Viña Corrales Pago Balbaína by Sisseck

Bodegas San Francisco Javier is the joint venture in Jerez of Peter "Pingus" Sisseck and Carlos "Hacienda Monasterio" del Río. In 2017 the dream came true for Peter Sisseck and was able to buy a Bodega in Jerez. It had been a dream since 1993 when he first visited Jerez in southern Spain. Many people had asked Sisseck to produce a white sibling for Pingus and he certainly tried many but never really fell in love with any of the white wine regions until one day it dawned on him that the Fino from Jerez was probably the best white wine in Spain (read: Sisseck's opinion). The problem is that people never thought of Fino as a white wine in its own right. Something similar happened in Champagne buds, nobody thought this would be a place for nice bubbles and we now know otherwise. In addition to Sisseck, Equipo Navazos is also famous and makes a number of white wines in addition to the regular top sherries.

In Jerez, the vineyards are organized within “Pagos”. Pagos are large vineyard areas. Marchanudo, Carrascal, Balbainas, Añina and Los Tercios are some of the better known. Diego Paraday Barreto listed a total of 134 Pagos in 1868, each carefully classified. In some cases, wines have used the Pago on the label, of which Fino Inocente from Marchanudo is a good example. But no one used the few vineyards in the Pagos. Sisseck's idea was to produce an untried Fino from single vineyards as you would in the largest vineyards in the world. In total they bought 10 Ha. 8 Ha in Pago Balbaina, historically famous for producing excellent wine for Finos. The vineyard is historically called "Viña Corrales". They also bought 2 Ha in Pago Marchanudo. "Vina La Cruz". Marchanudo the famous Pago of the Domecq family and famous for producing Amontillados (Amontillados is the result of "overripening" the Fino.) This Pago is more inland than Balbainas (facing the sea), so the grapes have the tendency to mature more and produce wines with more extract and body.

In an ideal world to produce 100% single vineyard wine, you would have to build your own Solera and then take 10-15 years to produce your first wines. Sisseck had no time or money for this so second best was to buy an old existing Solera and top it up with your own young wine. They started this in the autumn of 2017 after the first harvest. The cellar is an old Almacenista founded by Don Angle Zamorano in the 60's.

The annual production will be about 8000 bottles taken from the "Solera" and this happens mainly in the spring when the Flor (yeast) is most active. Following the idea that these wines are white wine and not sherries, the wines are bottled in a Burgundy bottle under a Diam cork. The label is simple and only mentions the type (Fino), the area (Jerez del Frontera), the vineyard (Viña Corrales and the Pago (Balbainas or Marchanudo). The year of bottling is also on the label but also on the cork. The beauty of this new style Fino is that they can age, not that they have to, but like the best champagnes they tend to get better with time.

The NV Fino Viña Corrales Pago Balbaína was bottled in 2021, clearly visible on the label and on the cork. It has a round, luscious and buttery texture, a full flavor and very tart flavors with a freshness and elegance that makes the wine feel lighter and easier to drink. It has incredible aromas that are super complex, with notes of diesel, potpourri, wet chalk, grass and yeast. The new top white wine from Sisseck was bottled completely 'en rama', unfiltered and unclarified. 96/100 Parker