PM Spirits

Provider of Geeky Spirits

sherry,DOMAINE D’ESPÉRANCE

94 POINTS Navazos Palazzi Pedro Ximenez Single Cask Brandy

Best of, sherry, Brandy, Navazos PalazziNicolas Palazzi

This is a brandy de Jerez aged in oloroso casks, then finished three years in very old sweet Pedro Ximenez casks. The end result is an extraordinarily complex sipper that almost reads like a cocktail. The deep brown hue and bold dried fig aromas signal richness. While the first sips mingle toffee, maple, dried fruit, the finish is surprisingly dry and brisk, showing walnut skin, a hint of grapefruit peel, and cinnamon and cayenne glow. Bottled at cask strength, plan to add water or ice to mellow the appropriately fiery edge. Limited edition: 720 bottles produced. - KARA NEWMAN 

https://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/navazos-palazzi-pedro-ximenez-single-cask-brandy/

The Ultimate Guide to Aperitifs

Best of, Eater, vermouth, sherry, PM Spirits, Nicolas PalazziNicolas Palazzi

From bittersweet to botanical, there’s an appetite-stimulating aperitif out there for everyone in this growing category

by Tyler Zielinski Mar 10, 2022, 10:04am ESTPhotography by Michelle Min

HumansHumans are creatures of habit, and that’s especially true when it comes to our drinking rituals. We drink coffee for its ability to wake us up, herbal tea for relaxation, and wine to pair with food. But to stimulate the appetite before a meal, there’s one drink category most Americans tend to forget about: the aperitif.

The aperitif — a word derived from the Latin verb “aperire,” meaning “to open” — is a category of low-ABV beverages defined by when they’re consumed rather than how they’re produced. An aperitif can be a liqueur, fortified or aromatized wine (e.g., sherry or vermouth, respectively), or an aperitivo bitter (e.g., Aperol or Campari), making the category diverse and approachable for both bon vivants and novice drinks alike.

While the mindful and ritualistic consumption of aperitifs is slowly catching on in the U.S., in Europe, especially Italy, France, and Spain, aperitifs have been at the center of late afternoon and evening drinking rituals for decades — and, in some cases, centuries.

In Italy, aperitifs are consumed during the pre-dinner aperitivo hour — a time when family and friends gather to enjoy low-ABV tipples along with small bites (cicchetti, in Italian) to unwind from the day. In France, they practice apéro (short for apéritif) with French tipples such as pastis and Pineau des Charentes. And in Spain, sherries and vermut (vermouth) whet the appetite during “el aperitivo,” with new vermuterias, or vermouth bars, experiencing a renaissance among millennial drinkers.

Although a culturally ingrained drinking occasion such as aperitivo hour has not yet gained a permanent foothold in the U.S., interest in low/no-ABV drinks is expanding. The segment grew by 30 percent in 2020, and became a nearly $10 billion industry in 2021. As a result, the Aperol spritz has become as ubiquitous as the vodka soda in most major cities around the country; new sober bars and bars that strictly serve low-ABV aperitif-style cocktails are popping up; and a new wave of aperitifs is flooding the market at an unprecedented pace.

To kickstart your personal aperitivo hour practice, I’ve scoured the world of aperitifs to put together a list of some of the hottest bottlings from both domestic and international producers, broken down by flavor characteristics. Whether you’re a hardcore spritzer looking for an alternative to Aperol, a G&T lover open to trying a low-ABV botanical spirit to replace the gin, or a bon vivant who is just looking for the next hot low-ABV product, there’s a must-try aperitif for everyone.

PM Spirits Oloroso Sherry 2021

PM Spirits is one of the most exciting U.S. importers and distributors of geeky spirits. The brand’s Project Sherries came to be after Nicolas Palazzi, owner of PM Spirits, and Eduardo Ojeda, co-owner of cult sherry bottlers Equipo Navazos and senior advisor to famed sherry producer Grupo Estévez, collaborated to release some of the finest sherries that Jerez has to offer.

The Oloroso sherry is aged for an average of 19 years, and is full-bodied and structured with notes of toasted hazelnuts, sesame seeds and walnuts, brown butter, leather, toffee, candied orange peel, and cinnamon. The flavor profile is balanced with a delicate acidity and salinity that makes it perfect for contemplative sipping. While it would also shine in a simple sherry cocktail such as a highball or Sherry Cobbler, at its price point, you’ll want to be sure your bartending skills are quite sharp.

