EQUIPO NAVAZOS What originally started out as a private buying club for an outstanding Amontillado located in the cellar of Miguel Sánchez Ayala, has become one of the most sought after series of bottlings sourced from, and inspired by the wines of Jerez and Montilla-Moriles. Jesús Barquín, a professor of criminal law at the University of Granda and Eduardo Ojeda, the technical director of Grupo Estévez, guided by their vast knowledge of, and unparalleled access to, the best wines, cellars and soleras of the region, have since 2005 assembled one of the finest offerings of Sherries in the market. When word got out about their project, what was once a hobby became a full-fledged commercial enterprise. Supply remains limited and demand has only increased. Since that first cask of Amontillado, labeled simply Bota de Amontillado no.1 in honor of the short story by Edgar Allan Poe, each successive bottling as been numbered, bottled en rama, limited in release and quick to sell out. Not content with only exploring the possibilities of fortified wines, Equipo has also released brandies, unfortified Palomino Fino aged under flor, and a couple of PX wines, one dry and one made from raisined grapes. They have also partnered with Dirk Niepoort and Quim Vila to make a Vin Jaune styled Palomino Fino and Sergei Colet to produce a Cava utilizing flor in the secondary aging of the wine as well as Sherry and Montilla for the dosage.
EQUIPO NAVAZOS A BASIC PRIMER REGULAR RELEASES Largest volume releases Issued on a nearly yearly basis Manzanilla en Rama Fino en Rama Manzanilla Navazos Fino Macharnudo Florpower Navazos Niepoort Casa del Inca PX LIMITED RELEASE PERIODIC RELEASE REGULAR RELEASE PERIODIC RELEASES Smaller volume releases Issued once every two years Fino Amontillado Palo Cortado Navazos Amontillado Sanlucar Amontillado Navazos Oloroso Navazos Colet Navazos Extra Brut Colet Navazos Reserva LIMITED RELEASES Smallest volume releases Single releases that usually do not repeat GLOSSARY Fino Amontillado An archaic term for a style of Fino sherry, that due to the age of the solera, experiences a weakening of the flor resulting in a slightly oxidative character to the wine. Can be drunk upon release or cellared. Manzanilla Pasada The Manzanilla equivalent of a Fino Amontillado. Bota Punta The last barrel at the bottom of a solera. This barrel is most frequently refreshed with wine from its own row rather than fresher wine from the top criadera. It is also exposed to greater airflow, and due to its easy access, is frequently disturbed for tasting. These factors combine to make for a wine with a greater average age, more concentration and a more singular expression. Bota Punta Bota NO Manzanilla Pasada Cream Etc. Bota NO Bota NO is a chalked mark on a barrel that indicated that it should not be refreshed with any new wine. As each barrel develops its own microbiological ecosystem some are so uniquely expressive that they are essentially removed from the solera and allowed to age on their own. These are most frequently the favorite barrels of the cellar master or owner of the solera. Like a Bota Punta, a Bota NO contains wine with a greater average age and concentration.
NAVAZOS MANZANILLA EN RAMA Sanlúcar de Barrameda mainly Miraflores Solera, average 4.5 years ALCOHOL 15% SRP $14 12 x 375 ml RELEASE Regular release, current saca May, 2017 This wine is a Manzanilla en Rama from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the only town where manzanilla wine can be produced. It is made from 100% Palomino Fino from vineyards in Sanlúcar, mainly from Pago Miraflores, located close to the Atlantic Ocean and to the estuary of the Guadalquivir river. The Manzanilla En Rama Navazos ferments with local yeasts and, after a small fortification so as to increase its alcohol content from ca. 12.5% to 15% abv, the wine enters the solera system where it has aged under a layer of flor for an average of four and a half years. It is therefore a well aged manzanilla, not as old as our La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada (ca. 12 years: release #70) or our La Bota de Manzanilla (ca. 6/7 years: release #71), but clearly above the minimum legal age of two years. As a result, this manzanilla is settled and saline, as well as cheerful and lively. A relevant feature is that it is bottled en rama (as actually are all sherries by Equipo Navazos). This means that no aggressive means of filtration or clarification have been used in the bottling process of this wine, only a minimal light filtration, without any cooling, so as to prevent that the yeasts of flor get into the bottle. What the wine lover will find inside any bottle of Manzanilla En Rama Navazos is a most exact example of what they would taste directly from any of the casks from where it has been drawn. This is a bet for authenticity and a comeback to the tradition of bottling the manzanillas as they are, keeping their natural complexity and depth, as well as it natural color, far from the extreme paleness and clarification that has been the rule in the last few decades.
