El Piraña
Juan Francisco Pulido Cabral's (nickname, El Piraña) family has a long history of grape growing in the town of Trebujena along the Guadalquivir River northeast of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. The vineyards, planted mainly to Palomino Fino, cover 4 hectares over three pagos, La Rosa, La Cruz, and Alventus, and range in age from 25 to 40 years old. Juan Francisco inherited the vines, converted by his father to organic farming in the 1990s, in 2011.
In the past, the family sold their grapes to larger sherry houses, never making their own wines. With declining prices and less demand for grapes, Juan Francisco quickly realized he needed to change, and he began pressing his crop and selling the must in 2012. Over the next few years, his musts began to attract attention and win awards at the yearly tastings - and Juan Francisco started to think about making his own wines. Trebujena is famous for its vineyards, historically radical farmworker movement, and the high quality of the shrimp and eels that are pulled from its marshes along the Guadalquivir river. Northeast (and upriver) from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the soils here are mostly albarizas of the lustrillo type, tinted orange by the inclusion of iron-oxide. While the town's history has always been deeply linked to Sherry wine, its (comparative) distance from the centers of export has traditionally put it in the back seat compared to Sanlúcar, Jerez, and even El Puerto de Santa María. In inland towns like Trebujena, the structure of the production system for sherry encouraged small farmers to grow grapes to sell on to large houses. The production of wines or even the pressing of grapes was discouraged (or, in many cases, outlawed). It is only recently that small bodegas and individuals are pressing their own grapes and making and bottling their own wines in these places. In 2023, after years of planning and the construction of a bodega, Juan Francisco joined this revolution in the region's wine production and bottled the first El Piraña wines from his 2022 vintage. From this point forward, his award-winning musts will go into his own wines. Juan Francisco works simply in the cellar, fermenting with native yeasts and working with stainless steel tanks and the traditional old botas of the Sherry region. The single Pago wines (Alventus and La Rosa) develop a brief flor, but the focus is on the character of the fruit rather than the biological notes produced by the veil. To achieve this, he fills the botas higher than is typical to ensure less influence from the flor. The Wines
Primario is 98% Palomino Fino and 2% Moscatel sourced from across Juan Francisco's four hectares of vines. The grapes were harvested by hand and fermented with temperature control at 18° C and without flor influence.
Pago Alventus is Palomino Fino from the Alventus Pago of 38-year-old vines next to the wetlands along the Guadalquivir river at about 45 meters elevation. The grapes were harvested by hand and fermented without temperature control in old Sherry botas. The influence of the river lends fresher notes and contributes to the development of a thicker flor that gives this wine a more biological character. Pago La Rosa is Palomino Fino from the La Rosa Pago of 40-year-old vines, further inland from the river than Alventus and at a slightly high altitude. The grapes were harvested by hand and fermented without temperature control in old Sherry botas. Compared to Alventus, La Rosa yields more structured wines that develop a thinner veil of flor. |
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