Meridiano Perdido

Meridiano Perdido is from an organically-farmed vineyard (La Mendoza) in the Pago Cerro Pelado, which is in the NW corner of Jerez. The two most prominent subtypes of Albariza there are Tosca Cerrada and Barajuelas. Very noteworthy is that the vineyard was planted in the 1960s, and was not re-grafted (98% of the Marco de Jerez was re-grafted to the productive Californiano clone of Palomino between 1973-1980). So there are eight or nine different clones in play. 

Joaquín makes the wine in a cortijo a couple kilometers from the vineyard. It’s fermented in used 500L French barrels and 100+ year-old ex-Fino butts. Flor is a function of vintage. He encourages more flor in warmer vintages because the glycerin consumption of the organism gives the wines a fresher feel. He doesn’t acidify, so essentially the only way to impart linearity on the wines is to reduce their glycerin content.

The story of the Meridiano Perdido is that during the Anglo-Spanish War in the late 16th / early 17th centuries, there were two meridians – one in Greenwich and one in Cádiz. England’s victory over the Spanish Armada led to the consolidation of Greenwich as the sole meridian, leaving that of Cádiz “lost”. The label image is a painting by Rocío Cano Guzmán, who is a noteworthy Jerezana painter (and Joaquín’s wife).