Tximista Vermouth

As far as vermouths go, the Basque-produced Tximista is truly one of a kind. It’s the world’s first and only vermouth made with 100 percent Getariako Txakolina wine from sustainably farmed hondarrabi zuri grapes. The brand has two styles, rojo and blanco, both aromatized with local herbs, roots, and botanicals. The high-acid, mineral-driven Txakoli base makes these vermouths incredibly drinkable while also standing up beautifully in a vermouth and tonic or martini. The product made its debut in Spain in 2018, and it’s currently only available in New York, California, and Florida, with more states being added for distribution in the near future.

https://www.eater.com/22967137/guide-to-buying-aperitifs-liqueurs-bitters-fortified-wine

Wine & Spirits Magazine 90 Points, PM Spirits - Palo Cortado

sherry, PM Spirits, Best ofNicolas Palazzi

90pts | PM Spirits

Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Palo Cortado Saca de Junio de 2021

Nicolas Palazzi and the team at PM Spirits worked with Eduardo Ojeda– chief winemaker at Valdespino and a co-owner of Equipo Navazos—to blend their own propriety brand of Sherries. This one is a selection from several criaderas, the wines an average age of 15 years. It still holds a brisk, salty memory of its time as a Fino, even as the flavors broaden out into saturated richness of barrel age. Serve it with bolitas de bacalao.

—J.G.   PM Spirits, Wilmington, DE

https://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com/

Sherry’s Indie Moment

sherry, Equipo Navazos, PM Spirits, Nicolas PalazziNicolas Palazzi

A growing number of independent bottlers is aiming to showcase a more nuanced, variable side to fino, manzanilla and more.

There’s no single origin point for the modern sherry renaissance, but the aged cask of amontillado that Eduardo Ojeda and Jesús Barquín of Equipo Navazos bottled in December 2005 would be a solid place to start.

Like so many examples of its kind, the wine had been forgotten for decades in a dusty bodega, where it would have continued to slumber if not for the private club of investors, organized by Ojeda and Barquín, who pooled together the funds to rescue it from oblivion. Titled “La Bota de Amontillado” (after the Edgar Allen Poe story) and shared exclusively among club members, that initial release gave birth to a series of chronologically numbered editions. Hype quickly followed, and in April 2007 the project released its first commercial effort: La Bota de Palo Cortado No. 6.

It may come as a surprise that one of the driving forces behind the current sherry revival basically started off as a Kickstarter campaign. But according to Peter Liem, sherry expert and co-author (along with Barquín) of Sherry, Manzanilla & Montilla: A Guide to the Traditional Wines of Andalucía, few were interested in purchasing, let alone marketing, these wines. “The only reason that all these old wines still existed is that nobody wanted them,” he explains, citing the economic collapse and fall from relevance that decimated the sherry industry toward the end of the 20th century.

More than 100 “Botas” later (as of 2022, the library consists of 107), the project has redefined sherry for many U.S. drinkers. As Liem puts it, “They opened our eyes to the fact that something completely different existed in this region, which nobody was talking about.” That alone would have been enough to secure Equipo Navazos’ lasting place in the zeitgeist. But in recent years, their success has paved the way for a new set of independent bottlers who are following a similar playbook, sourcing minuscule quantities of wine from bodegas across the Sherry Triangle.

Some are Jerez natives, such as Antonio Barbadillo Mateos of the Sacristía AB project, and Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Pérez, the duo behind the resurrected M. Antonio de la Riva label. Others, including Nicolas Palazzi of PM Spirits and Buelan Compañía de Sacas’ Nick Africano, operate out of the United States. They are united not only in their rejection of sherry as a standardized, industrial wine, but also in their desire to carve out a more intimate model for the region.

For Nicolas Palazzi, owner of rare spirits distributor PM Spirits, the collection of sherries he released late last year signaled a case study in sherry’s diversity. Since 2012, Palazzi has partnered with Equipo Navazos to bottle a series of highly-coveted single-cask Spanish brandy, whisky and rum under their Navazos Palazzi label. Even as someone who makes his living importing small-batch spirits, Palazzi was struck by the enormous variation between barrels in a single sherry solera system. “When you’re sampling different casks of spirits, a lot of the time you will find some small differences, but if it’s the same run, put in the same type of cask and aged in the same place for the same amount of time, the stuff you get is going to be pretty similar,” he explains. “But with sherry, it’s mind-bending. You can taste four different casks of the same exact wine and they’re all vastly different.”

“I saw a gap in the market for serious wines from this region, since everyone thought of manzanilla as something cheap, relatively young and accessible.”

