Marqués de la Sierra 2019 (Alvear)
An entry-level wine from Alvear, possibly a short-lived project
The Alvear winery in Montilla-Moriles has a long winemaking history, in fact they are the oldest winery in Andalusia and supposedly the second oldest in Spain. They’re well known for their Fino from tinajas and of course sweet Pedro Ximénez, especially the Añadas.
Since a couple of years they also started making white wines, like the terroir-driven Tres Miradas series. The wine we have today is an entry-level white wine. Marqués de la Sierra is made with Pedro Ximénez grapes from the plot Casilla Del Hospital, which has the classic albariza soil. Grapes are hand-harvested from trellised vines and fermented at low temperature, remaining on their lees for eight months. With a harvest in early September, the grapes were not fully ripe.
I’m not sure this wine was produced after 2019. It seems to have disappeared from the Alvear website and while I can still find 2019 bottles in stores, you don’t see more recent vintages. I bought my bottle in 2022 – perhaps I should have opened it sooner.
Marqués de la Sierra Blanco 2019 (12,5%, Alvear)
Nose: clean and fresh. Yellow apples and mild apricots, along with some blossomy notes. You feel the relative richness of the PX grapes. Then a nice minerality appears, with chalky notes and even a light whiff of Riesling petrol. Aniseed in the background.
Mouth: less classic now. There’s more of this chalky side, as well as hints of dried chamomile. Some glyceric notes. Also darker hints of straw, liquorice and bruised apple. Some citrus (grapefruit). Later it develops hints of flat Champagne. Medium finish with apple and subtle nutty notes.
Availability: still some bottles available for around € 9. Apparently the wine has disappeared though.
Summary: Not as fresh as a common wine lover may expect, but probably not showing enough Fino character for fortified wine aficionados either. This means it falls in between stools. It could work as a sushi wine, but I feel it's not perfectly harmonious to have on its own. I recommended to look higher up in their range.
3
Fine
About the Author
Ruben is a Certified Sherry Educator who fell in love with sherry some 25 years ago, but switched to a higher gear in 2013 and started writing about it. Lived in Madrid for a couple of years, now back in Belgium. I also run a whisky blog over at www.whiskynotes.be
Related Posts
Toro Albalá Amontillado 1951 (Decadent Drinks) →
“La Riva” Matalián 2021 (M. Ant. De La Riva) →
Contubernio Mahina (Dirk Niepoort) →
