Mayetería Sanluqueña is the name behind a group of Sanlúcar grape growers (mayetos, in local speak) who, with the generous help of leading winemaker Ramiro Ibañez, joined forces to maintain the heritage of old vines in the area and produce their own quality wines from the Palomino grapes they themselves grow.
The partnership was born in the 2016 vintage with three mayetos —Rafael Rodríguez, José Manuel Harana and Antonio Bernal— and four white wines under the brand Corta y Raspa. All the members of Mayetería Sanluqueña meet a series of requirements that include the preservation of the old vineyards, manual harvesting, minimal use of treatments, yields below 7,000 kg/ha and spontaneous fermentation in casks with indigenous yeasts. The goal is to stay artisanal ensuring that the work of the mayetos in the vineyard is expressed in their wines.
The Corta and Raspa labels, an altruistic design of El Gatonauta, exhibit the name of the mayeto who has made the wine, the name of the plot and the vineyard and the number of bottles on release, which range from 600 to 1500 and are sold for about 11.50 € each. The labels alternate white (even vintages) and red (odd vintages). The back label also explains the type of soil in the vineyard and proudly highlights the generation of mayetos to which they belong in their family.
Rafael Rodríguez "Rafa", the youngest of the three and a professional quantity surveyor, makes two of the Corta and Raspa wines. A third-generation grape grower, his family owns a estate to the north of Añina, a vineyard in the outskirts of Jerez but one that is traditionally cultivated by growers and wineries from Sanlúcar. Although the vineyard is mechanized, in 2016 Rafa reserved a bunch of old vines from the Las 40 and Morla vineyards for his Mayetería Sanluqueña wines. Since the 2017 vintage, Morla has been replaced by another plot called Casabón. As in Las 40 vineyard, the soils are albariza de tosca cerrada, the most widespread in the the Sherry Triangle. In both cases, production is 600 bottles. In addition to being a member of Mayetería, Rafa has recently launched his own brand of white wines called Barrialto.
José Manuel Harana "Manu" is responsible for Corta y Raspa La Atalaya (600 bottles). Sourced from the eponymous vineyard in Sanlúcar, it commands views of the Guadalquivir river. La Atalaya is 56 metres above sea level on albariza de lentejuela soils (soft rocks with a high diatom content) and is exposed to the maritime influence that lends freshness and minerality. With its 11% alcohol, it is the lightest of the four wines.
Since the 2018 vintage, Harana, who earns his living working for Williams & Humbert in Jerez, produces another Corta y Raspa wine with a small part of the grapes from Charruado, a small plot with albariza de tosca cerrada soils (a tough type of albariza) within the El Cuadradillo. The rest of the grapes from this single vineyard are sold by his father to the cooperative.
Antonio Bernal, the eldest of the three, belongs to a family that has worked in the Maína vineyard for four generations. For many years, his father oversaw most of the vineyards of this inland pago west of Sanlúcar that produces wines with sapidity and structure. His 30-year-old vineyard, planted on highly valued albariza de barajuela soils (resembling a pack of cards), is the source of La Charanga (1,500 bottles).
All Corta and Raspa wines are sold at the same price, about €11.50 in Spain, and do not belong to any appellation of origin.
Since the 2018 vintage, Mayetería Sanluqueña has a new member. Daniel Rodríguez, an agricultural expert by day and a vigneron in the afternoons, produces Corta and Raspa Esbaratao, from a small plot planted in 1941 in the Miraflores Baja single vineyard.