In a typical bottling process, the solera would absorb and assimilate the individual profiles of these casks, rounding out their wayward edges into a smooth and seamless whole. At the scale that Palazzi describes, however, the goal is to capture the unique personality of a single barrel, or the distinctions that exist from one barrel to the next. “It sounds like a cliché, but these casks are living things,” Palazzi says.

New bottlers like Palazzi have arrived in Jerez at an inflection point. For all the recent talk of a renaissance, sherry remains a niche category. And while the cult model adopted by Equipo Navazos and its descendants has ushered in a new era of critical appreciation for the region’s finest wines, that’s not enough to sustain an entire wine industry. The question on everyone’s minds, then, is: What’s next?

INDIE SHERRIES TO TRY

PM Spirits Amontillado

“Selected with the expert help of Eduardo Ojeda,” as its label proudly declares, the PM Spirits amontillado drinks noticeably brighter and fresher than many examples of the genre, happily embracing its inner fino with a pronounced flor character. Although the packaging doesn’t mention where it was sourced, Palazzi notes that the wine came from several casks belonging to a prominent bodega with roots in the late 19th century. Light amber in the glass, it’s energetic and lively, especially for the style—as close to easy-drinking as amontillado gets.

https://punchdrink.com/articles/fino-manzanilla-amontillado-sherry-indie-moment/

What is Armagnac? Exploring Cognac’s Older Cousin

Armagnac, cognac, DOMAINE D’AURENSEN, Domaine d’Esperance, DOMAINE D’ESPÉRANCE, L'Encantada, PM SpiritsNicolas Palazzi
armagnac-2-768x768.jpg

How Armagnac is Made

“Essentially, Cognac is more like Tequila, and Armagnac is more like mezcal in the way it’s produced,” says Nicolas Palazzi, owner of importer and distributor, PM Spirits, “but not in flavor [although it can occasionally share similar notes with the agave spirit].” Armagnac is a bit more artisanal in nature, and every producer creates a product to their own proof and style making it a fan favorite for spirit nerds.

Armagnac is allowed to use 10 grape varieties in production, but typically only use four: Ugni blanc, Baco, Folle Blanche, and Colombard; whereas in Cognac they use around 99% Ugni blanc. More variety in the raw material allows for Armagnac to express a diversity in flavor that Cognac cannot. When you also consider the terroir — the soil, climate, and hand of the maker — Armagnac truly distinguishes itself in character.

“There is something really interesting in picking grapes and making a product that has a true personality and seeing that product at a stage where it hasn’t become a very popular spirit [like Cognac] that has been modified to try to appeal to the general public,” says Palazzi. “Armagnac is very terroir-driven, it feels like you can connect with the history of the land and its rich history.”

In terms of distillation, 95% of Armagnac production is distilled with an alembic column still, whereas Cognac has to be pot-distilled, Palazzi notes. “Some are using pot still as well,” he says, although it’s a rarity.

After being distilled, the liquid is typically aged in 400-liter French oak casks — typically local, Gascony oak — and is then classified as VS, VSOP, Napoleón, or XO (Hors d’âge), depending on how long it has been aged for, with XO being the oldest age statement meaning the distillate has seen a minimum of 10 years in the cask. It’s also common for Armagnac producers to release vintages, like wine, but this will be more of a rarity as the category continues to rise in popularity.

After aging, the Armagnac is either bottled at cask strength, or proofed down. “The reason why Cognac is typically 40% ABV is to stretch out the amount they’re able to produce because of the demand,” Palazzi notes. “In Armagnac, you’ll find more full-proof bottling because they aren’t under the pressure of hitting numbers so they can focus on creating the best product possible [regardless of proof].” This means that each bottle will have its own distinct character, which isn’t always the case with other brandies.

Some producers to note are: Domaine Boignères, Château de Pellehaut, Domaine Espérance, Domaine d’Aurensan, but there are many others creating exceptional brandies as well in the region.

READ/LISTEN HERE

Cobrafire Eau-de-Vie de Raisin

Cobrafire Eau-de-Vie de Raisin

An unaged blanche (white) Armagnac produced in the Bas Armagnac sub-appellation. It’s an undiluted, unadulterated expression of exactly what a French brandy should taste like. At 51.5% ABV, it’s also begging to make it into your next Martini.

PM Spirits VS Bas Armagnac Overproof

PM Spirits VS Bas Armagnac Overproof

Importer PM Spirits teamed up with renown production house, Domaine Espérance, to release their own label of VS overproof (51.7% ABV) Armagnac. For the price you’ll pay, it’s an absolute steal and must-try.

https://www.themanual.com/food-and-drink/what-is-armagnac/