NAVAZOS FINO EN RAMA Jerez de la Frontera Cartera and Macharnudo Alto Solera, average 5 years ALCOHOL 15% SRP $14 12 x 375 ml RELEASE Regular release, current saca October, 2014 Fino en Rama comes from Jerez de la Frontera, the most significant town in the DO for the production of wine and the origin of the anglicized word, Sherry. It is 100% Palomino Fino from the albariza-rich vineyards of Cartera and Macharnudo Alto. These are two highly-regarded Pagos within the DO, located just a few kilometers distant from Jerez de la Frontera. The Fino En Rama Navazos is harvested by hand and ferments with indigenous yeasts until the base wine, mosto, reaches 12.5% alc/vol at which point it is fortified to 15%. After fortification the wine enters the solera system where it has aged under a layer of flor for an average of five years. It is therefore a well-aged Fino, far from the decade-long aging of Equipo Navazos' Fino Macharnudo, but exceeding the minimum legal age for Fino of at least two years. As a result, this wine is pungent and lively, but also complex and comparatively rich. 91 NV Fino en Rama Saca of May, 2015 Wine Advocate 92 NV Fino en Rama Saca of October, 2014 Wine Advocate 91 NV Fino en Rama Saca of March, 2014 Wine Advocate
#51 PALO CORTADO BOTA GF Gaspar Florido / Pedro Romero Average age between 50 80 years old ALCOHOL 22% SRP $150 6 x 375 ml RELEASE Limited release, bottled February, 2014 Gaspar Florido used to market two very old wines sourced from their soleras at their old cellaring facility at calle Rubiños, in the heart of the Barrio in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. When they decided to seize the real estate fever and sell their urban bodegas they had to move those butts to a shabby facility on the road from Sanlúcar to Trebujena. There is where I had the opportunity to sample them for the first time, on a visit with Álvaro Girón to an already old Gaspar in June 2006. We were very positively impressed by their quality and consistency, especially in contrast with the lack of distinction--to put it mildly--of the context there and then. There were quite a few butts of the outstanding GF-25 and only a few of GF-30, a very old and absolutely spectacular wine. It is precisely from the latter that this La Bota de Palo Cortado #51 Bota GF is sourced, a return to this source from our #41 Bota NO. Only a few months later, early in 2007, Bodegas Pedro Romero purchased Gaspar Florido, and since then they have remained marketing GF-25 under the usual label Jerez Viejísimo. In Gaspar s opinion perhaps questionable but not lacking solid ground such wines see how the distinctive features of amontillado, palo cortado and oloroso are blurred by their very age. That is why he used to label it simply Jerez, which after all merely honors the sanluqueña tradition of referring to the local palo cortado as jerez cortado. Today these butts are stored at the Sacristía of Pedro Romero, back to the heart of the Barrio and actually very near their original location. There is where we had the opportunity to revisit them and sample them exhaustively and, ahem, exhaustingly, in order to select our favorites for this edition of La Bota GF. Along with other editions of this series, The Boot Palo Cortado 51 Bota GF provides the opportunity, increasingly rare, to possess and try to bottled history. There is already precious little wine superviejo that balances Jerez, Sanlucar and El Puerto, and one suspects that the chance to access jewels like these will not be repeated often. 98 #51 La Bota de Palo Cortado #51 Wine Advocate
#55 MANZANILLA NAVAZOS Sánchez Ayala Average 10 years under flor ALCOHOL 15% SRP $55 RELEASE Regular release, bottled November, 2014 This is the seventh release from the same solera that has already produced editions number 4, 8, 16, 22, 32 and 42 of La Bota. For its selection we have returned to our favorite butts of the oldest manzanilla solera hosted at Bodegas M. Sánchez Ayala and on this occasion we have selected 19 of them. It was precisely the location of this house that inspired our choice of the name that we gave our project, as our first wine, the unforgettable La Bota de Amontillado nº 1, was sourced precisely from the cellaring facilities of Barrio de la Balsa, between the streets Banda Playa and Divina Pastora. This was a zone gradually reclaimed from the Guadalquivir estuary and traditionally surrounded by today almost gone navazos. La Bota de Manzanilla #55 has a really pungent aroma, the character of this particular winery, really high acetaldehyde, a sub-product of the biological aging, for me a textbook, pungent Manzanilla. The palate is medium-bodied with very intense, sharp flavors. This is ready to be enjoyed now, but it will develop a different personality in bottle. An unbeatable match on the dinner table, it excels with dishes from the Spanish seafood tradition: mackerel & potatoes, tuna stew, and boiled shellfish; international cuisine: toro sashimi, marinated herring, mussels; and especially with the spicy dishes of the Asian southeast. It has been bottled after only the slightest filtration in order to preserve its genuine character and its deep golden color with green hues as if straight from the butt. It is advisable to handle this Manzanilla with just as much care as any other great white wine. It should be served at about 9/11ºC in fairly large stemware, never in the cliché copita.. 93+ #55 La Bota de Manzanilla Wine Advocate
