In the world of wine, there are many wine fairs, but I think there is none like Vinoble. Why do I make such a statement? Well, for many reasons. I will start by saying that Jerez de la Frontera, where the event takes place, is one of the most charming cities I know. In its streets you can breathe a charming past, which, fortunately, is still very much alive in the present. And in Jerez, time moves slowly, swaying in its passing. The old bodegas form a natural part of the city’s scenery and, around any corner, you can smell little bursts of the aroma of fino escaping from the casks. Yet another delight for the senses, because Jerez is an immense sensory range.
The Salón Internacional de los Vinos Nobles, Vinoble – this year the eleventh edition – is held at the Alcázar venue in Jerez de la Frontera and brings together, in particular, fortified, liqueur and sweet wines, so typical of the Jerez, Montilla, Malaga and Huelva regions. The exhibition was set up with the aim of standing up to the more commercial wine fairs, where this type of “special wines” tend to go unnoticed by the general public.
In the displays that are spread throughout the Alcázar we find, especially, the different types of wines from the Marco de Jerez, Montilla, Malaga or Huelva, but there are also fortified wines from other parts of Europe and a display of still wines from the New World, and this year I even enjoyed the ice cider produced by Brännland Cider, in Sweden. The presence of cavas from Mestres is also a regular feature, which is much appreciated after so much generous wine.
There are many wines that I have fallen in love with this year, but I am going to remember two wines: the manzanilla wine variety La Olvidada, from the bodega Callejuela , and the amontillado Fino Imperial V.O.R.S. 30 años, from the bodega Díez Mérito. The former was a very pleasant surprise and the latter, an old acquaintance that already stole my heart a few years ago.
In a way, Vinoble is not just a show of special wines, but rather a fair of happiness in which wine lovers meet again, enjoy wine -not only from the Marco de Jerez-, delight in the gastronomy of southern Spain and, above all, be happy in a land that oozes albariza (soil) and liquid gold.