Juan Piñero Manzanilla Pasada Maruja

Last time I tasted the regular and this time I got the NV Manzanilla Pasada Maruja, which is from a single vineyard the Pago del Hornillo in Sanlúcar. This is a new wine in the market; I tasted the second 'saca' ever. The best barrels of the Maruja are selected and put aside; it has an average age of 12-15 years and some barrels still develop a thin layer of flor for a short time. The barrels are not fully topped up, but the empty space is quite small, so the oxidation is also quite gentle. It's very concentrated and pungent with strong flavors and marked bitterness. The wine is sharp and very dry; it tastes like sea water, so salty and vertical. Some 2,000 half-liter bottles are produced per year, some 1,000 liters per year, which is what they calculate is the limit to keep the old average age of the wine.