#56 PEDRO XIMÉNEZ VIEJÍSIMO BOTA NO Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla Pedro Ximénez, fortified Average age of 70 years ALCOHOL 15% SRP $110 6 x 375 ml RELEASE Limited release, bottled October, 2014 Rey Fernando de Castilla was founded in the 1960s by Fernando Andrada-Vanderwilde, a scion of an ancient Ibero-Dutch aristocratic family with over 200 years in the wine trade. To make his enterprise immediately viable, Fernando began his cellar with some old stocks of Sherry that he acquired from Pedro Domecq. Some of these founding butts survived the sale of Rey Fernando de Castilla to Norwegian, Jan Pettersen in 1999, and are the source for Equipo Navazos La Bota de Pedro Ximénez Viejísimo Bota NO #56. While Pedro Ximénez is more frequently associated with Montilla, it is grown in Jerez as well. Most of it is used to add sweetness to bottlings of Cream Sherry as well as taking the bracing edge off many Palo Cortados, Amontillados and Olorosos. It is fairly uncommon to find a sweet PX from Jerez let alone one that is well over 70 years in age or a Bota NO for that matter. With 400 g/l of residual sugar, #56 is not a shy or introverted wine, it boasts aromas of toffee, chocolate, raisins, dates, and a milky hint with a dense palate, quite sweet, keeping the freshness and balance. It s fragrant and open, and develops some aromas of hazelnuts with time in the glass. This cask was bottled in its entirely only 750 bottles. 95+ #56 La Bota de Pedro Ximénez Viejísimo Bota NO Wine Advocate
#59 MANZANILLA PASADA CAPATAZ RIVAS Hijos de Rainera Pérez Marín Average age of 15 years ALCOHOL 16% SRP $50 RELEASE Limited release, bottled June, 2015 Rafael Rivas, capataz for several decades at La Guita cellars at Sanlúcar s Calle Misericordia until his recent retirement, started in 1986 this 15-butt solera of well-aged Manzanilla. The plan was to produce an old Manzanilla of exceptional quality should one be required to add some extra kick to the commercial releases of the house. But no such kick was ever required, and so, in order to preserve its character and prevent its turning into an amontillado, capataz Rivas pampered these 15 butts and touching them only sparsely, sometimes as little as only every two years, with testimonial sacas of only four or five arrobas (roughly 5x16=80 liters) and refilling them with wines sourced from the best solera of La Guita. The result is a true Manzanilla Pasada like the fine examples of yore, but also extremely singular in style. Another feature that contributes to this wine s singularity and unmatched biological character (intense and steely notes of salinity on the palate) is the way the butts are filled almost up to a tocadedos (within a finger reach from the top) well above the customary 5/6 in the Sherry region. This way, the yeast layer or flor (truly weakened now by the wine s age and lack of nutrients) in these butts is more reduced and can be maintained with those scarce refills. It still performs its function as physical barrier against the wine s oxidation, but in its diminished state it cannot be fully effective and so this Manzanilla offers elegant oxidation notes and a budding rise in its alcohol level, at about 16%. The real average age of La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada #59 must be around 15 years. It is a complex and powerful wine, of balanced freshness and elegant oxidation notes that make it truly unique. Stunningly versatile on the dinner table, it matches a wide variety of dishes, from the most easygoing (rich fish dishes, fish-based rice recipes, charcuterie) to the most difficult (scrambled eggs with mushrooms or runny sheep cheeses). Best served around 12º C, in moderately large stemware. 96 #59 La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada Capataz Rivas Wine Advocate
#60 MANZANILLA PASADA BOTA PUNTA Hijos de Rainera Pérez Marín Average age of 15 years ALCOHOL 16% SRP $100 6 x 500 ml RELEASE Limited release, bottled August, 2015 Manzanilla Pasada Bota Punta #60 was bottled from the last barrel of a 15 barrel solera of Manzanilla Pasada: a simply magnificent old Manzanilla, of rarely seen finesse and complexity. This vessel has always followed a different extractions-and-refreshing regime under the alert eye of its true creator: Rafael Rivas, capataz of La Guita, who has been in charge of the Bodega Misericordia in Sanlúcar de Barrameda since the owners of the company Hijos de Rainera Pérez Marín bought the facilities in 1986. This small solera of 15 barrels is also the source of Manzanilla Pasada Capataz Rivas #59 as well as many previous bottlings: #10, #20 Bota Punta, #30 Capataz Rivas, #39 Bota NO, #40 Bota Punta, #41 Bota NO and #50 Bota Punta. This barrel was not refreshed with wine from the first criadera, but with more Manzanilla Pasada from other butts from the same row in the solera, which in turn were refreshed with criadera wine. The overwhelming combination of power and finesse that this butt already exhibited in January 2008, when it was first bottled, has become, seven years later, a real verbal challenge for even the most skilled poet-taster, all the happier for being defeated at the describing game by this rarest of Manzanillas. This edition shares the essential characteristics of La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada Capataz Rivas 59, only with greater intensity and purity, no matter how impossible the thought may appear to lovers of number 59. This is truly a wine to dream of, understandably unbelievable unless one has the opportunity to enjoy it in person. 97 #60 La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada Bota Punta Wine Advocate
