January 2025 Blanco y Tinto Club

¡¡Le Fleq!! Palamino Fino Regular Price: $29.99 Club Price: $ 25.49 Buy Now

Fans of Sherry may already be familiar with the Palomino Fino grape as it occupies nearly 95% of total acreage in the Sherry region, Jerez. Most often, it is fortified and turned into one of the many styles of Sherry we cherish today. However in recent years, more and more producers are experimenting with the varietal as a candidate for still, unfortified table wine. This January Tinto y Blanco Club’s blanco is one such expression, and a beautiful one at that. 

Flequi Berrati was born and raised in Jerez and initially cut his teeth in the wine industry on the import and retail side of things. Eventually, his interest in wine expanded to production, and he began making wine in Los Montes de Toledo, Ribera del Duero, and Cebreros. His most recent endeavor has brought him back to his home region of Jerez, and is being produced under the Le Fleq!! label.

La Zarzuela vineyard

The Palomino grapes that go into this wine are top quality, hailing from the revered and organically farmed Viña La Zarzuela vineyard in Pago Añina. Its cépage is 91% Palomino Fino, 3% Cañocazo, 3% Mantúa, and 3% Uva Perruna, three other rare indigenous grapes of the region.

 
Palomino Fino

Here, the fruit yield is limited to 2 kilograms per vine, meaning each 30 year old Palomino plant puts all its energy into fewer clusters, intensifying the aromas and complexity of the final wine. This yield is less than half of most Sherry vineyards and ideal for serious wine production.

The grapes are hand harvested, whole cluster pressed, and fermented with indigenous yeasts. The wine is then aged for 10 months in neutral 500 liter barrels on the fine lees, with a slight presence of flor (a protective layer of yeast on the surface of the wine). Le Fleq!! is wonderfully fruit driven, textured and fresh. Pale straw in color, the wine exhibits notes of fresh apple and yellow pear. Mineral, earth, and raw almonds make up the finish while the texture is creamy and supple. Bright acidity lingers throughout. Perfect for cured cheeses, oily fish (sardines, anyone?) and spiced sautées.

Valdemuz Margon 2020 Prieto Picudo León Regular Price: $45.99 Club Price: $ 39.09 Buy Now

Back in 1995, Eugenio González, one of the guys behind Bodegas Margón, started his viticulture experience in Pajares de Los Oteros (a municipality a little south east of Leon), tinkering away in one of those old cave-wineries alongside Raúl Pérez — You’ll hear his name a lot if you hang around long enough in the world of curious wines. Together, they started to figure out the best way to bring out the character in Prieto Picudo – a grape that’s got all kinds of potential if you know how to work with it.

 Raúl Pérez

Prieto picudo grape is distinguished by its tight cluster and berries shaped oval and finished in tip, hence the name of the variety; prieto and Berry cluster beaked shaped.

It wasn’t just about the grapes, though. They knew the secret was in the age of the vines and the vineyard, and letting nature just do its thing. Raúl and the team take this seriously – they farm organically, sticking to local traditions that keeps things in balance with the land. In the cellar, Raúl keeps it simple and natural – native yeasts, little to no sulfur, and big old barrels that have seen plenty of seasons and some of the reds hang out in those barrels for a long time — some of the single parcel wines, Raúl lets them age under flor, the way sherry does. He believes this technique smooths out the acids and tannins, leaving behind wines that are layered, complex and elegant.

Fast forward about ten years, by 2006, Eugenio teamed up with Alfredo Martínez Cuervo, a businessman with a shared passion for this little project — but would only continue the project as long as  Raúl Pérez stayed on as technical director, ever since, he’s been the guy behind the wines. It was around then that Margón started acquiring plots in Pajares de los Oteros (75 little parcels that cover about 19 hectares.) Most of these vines are over a century old, some past 120 which is pretty rare, In fact, Margón is the only winery working exclusively with old vineyards that have been around longer than most of us!

Valdemuz has an ultra classic profile and is already developing aromatic complexity and tertiary aromas that are subtle and complex, with hints of spices and smoke. It is balanced, and the tannins are polished, still abundant and slightly dusty, giving it the rustic-elegant style.

For an easy pairing, try it with patatas bravas (get the Ferrer Brava sauce from our shelves) —or do what I did and make pisto manchego, (a kind of Spanish ratatouille), topped with a fried egg! I like the way the the wine’s bright fruit played well with a tomato-base dish.

If you’re like me and love wines with a story and a bit of soul, this is one project you’ll want to keep an eye on.