Juan Pinero Manzanilla Maruja

D.O. Manzanilla-Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain

Wine Advocate 90 points!

Juan Pinero Manzanilla Maruja is a beautiful dry sherry from Juan Pinero in Manzanilla. The location of their bodegas, in Sanlucar de Barrameda as well as Jerez de la Frontera, has allowed them to produce some of the oenological jewels of the winemaking world over the past two centuries, including “manzanilla” and “fino”, under the designations of origin “Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda” and “Jerez-Xérès-Sherry”. These fortified white wines are currently produced with 100% “Palomino Fino” grapes as per the designations of origin.

Maruja is a nickname for Maria (Mary). This was a brand started long ago by Bodegas Terry and was named after the owner's daughter - Maria. Bodegas Terry sold it to Domecq where it was eventually sold to Juan Piñero in 2000. Manzanilla derived from the last “solera” of the original Manzanilla Maruja. A classic Sanlucar manzanilla with an average age of more than 8 years, and developed by means of local traditional methods. The production approach is very dynamic, with only small amounts extracted to promote the longevity of the “velo de flor”.

“I enjoyed and drank several bottles of the NV Manzanilla Maruja while visiting the zone. This is a new label from an old solera that used to belong to Terry and was purchased by Juan Piñero who manages to find a good balance between freshness and age. This is bottled with an average age of seven-eight years under flor. It has a fine nose, with chamomile and white flowers intermixed with shy notes of sea breeze, elegant and subtle. The palate is really sharp, very salty and fine like a textbook Manzanilla. They do some ten bottling per year totaling 6,000 bottles. A real bargain.”—Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate, 90 points!

Enjoy Juan Pinero Manzanilla Maruja with fresh berries or a fruit tart.