#61 AMONTILLADO BOTA NO Hijos de Rainera Pérez Marín Average age of 35 years ALCOHOL 20% SRP $100 6 x 500 ml RELEASE Limited release, bottled June, 2015 In the wine cellars owned by La Guita on the road to Jerez outside Sanlúcar de Barrameda there are several Amontillado soleras identified by the number of butts that exist of each one, and by the labels Manzanilla Pasada, Manzanilla Pasada Vieja or Manzanilla Pasada Viejísima. All those soleras have survived practically untouched since La Guita rearranged its stocks in 1980 and moved most to the cellars on the road to Jerez. Among them, the Solera 1/10 of Manzanilla Pasada Vieja which actually is an exceptional Amontillado, very old and elegant, that shows the typical character of Sanlúcar. It is precisely from that solera that we have sourced the present release: La Bota de Amontillado 61 Bota NO. It is the second time we come to it, since in 2011 there was a release with the same name and source numbered as La Bota no. 31. Due to its evident age and depth it can be sipped as a midmorning drop on quiet leisurely days, or after a meal. It also displays a harmonious palate that makes it especially appropriate for intense dishes such as a hearty stew, arròs de muntanya, or lobster bisque, and also of delicate pieces of sushi with a dash of wasabi. Come to think of it, at a lower than usual temperature, this amontillado can be sipped successfully side by side to a refreshing ajoblanco or gazpacho. It should be served in sufficiently generous stemware at around 13-14ºC, to account for the expected temperature rise once it is in the glass. 95 #61 La Bota de Amontillado Bota NO Wine Advocate
#67 FLORPOWER MMXII Pago Miraflores Palomino Fino, unfortified, fermented in tank Aged under flor 6-7 months in butts then an additional 12 months under flor in tank ALCOHOL 12.5% SRP $33 RELEASE Regular release, bottled June, 2016 At EQUIPO NAVAZOS we are determined to extract the full potential of biological ageing under flor at natural (unfortified) abv. It was following that path that the white Navazos-Niepoort was produced for the first time in 2008 (there are quite a few vintages out in the market by now). More recently we have started a number of experiments ageing in butt and vats, using both palomino fino and pedro ximénez sourced from different terroirs in the Sherry district and Montilla and even other non-commercial projects in Spain s northeast and northwest. Along this line, in 2016 we bottled the third vintage of Florpower (MMXIV, i.e. 2014), as release number 67 of the LA BOTA series. La Bota de Florpower MMXII 67 Más acá, an unfortified white wine, basically follows in origin and winemaking practices La Bota de Vino Blanco MMX 44 Florpower and La Bota de Florpower 57 MMXII, the main difference being the 2014 vintage. Another small difference is an earlier bottling, with a shorter period of quiet ageing under flor in inox tank, after the same first period of intense biological ageing in traditional 600 liters sherry casks. That is the reason of the mention Más acá (below, less there), a play on words that connects with La Bota de Florpower MMX 53 Más allá (beyond), a wine that, inversely, was aged in barrels for a further ten months period than the standard releases of Florpower, Nos. 44 & 57. The wine was already showing beautifully, and we thought it was worth allowing wine lovers interested in this project the possibility to enjoy a fresher and less mature version of Florpower than previous releases. Hence we decided to do this small bottling más acá. Made exclusively of Palomino Fino sourced from the blessed plot known as Pago Miraflores, it fermented in stainless steel tanks. After fermentation, it was transferred to 40 butts where it was aged under flor for 6-7 months. By June 2015 it all went to two stainless steel vats where always under the by now much milder influence of flor yeasts it remained until bottling from one of them in June 2016. (91-93) #67 La Bota de Florpower Más Acá Wine Advocate
#68 FINO MACHARNUDO ALTO Valdespino Macharnudo Alto Average 10-11 years under flor ALCOHOL 15% SRP $50 RELEASE Regular release, bottled June 2016 La Bota de Fino 68 Macharnudo Alto is a saca made in June 2016 from the same batch of casks that already gave us the seven previous editions of La Bota de Fino. This new release, of an estimated average age between ten and eleven years, comes now from a selection of casks of the solera, the first and the second criaderas. The nose shows very complex and intense aromas, and a remarkable roundness in the palate (the traditional buttery touch of old finos) as a result of the autolysis of dead flor yeasts resting on the bottom of the vessel. This is particularly true of the solera, where the flor is almost exhausted, while in the second criadera the yeast is still very lively and active, which provides the spiciness and pungency that are also notable features of this extraordinary wine. Of course, the first criadera has an intermediate profile between the solera and the second. This is a wine for connoisseurs, bottled almost unfiltered in order to preserve its golden color and racy character. It can be decidedly enjoyed upon release, but its evolution in bottle will continue to delight consumers for many years, provided it is stored with the same care as any other fine white wine. It performs best at temperatures ranging from 9-10º C, where it shows a lighter and fresher profile, to 13º C, where it fully displays its rich and complex aromatic range. On the table it is a most versatile wine, successfully matching a wide array of diverse foods: of course Ibérico ham, but also seafood dishes, shepherd s pie, a feira octopus, grilled vegetables, not too mature farm cheeses 94 #68 La Bota de Fino Macharnudo Alto Wine Advocate
