Primitivo Collantes' finest sherries and unfortified Palominos

Chiclana is perhaps the most unknown spot within the region of Jerez, but not the weakest. Its geographical location makes it the southernmost of all its villages, and its proximity to the sea, to the open bay of Cádiz, is its most distinctive character.

It is here where we find Bodegas Primitivo Collantes, a traditional yet innovative project led by Primi, who represents its fourth generation. Today, I leave you with an in-depth report on his work, taken from a conversation I had with him almost a year ago, before I was able to meet him in person at Viñateros. I will take you by the hand not only to get to know Chiclana's terroir, but also to immerse you in Primi's work ethos, thus understanding why Primi's wines are the way they are.

The Chiclanero Terroir

Being the closest spot to the Ocean, facing straight into the Bay of Cádiz, Chiclana is more Atlantic than Mediterranean. An enclave where, about 200 years ago, there were 3,700 hectares of planted vineyards, making it the town with the second largest number of hectares of vineyards, surpassed only by Jerez. Sadly, all of that has fallen by the wayside. The rise of tourism (which has led to the proliferation of villas and hotels), the windfarming industry, and subsidies given by the Government to those who uprooted vineyards in favor of other extensive crops provide the key to why much of Chiclana's viticultural heritage was lost in an area where, today, only about 130 hectares of planted vineyards remain.

Primitivo's vineyards maintain that primitive tradition, redundantly, of those traditional coastal Pagos that shaped the area during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries: wind and sea, two words that perfectly define its essence.

The region gets brushed by the Poniente and Levante winds, which blow at a much higher speed than in an inland area; here they can easily exceed 60 km/h. This means Primi has its vineyards planted from East to West so that, above all, the winds from the East (Levante) don't cause more damage than they already do. When the vine flowers, high-speed winds can burn the shoots, reducing his production.

The proximity to the sea results in milder temperatures. When the heat hits the more inland areas, reaching over 40 degrees Celsius, Chiclana experiences somewhat milder temperatures, even during the most critical months such as August. These factors affect the nature of the vineyard, meaning that the ripening season is slightly longer here. The fact that they are also about 96 meters above sea level, one of the highest points in Jerez, helps to temper these temperatures further.

The soil here is 100% albariza, calcareous, with a high concentration of calcium carbonate (although it also contains nitrogen) and numerous diatoms fossil. The soil is a very saline and stony type of albariza called Tajón, which tends to be highly water-stressed. On the other side facing away from the bay, Chiclana borders the white villages, which is precisely where the mountain range begins. This causes soil displacements in some areas, resulting in the appearance of Lustrillo or red sandstone veins on some of his plots.

La Bodega | The Cellar

This story began with Primi's great-grandfather (also called Primitivo Collantes), who was originally from Santander. His great-grandfather and his brother saw that the world of sherry was booming, so they decided to try their luck. Today, Primi represents the fourth generation. This generational change does not only apply to his lineage, but also to that of some workers whose families have been linked to this family winery for generations.

The winery is over 150 years old. What began as a small winery, today consists of two wineries (one in the lower part of the town and one in the upper part of the village) and approximately 39 hectares of vineyards owned by them, as they do not buy either grapes or finished must from anyone.

Primitivo has lived very attached to his terroir since childhood, so he's a man who prioritizes quality over quantity. He's not interested in having a vineyard that produces 14,000 kilos of grapes. If the raw material isn't good, the winery can't fix it. Primi belongs to the movement of winemakers who focus on viticulture as a starting point.

He inherited a family project filled with true oenological gems, those great soleras, which he has cared for and nurtured as they deserve. When he took over the winery, everything was well-organized and carefully maintained, but he soon realized that only fortified wines were being paid attention to, forgetting about vinos de pasto (non-fortified wines). Primi likes to highlight these wines as they are much easier to understand. They are also a true reflection of what the vineyard is, so the landscape can be bottled truthfully through this style of wine, where you can see a lot of that characteristic salinity, sapidity and freshness of idiosyncratic to Chiclana.

Primi's wines

Palomino is the epicenter of this project, the origin of it all. It's his work tool, and he likes to be rigorous when farming and harvesting it. Thus, he prefers to harvest 7,500 kilos per hectare of quality grapes rather than 14,500 kilos per hectare of something bland, structureless, and with a rock-bottom pH. Primi wants to recover the lost status of the Palomino, but not by producing for the sake of producing, as that only leads to a diminished, decadent product, devoid of race or identity.

For this reason, they allow themselves the luxury of working with different types of musts, as they press up to 4 times the grapes from each of the trailers that enters the winery. Thus, he works with free-run must which goes to a mother butt. From there, they subject the remaining pomace to a second pressing, obtaining a second press that goes into a different vessel. The same thing happens with the third pressing. The fourth pressing, however, is destined to make vinegar.

