When Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, who associated ham with the Spanish imagery of abundance, described it as “something more than a mummified and edible leg of a corpse, and even something more than a mummified leg of a glorious Iberian pig,” he did so with devotion for a delicacy he considered fetish and that never failed—oh, that splendid leg!—on the marble of the kitchen in his house in Vallvidrera.
His son, the writer Daniel Vázquez Sallés, doesn't like when people write or speculate about what his father would think about politics or many other things that people allow themselves to speculate on - “How can you know what someone who hasn't been here for years would think?”. But we ask him to make an exception and imagine what his father would have thought about trying hams that have heroically withstood the test of time - up to 18 years of curing! - in a tasting like the one held last Tuesday by the Joselito company at the very Museum of Prado. “I have no doubt that Manolo would have been thrilled to be there. And so would I,” he replies succinctly, with his father's inherited irony.
One of the moments when the hams from the five vintages that were tasted in the Cloister of the Madrid museum were served
It was not easy, as José Gómez Sr. will explain, to obtain permission for the event in the beautiful Claustro del Prado, where once the museum's doors are closed to visitors, the guests to the tasting will start to enter and find themselves in front of a large U-shaped table. On one side, expert carvers will be ready to delicately slice the jewels that Joselito has been carefully preserving. The room will be set with lighting in the signature red tones (150 years of history and two active generations coexisting: the fifth and the sixth). Surrounding them, the sculptures that guard the impressive Cloister. In one corner, an artist playing the harp. At the other end, the table with the wines for the tasting: Dom Perignon Vintage 2015, Capellania Marqués de Murrieta 2019, Único Vega Sicilia 2012, along with a 2024 Iron Buddha tea recommended to cleanse the palate between different vintages of ham.
One of the hams from 2006 was sold last year in the Asian market for between 60,000 and 80,000 euros
They will explain the firm's commitment to research (involved in 14 projects, mostly related to sustainability), their work in reforestation (545,589 trees planted so far). They will talk about their presence in 56 countries, the fascination of Asian fortunes with Vintage hams, those that are over seven years old (last year they paid between 60,000 and 80,000 euros for a piece like the one that will be tasted today, aged 18, almost 19). The importance of the two montaneras, the cork oaks and holm oaks, which are a treasure, with hundreds of years of life... They will speak of fat as the most precious part of the ham (“There would be no ham without that healthy fat”). Or the 42 classified molds that the firm has, with a fungotheca. José Gómez says there is one, “we call it the violet mold, which comes from a cellar of my great-grandfather and was close to disappearing.”
One of the Guijuelo ham from the brand is on display in a showcase at the Prado, next to one of the sculptures from the Cloister
The tasting begins, and while José Gómez Jr. recounts the details of each of the pieces that will be sampled throughout the evening, José Gómez Sr. observes, pleased, and gently strokes one of the first slices between his index and thumb... “Do you see it? The fat is melting between the fingers. You have to grab the ham with your hands, touch it.” These pieces with so many years, he explains, are ephemeral. “They have held up magnificently, they are jewels, but you have to eat the ham as soon as you start slicing it.”
Opening one of these cured hams that have been aging for so many years, he says, “it's like uncorking a wine that's 150 or 200 years old: it reveals textures and flavors that we aren't familiar with because we haven't tasted such old hams before.”
The antiquity
According to José Gómez, opening a ham from 2006 would be equivalent to uncorking a bottle of wine that is 150 to 200 years old
We start with the 2017 vintage. They explain that there was a late montanera, with “grass with mustard flowers in the fall, irregular rains, and cold January and February months; a year of well-preserved acorns with many monounsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants.” The color of the meat is dark, the infiltrated fat melts in the mouth; the aroma is of dried grass and the flavor is very distinctive. The umami flavor is present in all the Vintage pieces we will taste, and it will increase as they age.
José Gómez Jr., brand manager of Joselito and sixth generation of the company, explains the different parts during the tasting
We move on to 2015 (a piece of ginger and a sip of tea to cleanse the palate between vintages). They say it was a year of mild and humid temperatures; the fat, silky, melts in the mouth. The texture is smooth and the muscle firm, with an infiltration that blends well. The tasting notes point out “relaxing aroma, vegetal background with green apple, very subtle, penetrates the five senses.”
In 2013, spectacular, it is rumored to be the favorite of Pablo Álvarez from Vega Sicilia. It seems that that year had mild temperatures and regular rainfall in the pasture. It is a consistent ham but with freshness. "With a mild flavor, it alternates between sweet and salty with an aroma reminiscent of the Mediterranean forest.
José Gómez, fifth generation, with the expert ham cutters from the company
In 2009, the penultimate ham we will taste was marked by irregular rainfall between December and March, with mild temperatures that favored the preservation of the acorns, which ripened in earthy and orange tones. All of this is reflected in a ham that reaches the end of 2024 with an intense concentration of aromas, nuts, hazelnut (“the hazelnut flavor is pure acorn, as José father tells us”), and sun-dried hay. We notice sweet and salty flavors that alternate harmoniously.
Some slices of ham from 2006 were tasted, marketed as “the oldest in the world”
And finally, the oldest of that Vintage collection that is being tasted: we tried something unique that is presented to us as “the oldest ham in the world,” from 2006, and we don't picture a mummified leg but a very lively ham, with unctuous and soft fat, with meat ranging from intense red tones to pinkish. Its taste, described by Gómez's son himself, “is slightly sweet at the beginning, and the unctuous fat melts on the palate in a sublime way. Personality and persistence.” That year, they explain, had mild temperatures and moderate rainfall. 18 years, almost 19, of natural curing. A challenge and a reflection of the evolution that is only achieved with a natural ham. An ephemeral art that will disappear as soon as we leave the museum, without removing any prohibited piece. Or, if preferred, taking it with us.