#69 AMONTILLADO MÁGNUM Hijos de Rainera Pérez Marín Average age of 17-18 years ALCOHOL 18% SRP $140 3 x 1500 ml RELEASE Limited release, bottled September 2016 The historic premises of Calle Misericordia in Sanlúcar de Barrameda were thoroughly refurbished just a few years ago. The works did not significantly affect the thousands of casks of the solera and criaderas of manzanilla that are maturing in the two main buildings, but it did change the disposition and the wines of the Sala de Banderas, mainly casks of amontillado in the most delicate Sanlúcar style. Besides the dozens of butts that surround the space in this cozy bodega, there are a few vessels that are especial because of their size and their origins, particularly a magnificent tonel gordo (120 arrobas, i.e. 2000 liters), singularly placed in a corner of the room, separated from the main rows of casks that are standing by the wall. This single big cask was filled with a selection of the best amontillados of the house (same genealogy as our previous releases No.37, 58, etc.), refreshed with a moderate proportion of the extraordinary manzanilla pasada from Misericordia. The resulting wine has aged a few more years in such unique place until the contents of the tonel has been bottled for this release La Bota de Amontillado 69 Mágnum. A natural amontillado whose average estimated age is around 17-18 years old. It is best enjoyed in a sufficiently large white wine glass towards 13/14ºC so it should be served slightly below that to allow for aeration. An excellent aperitif on its own, it also works beautifully with some dishes, such as seafood with an intense iodised taste (oysters, red shrimps, barnacles, anemones ) or spicy asian food. (93-95) #69 La Bota de Amontillado Mágnum Wine Advocate
#70 MANZANILLA PASADA MÁGNUM Hijos de Rainera Pérez Marín Average age of 13 years ALCOHOL 16% SRP $115 3 x 1500 ml RELEASE Limited release, bottled September 2016 The historic premises of Calle Misericordia in Sanlúcar de Barrameda were thoroughly refurbished just a few years ago. The works did not significantly affect the thousands of casks of the solera and criaderas of manzanilla that are maturing in the two main buildings, but it did change the disposition and the wines of the Sala de Banderas, mainly casks of amontillado in the most delicate Sanlúcar style. Besides the dozens of butts that surround the space in this cozy bodega, there are a few vessels that are especial because of their size and their origins, among them two toneles of 90 arrobas (i.e. 1500 liters each), singularly placed in two of the corners of the room, separated from the main rows of casks that are standing by the wall. These two casks were filled with a selection of the best wines of the first criadera (1/41) of the extraordinary manzanilla pasada from Misericordia (same genealogy as our remarkable releases no.10, 20, 30, etc. of the La Bota series). These two toneles of manzanilla pasada have been ageing for a couple more years in such unique place until their contents has been bottled for this release La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada 69 Mágnum. The real average age of this manzanilla pasada must be around 13 years. It is a complex and powerful wine, of balanced freshness and elegant oxidation notes that make it truly unique. Stunningly versatile on the dinner table, it matches a wide variety of food, including rich fish dishes, charcuterie, truffled eggs. Best served around 11º C, in moderately large stemware. (93-96) #69 La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada Mágnum Wine Advocate
#71 MANZANILLA NAVAZOS Grupo Estevez Average age of 7 years ALCOHOL 15% SRP $55 RELEASE Regular release, bottled January 2017 This is the eighth release of La Bota de Manzanilla de EQUIPO NAVAZOS, all of them with a pure Sanlúcar character, which this time we have sourced from a different place in order to retake with even more enthusiasm the authenticity of the original style of our manzanilla. It has been very helpful the fact that we have had access to several dozens of toneles and botas of outworldly quality, casks that have been carefully put apart and looked after by Eduardo Ojeda and his team along one decade, since they arrived to Sanlúcar in January 2007. The estimated average age of this manzanilla is seven years. Showing a well settled and profound profile as well as salty and cheerful vibrancy, La Bota de Manzanilla No.71 is an unbeatable match on the dinner table. It excels with dishes from the Spanish seafood tradition: mackerel potatoes, tuna stew, oven preparations and boiled shellfish; and international cuisine: toro sashimi, marinated herrings, mussels. It has been bottled after only the slightest filtration in order to preserve its genuine character and its deep golden color with green hues as if straight from the butt. It is advisable to handle this manzanilla with just as much care as any other great white wine. It should be served at about 9/11ºC in fairly large stemware, never in the cliché copita. (91-93) #71 La Bota de Manzanilla Navazos Wine Advocate
#72 PALO CORTADO PATA de GALLINA Almacenista Juan García Jarana / Rey Fernando de Castilla Average age of 30 years ALCOHOL 20.5% SRP $100 6 x 500 ml RELEASE Limited release, bottled January 2017 A powerful if extremely elegant Palo Cortado, sourced from oxidative wines. That is the other way to achieve a true palo cortado: wines of remarkable finesse and expressiveness, with very complex nose blending aromas of amontillado and oloroso, plus citrus notes of orange peel. La Bota de Palo Cortado 72 Pata de Gallina comes from a selection we made more than five years ago among the finest casks of oxidative wine owned by Almacenista Juan García Jarana. A previous release was made, La Bota de Palo Cortado 34 Pata de Gallina, bottled in 2012 after a short period of fining in a small solera of Equipo Navazos settled at Fernando de Castilla. Since then the wine has aged for five more years in the same tiny solera (locally, altarillo, for little altar ) that bears our stamp. The average age of this wine is 30 years.
