Description

Yema Fernando de Castilla Palomino

Rey Fernando de Castilla is regarded as one of the finest of Jerez’s small, independent sherry houses. The estate was established in 1837 by the Andrada-Vanderwilde family, with Fernando Andrada at the helm. The house built its reputation on brandy production starting in 1956, becoming one of the most celebrated brandy producers in Spain and across Europe, and the Rey Fernando de Castilla name was formally trademarked in 1969.

In 1999, Norwegian sherry enthusiast Jan Pettersen acquired the estate, bringing with him 15 years of experience at Osborne. He took over the cellars of neighboring sherry shipper José Bustamante and set about restoring the house to prominence. Today, Fernando de Castilla is once again recognized for producing pure, unblended, untreated sherries of exceptional quality. The estate crafts two distinct lines: the Classic, lower in alcohol and built as a textbook expression of each sherry style, and the Antique, a series of intensely concentrated single solera sherries aged for extended periods, including a Fino aged eight years and a PX system aged three decades, resulting in wines of remarkable depth and complexity.

Yema represents a new chapter for the house, its first unfortified wine. Made from 100% Palomino Fino, the same grape that anchors the estate’s sherry production, this bottling shows what the variety can achieve without fortification. The grapes are grown in albariza, the chalky white soil prized throughout Jerez for its ability to retain moisture through the region’s hot, dry summers. Yema is fermented at low temperatures to preserve freshness and aromatics, then aged on the lees for six months, adding texture and depth while keeping the wine’s bright, saline character intact.

Yema Fernando de Castilla Palomino Notes to Your Senses

• APPEARANCE: Pale gold with a bright, clean hue
• AROMA: Citrus and green apple with a saline, mineral edge
• TASTE: Crisp and dry, with orchard fruit and a chalky minerality carried by the lees aging
• FINISH: Clean and saline, with a lingering mineral note
• ABV: 13%