Primitivo has two vineyards: Matalián, a very coastal Pago, and Pozo Galván, closer to the beginning of the mountain range. It is from this latter Pago that he produces his Fino Ceballos, a fino aged for an average of three years under a veil of flor, as his goal is to achieve a fresher, less pungent, and much more drinkable fino. In the glass, this wine shows the impact of the veil of flor, but the varietal identity still dominates, leaving notes of apples, chamomile, mirabelle, fresh almonds, and orange blossom. The palate is sharp, bladey-like, and dynamic, almost like a salty breeze.

Meanwhile, the most coastal estate, Matalián, gives birth to his most iconic wines, such as the Fino Arroyuelo, which spends an average of five years aging under a flor veil in a solera composed of 20 butts. When this cuvée is bottled, it is done by selecting wine from the 14 butts showcasing the best flor at that time. Reason why is because Primi bottles it 'en rama', unfiltered, so that when uncork it, you can taste the wine as if it had just come from the butt. It is a fino with a broader palate and a character that exudes greater complexity and personality, as notes of roasted pumpkin, soy, miso, hay, and salted-baked celeriac begin to emerge. Despite its fullness, it still retains a saline punch that makes it very drinkable.

A second fortification of the Arroyuelo gives life to the iconic Amontillado Fossi. As you can imagine, this is a wine that has spent an average of five years of biological aging (which will leave its mark on the palate) and then undergoes an average of eight years of oxidative aging. The result is a glass of a super-fresh Amontillado, with a delicate yet sapid palate that's not lacking in complexity. Dried seaweed, chalk dust, bread crust, candied almonds, peanuts, grapefruit peel, aniseed... you'll go nuts! The drinkability of this wine is truly mind-blowing.

Socairism

Perhaps the wine that marked a turning point in Primitivo's work is Socaire, an unfortified wine sourced from a small hill within Matalián. He went to the highest part of this Pago to find the vines that would give birth to it (between 60 and 70 years old on average) because it's an area where you sink deeper into the soil when you walk on it. This is significant because that means that the content of diatomaceous algae found in the albariza is higher, which makes it a much more marine soil.

Socaire is an intermediate step between a white and a fino. It ferments in ex-fino butts where it also spends 24 months. They are one of the few wineries left with their own cooperage, so they work with their own American oak. These ex-fino butts, having previously contained a fine wine, all the acids in the grapes overlap its porosity, so the catalytic feedback from the wood is not as aggressive, becoming a vessel that just preserve the wine rather than transmitting toasted nuances.

Socaire is without a doubt one of the most distinctive white wines we have in Spain. A savory and saline Palomino that, despite its pungent mouthfeel, has an acidic structure that allows it to retain a vertical backbone that give it the potential for longevity. A wine capable of reflecting the nature of each vintage in the glass (I've been tasting several vintages since 2018, and while they have a common thread, there are always changing nuances) but which, as a general rule, tends to subtly flirt with the oxi world (crushed apple, celeriac, hay, and miso), with hints of citrus peels and white stone fruit, and often nuances such as dried flowers, butter-roasted popcorn, chamomile, salted almonds, and chalk dust show up.

This wine has become cult within Spanish sommeliers and connoisseurs, to the point that has its own movement: the Socairism.

From this vineyard he also bottles Matalián, made from the younger vines within the plot. To craft this unpretentious yet not simplistic Palomino, Primi has used only ‘mosto yema’ (free run juice) that fermented spontaneously in stainless steel where it aged on its lees as the intention of this wine is finding the balance between the varietal nuances (white stone fruit, citrus, Nashi pear) the subtlety of the albariza soil (chalk, iodine), and the open exposure to the Atlantic Ocean (freshness, verticality) as a common thread.

This is why your grannie drinks smarter

The Matalián vineyard is also home to the Moscatel de Grano Menudo, an indigenous clone to the area called Moscatel Chiclanero, which has a thicker skin, giving it more acidity and making the sugars stand out in the mouth, preventing it from being cloying. Primi makes Moscatel Oro Los Cuartillos, a non-asoleado Moscatel that it's vinified in stainless steel to preserve its freshness. A wine that preserves the varietal identity of the Moscatel (raisins, candied plums, rose petals) on the nose, with a lovely glycerin on the palate, but not at all cloying. It's sweet, but with an intrinsic freshness that invites you to keep drinking it without tiring.

Primi also bottles a Cream called El Trovador which is such a marvellous wine. Believe us, this is not your commercial cheap cream, but a wine with a strong identity as it blends a 25% of that seductiveness found in Los Cuartillos with a 75% of that mind-blowing complexity found in Fossi. You'll definitely forget that a cream is boring.

If you want to try or purchase any of the wines, please do not hesitate on sending us an email with the ones you're interested into and we'll forward you with more details as we proudly are Primitivo's solely distributors in Scotland: info@fionwines.co.uk

Miguel Crunia 

Director at Fìon, Edinburgh

Interviewed by Decanter

#7 Harper's 50 Top Sommeliers UK 2024