#74 OLOROSO MONTILLA Pérez Barquero Pedro Ximénez, fortified Average age of 30 years ALCOHOL 21% SRP $80 RELEASE Limited release, bottled April 2017 With this release number 74 we are revisiting the same solera in Montilla from where our release number 46 was sourced. Again Pérez Barquero, where Rafael Cordoba, co-owner of Pérez Barquero, has been controlling with exceptional care the vineyards and vintages for decades. He is a master in obtaining truly outstanding musts, both yema (first press) and color (second press). With these second press musts, locally called vino de color, the expert winemaker Juan Márquez produces their Olorosos. Very fragrant and strongly bodied wines, wines that very noticeably show the rotundity of the Pedro Ximénez grape. La Bota de Oloroso #74 Montilla comes from a selection of casks from the Solera Diógenes, located in third row at the Bodega El Puente. The main difference is that, this time, all the casks selected belong to the solera itself, while for the release number 46 we picked some vessels from younger criaderas as well. This fact, together with the elapsed time and with the fact that the withdrawals from these casks have been small, explain why this wine is almost five years older than its predecessor, La Bota de Oloroso nº 46. Its estimated average age is therefore close to 30 years. Drink it in medium sized glasses (riesling or white wine type) in small doses and cool (about 12º/13ºC), in order to attenuate the intensity of its powerful structure. The complex fragrance of this Oloroso is powerful, which allows it to wholly boast its personality at the suggested service temperature.
#75 PALO CORTADO SANLÚCAR Hijos de Rainera Pérez Marín Average age of 7 years ALCOHOL 18% SRP $80 RELEASE Limited release, bottled July 2017 La Bota of Palo Cortado 75 Sanlúcar is the second release of a groundbreaking contribution to the concept of Ppalo Cortado in the Sherry District, and the result of decades of experience and reflection by Eduardo Ojeda and his team. This is a Palo Cortado that, despite its relative youth, honors the strict requirements of smoothness, purity, and complexity that every wine belonging to this noble category must meet. This truly delicate and appealing Palo Cortado is doubly outstanding for being a single-vineyard, vintage wine: it has been sourced from a selection of musts coming from grapes harvested in 2010 in the Pago Miraflores La Baja, in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. It was then aged in Sherry butts and in barriques filled almost all the way up (a tocadedos) in order to avoid excessive oxidation. For this first saca we have selected the contents of a dozen 225 liter barrels, which at this point were showing outstanding balance and delicacy compared to the remarkable concentration of the wine ageing in the six botas de cañón from where we withdrawn the first edition (La Bota de Palo Cortado 52 Sanlúcar ). It is of course a fundamentally oxidative wine, which had only a slight natural and almost inevitable exposure to biological aging in the tanks where the must was waiting for the moment to be fortified up to 17.5% alc. before being transferred to the aging casks. Even in almost absolute absence of flor, this wine boasts the typical minerality of the coastal vineyards in Sanlúcar from where it comes. Indeed, its organoleptic profile evokes other wines that share the same origin, namely the different editions of La Bota de Amontillado 37, 58 & 69, La Bota de Florpower and La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada. For a palo cortado, its alcoholic strength is a fairly moderate 18%, and this alcohol is perfectly integrated and balanced, making it a very drinkable and refreshing wine as well as complex and long. Probably the best imaginable match for a long list of oriental dishes, from India to Japan, with a very special inclination toward the Asian Southeast. A true delight of a wine, we cannot hide our enthusiasm for it.
