite an interesting article, as linked by WineTerroirist, in 750Daily by KatherineCole:
EmbracingTheFlor
on the increasing use of flor yeast to make sous voile/umami-laden wines. This is, of course, the technique used in making fino sherries and many of the wines in the Jura.
I’ve had a couple of these made in Calif. They’re not very fun to taste on their own, but they badly need food to make them sing.
So…I guess orange/skin-contact whites have now become so yesterday and sous voile wines are the next big trend for hip Somms to jump on. Hurry up…the train is leaving the station!!
I would wonder how winemakers that have floor yeast infections in their wineries keep it from spreading to their regular wines? Just keeping the barrels topped up sufficient?
Tom
Thanks for pointing this out, lots of news here!
Esp. I didn’t know Clos Cibonne was done sous voile, I always have found them to have lots of pleasant savory tastes.
I had the Salinia a couple of years ago, mighty tasty:
2/4/2016 - 90 Points
Lightly gray 14k gold. The nose is waxy, wooly white stone and tropical fruit, the palate is like a salty, zingy, mature white Hermitage, exotic and very slightly oily, but intense and refreshing also. The finish is most Sherry-like, with a bitter, smoky edge. The fact that the base grapes are chardonnay perhaps accounts for this wine’s fullish body. Enjoyed with seared sous vide chicken breast.
I found this VERY interesting! Didn’t know there were so many experiments going on across the globe. Which ones have you tasted? I’m a big fan of Florpower mentioned in the article and would like to explore this “trend” further.
An acquired taste, for sure!
I read this and all I could think of was how much I despise the taste of flor in the cellar.
I’m not convinced I can handle it as an added ‘layer’ of flavor. I think it’s just my brain telling me the wine is faulted as the first reaction. I suppose I did get over the oxidative quality hump though so perhaps my arm could be twisted.
All I can say is that Equipo Navazos florpower doesn’t taste how you would expect. It’s xertainly quite different from a typical oxidized/orange wine. It’s more like a ramato; retaining youthful fruit character and freshness but still with a clear flor signature. I found the MMX #44 in the US for around $15 and regard it as among the highest qpr bottlings available at this price point from any category.
Joe,
Where did you find this bottling? Cheapest I see on Wine Searcher is $35 in NJ.
I thought Tom posted about this yesterday?
https://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=155172&sid=6f158da954a0cf44de6ac18e5bdf709d
Some of the wines are interesting, some not so much. It’s an old way of making wine and you need the right grapes to pull it off or your wine just tastes bad.
Got it at a neighborhood retailer in Santa Monica in 6/2017. The guy who sold it to me looked like he felt sorry for me so I guess it’s possible they were dumping it. 8^>
Nice
Recently had the 2011 Les Matheny 6 Ans Sous Voile Jura Chardonnay. What a wine this was! Bruised orchard fruits, soy sauce, marcona almond, bright acid and minerally finish. Richly textured as well. Really delicious and intellectually stimulating wine. It has an oxidative edge, but doesn’t taste oxidized as the fruit is bright and very youthful. If I knew how good this was before I boughtit, I would have bought more…
I find it hard to believe that flor-inflected sherry is suddenly going to get popular. “Hip Somms” should already be on board, as they tend to pair beautifully with seafood and veggie dishes. Also: dry sherry is the only wine I’ve found to pair not terribly with French Onion Soup, and – imo – it pairs very well.
I love sherry and find it incredibly versatile with food. It is the perfect pairing for boquerones and their ilk, which are not so easy to match. And Cote du Jura is the absolute best pairing with spicy Szechuan food, in my opinion.
Raul Perez has at least one white he ages under flor and which is fantastic.
I think many people will continue to struggle with them, though.
I have picked up a few bottles of Salinia from two separate releases. Only tried one bottle; definitely an off-the-reservation style wine, and interesting as an outlier in terms of style. I’ll have to try a few of the folks’ food pairings - figured that marcona almonds and strong cheese would probably be the best matches initially - but these alternatives sound like a worthwhile experiment.
Sherry pairs with onion soup because onion soup is usually made with sherry.
I think 2010 Florpower was their first attempt. USD15 is on par with current ex cellar prices towards importers. The new releases are:
- La Bota de Florpower MMXV No 77
- La Bota de Manzanilla Florpower MMXV No 82
Thanks Jörgen. I guess I just got lucky.
Besides onion soup, it’s the go-to for Chinese cooking with a lot of soy. Beautiful. Can’t think of many others that work well, if at all, except for maybe some off-dry Riesling and Madeira.
His reds age under flor as well. It’s interesting that I can’t seem to pick up the yeasty character that I notice in flor aged whites. I don’t know why.