#76 PEDRO XIMÉNEZ JEREZ Marqués del Real Tesoro Pedro Ximénez, fortified Average age of 30 years ALCOHOL 16% SRP $80 RELEASE Limited release, bottled July 2017 This old and pure Pedro Ximénez from Jerez is not new, since in 2008 we bottled a first release of this wine under no. 11 of the La Bota series. That one and the present edition have been the only two commercial withdrawals ever made from this solera. La Bota de Pedro Ximénez 76 Jerez is an excellent example of a pure pedro ximénez that is, never blended with oloroso or any other wine produced in the Jerez style: fortified initially to 18.5% alc. and aged in butts filled only to 5/6 of their capacity, in order to enhance the complexity of oxidative notes. With time, the alcohol percentage has dropped to 16% alc. The wine was sourced from a 12-butt solera in the Sacristía of Bodegas Real Tesoro filled in 2000 with a very old PX that had been carefully selected from the stocks of a by then disappeared small producer in Sanlúcar. Since then it has remained untouched, except the small release in 2008 for La Bota de Pedro Ximénez 11 Jerez, and by the time of this saca its average age was getting close to 30 years. This sweet wine can be enjoyed on its own or side by side with traditional Spanish desserts (pestiños, torrijas, mantecadas, crema catalana, tocino de cielo ) or chocolate-based creations. Serve cool so that the temperature inside the glass evolves from 12º to about 16º C. This is an almost indestructible wine that will grow with bottle age, especially once a bottle has been opened. The cork stopper must of course be carefully used for storage.
2012 NAVAZOS NIEPOORT Macharnudo Palomino Fino, unfortified Aged under flor 5-10 months in butts ALCOHOL 13% SRP $31 RELEASE Regular release Everything suggests that the origin of Andalusian biological aging should be dated back to the second half of the eighteenth century, halfway between Sanlúcar (providing the wines) and Cádiz (providing the market and commercial channels in the form of the tabancos de montañeses where the beneficial effects of the flor were first appreciated). Everything likewise indicates that in those days the practice of fortification was infrequent in the white wines destined to local consumption. We gather that from Agustín Fernández s 1801 article on Vineyard and winemaking practices in San Lucar de Barrameda, published in issue 213 of that admirable source of information, the Semanario de Agricultura y Artes dirigido a los Párrocos. After stating that the best grapes were the listanes (Palomino Fino) and the best vineyards those of tierras blancas (albariza soils) he continued as follows: if the grapes are of top quality, the whites need nothing more; it is true that some add a quarter of refined spirit to stabilize them, but they risk the wines becoming coarse as a result of this (p 59) If to this we add the fact that the local classification of vineyards according to quality criteria was well settled at the turn of the 18th century, we can infer that the parameters that a top-quality wine of the age had to meet were the following: a) the Palomino Fino variety, b) sourced from the best vineyards, c) fermented in butt, d) using indigenous yeasts, e) aged under the layer of flor that was formed immediately after the fermentation yeasts finished their job, f) with no added alcohol. This wine, before the generalization of the term vino de manzanilla (for which Cádiz was responsible), was plainly known locally as vino blanco ( white wine ). It is no more and no less than that, a white wine, that we offer now as the fifth vintage of Navazos-Niepoort 2012, produced by Equipo Navazos following exactly the same rigorous quality criteria employed by the best winemakers of the Bajo Guadalquivir some 200 years ago: Palomino Fino musts sourced from a historic albariza vineyard, fermented in butt with indigenous yeasts that impregnate the vines and the fermentation vessels themselves, aged for more than five months under a layer of flor thanks to the action of more indigenous yeasts that take control immediately after fermentation, and of course with not a single drop of added alcohol. 93 2012 Navazos Niepoort Vino Blanco Wine Advocate
COLET-NAVAZOS EXTRA BRUT Colet Vins D.O. Penedes Xarel-lo-based 30 months in bottle, secondary fermentation with flor, dosage of Manzanilla & Amontillado (2009), Palo Cortado & Amontillado (2010) or Palo Cortado (2011) ALCOHOL 12.5% SRP $45 RELEASE Regular release The first contacts between Sergi Colet and the members of Equipo Navazos took place in 2003, and already in 2005 a collaboration was seriously studied with the purpose of making sparkling wines in the Sherry District. The starting point was our certainty about some structural similarities between Champagne and biologically-aged Sherries: vineyards grown on white chalky soils, the relatively neutral character of the base wines, the importance of a second yeast intervention in the production process, etc. There was also the idea of playing with dosage wines in order to produce different sparkling wines, inspired by the different types of Sherries. We immediately concluded that this was a fascinating and yet-unexplored territory, and in May 2007 we started fieldwork and tests. The original idea was and still is a joint effort where the added know-how and experience of both parts would enable the production of quality sparkling Palomino-based wines in the Sherry District where the character would come, not as a result of fruit and primary aromas, but from the chalky minerality and the action of flor yeasts, as well as gentle oxidation notes. This part of the project (Colet-Navazos) is still in progress, although commercial releases are not to be expected yet. In the meantime, Colet and Equipo Navazos have experimented with other parameters, as in the practice of combining small amounts of flor yeasts and/or lees for the second fermentation of Penedés sparkling wines. And also experimental disgorgement tests, trying different base wine profiles and dosage combinations with traditional Andalusian types (be they from Jerez, Montilla, or Sanlúcar): dollops of Fino, Manzanilla, Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Oloroso, sweet PX, Cream The initial approach was to test how far we could go with the Andalusian Sparkling project, but with time Colet-Navazos realized that some of these Catalan sparklers of southern spirit (a crossbreed described as saleroso mestizaje, in the words of Josep Roca) were truly serious and elegant wines, so we have decided to release some of them to the market. 90 2009 Colet Navazos Extra Brut Wine Advocate 91 2010 Colet Navazos Extra Brut Wine Advocate 90 2011 Colet Navazos Extra Brut Wine Advocate
COLET-NAVAZOS RESERVA EXTRA BRUT Colet Vins D.O. Penedes Chardonnay 42 months in bottle, secondary fermentation with flor, dosage of Manzanilla Pasada ALCOHOL 12.5% SRP $50 RELEASE Regular release The first contacts between Sergi Colet and the members of Equipo Navazos took place in 2003, and already in 2005 a collaboration was seriously studied with the purpose of making sparkling wines in the Sherry District. The starting point was our certainty about some structural similarities between Champagne and biologically-aged Sherries: vineyards grown on white chalky soils, the relatively neutral character of the base wines, the importance of a second yeast intervention in the production process, etc. There was also the idea of playing with dosage wines in order to produce different sparkling wines, inspired by the different types of Sherries. We immediately concluded that this was a fascinating and yet-unexplored territory, and in May 2007 we started fieldwork and tests. The original idea was and still is a joint effort where the added know-how and experience of both parts would enable the production of quality sparkling Palomino-based wines in the Sherry District where the character would come, not as a result of fruit and primary aromas, but from the chalky minerality and the action of flor yeasts, as well as gentle oxidation notes. This part of the project (Colet-Navazos) is still in progress, although commercial releases are not to be expected yet. In the meantime, Colet and Equipo Navazos have experimented with other parameters, as in the practice of combining small amounts of flor yeasts and/or lees for the second fermentation of Penedés sparkling wines. And also experimental disgorgement tests, trying different base wine profiles and dosage combinations with traditional Andalusian types (be they from Jerez, Montilla, or Sanlúcar): dollops of Fino, Manzanilla, Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Oloroso, sweet PX, Cream The initial approach was to test how far we could go with the Andalusian Sparkling project, but with time Colet-Navazos realized that some of these Catalan sparklers of southern spirit (a crossbreed described as saleroso mestizaje, in the words of Josep Roca) were truly serious and elegant wines, so we have decided to release some of them to the market. 92 2008 Colet Navazos Reserva Extra Brut Wine Advocate 92 2009 Colet Navazos Reserva Extra Brut Wine Advocate 92 2010 Colet Navazos Reserva Extra Brut Wine Advocate
2013 CASA DEL INCA PX Pérez Barquero, Montilla Casa del Inca Pedro Ximénez, asoleo and fortified 18 months in conos (cone-shaped tinajas) ALCOHOL 15% SRP $60 RELEASE Regular release The very thin skin of the Pedro Ximénez variety favors the fast dehydration of the berries during the asoleo (sundrying) process, which makes it ideal for the production of raisiny sweet wines. The Montilla-Moriles region (especially in Montalbán, Montemayor, and Puente Genil) produces today, virtually all the production of sweet PX musts that will later be aged in the different Andalusian winemaking areas. Casa del Inca, in Montilla, is the former residence of the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, where he wrote most of his literary works. Its present functions after restoration are now related to the city s winemaking tradition. Late-harvested grapes, after several full turns of exposure to the late summer sun, and careful extraction at different pressure levels by means of powerful hydraulic presses, are the key to the musts original quality. Another key element is the subsequent fortification with top-quality wine-based spirits. Third and last, as far as vintage PXs not undergoing barrel aging, is time: one and a half years resting in tinajas or conos, the traditional cone-shaped vessels used in Montilla-Moriles for centuries now. In close collaboration with Pérez Barquero, the expert members of Equipo Navazos have carefully measured these three parameters for Coalla Gourmet in order to offer the market this Casa del Inca 2013: a fresh and delicate vintage PX of surprising complexity and structure in spite of its copper-toned youth. In previous years, and under identical premises, other vintages have been released (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011). This wine, selected by Equipo Navazos, is part of a private venture with Coalla Gourmet, so it is a parallel project of the La Bota de releases.