Translation missing: en.EQUIPO NAVAZOS - THE WORLDS BEST SHERRY PRODUCER IS HERE AT VENO: EQUIPO NAVAZOS - THE WORLDS BEST SHERRY PRODUCER IS HERE AT VENO
These are perhaps the best Sherries in the world. They’re exquisite- complex and refined, intense yet elegant. Equipo Navazos have a dynamic and distinguished solera system on which they can call upon when blending their La Bota range of Sherries. See below for the importers notes and reviews from some of the world’s most influential wine writers.
The Sherries of Equipo Navazos can now be found on our online store, Veno, or at our bricks and mortar – Annandale Cellars and Northbridge Cellars.
Winery and Importers Notes:
Through the wines bottled in the series “La Bota”, Equipo Navazos give wine lovers from all around the world the chance of accessing to a range of complex, fine and authentic traditional wines that legitimately belong among the greatest wines of the world. These wines come from soleras and individual casks that remain, relatively neglected by the market in the last few decades, in the bodegas of some of the most prestigious producers. Some of them are unexpected but fortunate findings, testimony of the anonymous work of generations of wine men and wine women, others are the result of a long-standing collaboration between Equipo Navazos and some winemakers in Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Montilla and El Puerto de Santa María, with whom we are honoured to work together.
Beyond the series "La Bota", Equipo Navazos also work together with some producers and winemakers, not only from Andalusia but also from other regions in and abroad Spain, in the making of singular wines (and a couple brandies), always with an obsession for authenticity and personality: Casa del Inca, Navazos-Niepoort, I Think, Colet-Navazos, OVNI, Navazos-Palazzi are some of these products. By means of these initiatives, our main goal is to personally enjoy drinking our favourite wines, and hopefully make other wine lovers enjoy them as much as we do. No much more or less than this, however we are aware that it will always be quite a challenge...
Nº 55 La Bota de Manzanilla “Navazos”
The seventh release of this La Bota classic, after 4, 8, 16, 22, 32 and 42. While it is very much in keeping with the fresh and mineral style of previous releases, it is also probably the most refined blend to date. It was drawn from 22 'toneles' (750 litre butts) of the oldest Manzanilla solera in the bodega of Miguel Sánchez Ayala. This bodega was also the source of the very first La Bota, La Bota de Amontillado nº 1. Not much to add to Luis Gutierrez’ note; it’s a super-fresh, pure and salty Manzanilla with the kind of chalky clarity and satin texture that would offer a mind-blowing match with Sushi and Sashimi.
“The pungent and marine NV La Bota de Manzanilla 55 is one new bottling of a Manzanilla from seven years of aging under flor in the Barrio Bajo in Sanlúcar, from the Sánchez Ayala winery with 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, that won't please the drinker of light, over filtered, industrial Manzanillas. 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, which you might like or not. 5,000 bottles were made." 93+ points, Luis Gutierrez, eRobertParker.com #216, Dec 2014
Nº 54 La Bota de Fino “Macharnudo Alto”
Equipo Navazos’ “Macharnudo” Alto bottling – drawn from Valdespino’s Inocente solera – needs little introduction to fans of Navazos. This is the same solera that bought you the fabled La Bota’s 2, 7, 15, 18, 27 and 35. This time around it's a selection of the Solera (the oldest casks) for complexity and the second criadera, for freshness, resulting in an average age of approximately ten years. It’s a thrilling follow up to No. 35; seemingly even more complex and flor-rich than the previous bottling.
This is a single vineyard wine, extremely rare in the world of Fino these days, from a revered vineyard to the North of Jerez. Macharnudo is one of the four great pagos, or vineyard areas, that lie to the north and west of Jerez. It is composed of a number of contiguous ‘terroirs’ and the most celebrated is that of Macharnudo Alto, which is the parcel with the highest altitude and the one considered to have the purest albariza (chalk rich) soils. This wine was fermented in bota (again truly a rarity these days).
“Superb within its class, the NV La Bota de Fino Macharnudo Alto is sourced from the Inocente solera from Valdespino, a barrel-fermented, 10 year under flor Fino from the Macharnudo Alto vineyard, one of the most famous in Jerez, bottled unfiltered from a selection of butts from the Inocente solera of Valdespino, a Fino averaging 10 years of age under flor when bottled, with a strong flor character. It has a powerful nose of esparto grass, dried herbs, iodine, brine and almonds. The palate is medium to full-bodied with great power and concentration. This can be drunk now but has everything to age in bottle. 6,000 bottles were filled in July 2014.” 94 points, Luis Gutierrez, eRobertParker.com #216, Dec 2014
Nº 51 La Bota de Palo Cortado Viejísimo “Bota GF”
Nº 51 La Bota de Palo Cortado Viejísimo “Bota GF” is another spine tingling micro-batch release from the same source as the stunning La Bota No. 47 "Bota NO" and No. 48 "Bota Punta". These latter two wines, along with the La Bota de Amontillado 49 "Bota A. R." from the same old collection of soleras, count amongst the most remarkable Sherries bottled by Navazos. Now we have another to add to that list. Named after the wine’s creator, the grower and Sherry master Gaspar Florido, “Bota GF” is bottled from a single cask within the epic GF-30 Palo Cortado solera. As Luis Gutiérrez points out below, the grapes were most likely sourced from Florido’s Armijo lieu-dit within the Pago Miraflores, and would have been cask-fermented. The wine within this cask is thought to be around 75 years old. As Jesús notes below, wines of this quality, individuality and age are a dying breed in Sherry country. We can only thank the Equipo for allowing us to experience such bygone wonders before the well runs dry forever.
“There is simply not that much venerably old wine left around anymore, not to mention as balanced and harmonious as these; not even in the combined cellars of Jerez, El Puerto and Sanlúcar, and we fear that the chances of having access to jewels such as these are unlikely to abound in the future-especially at these prices and in lots of multiple wines of the same breed for us to compare.” Jesús Barquín
"Equipo Navazos has recently released a handful of Palos Cortados because they jumped at the chance to buy some extremely old wines from Pedro Romero. This NV La Bota de Palo Cortado 51 Bota GF is a single cask that was bottled in February 2014 averaging some 75 years of age in a solera system. GF are the initials of Gaspar Florido, a grower from Sanlúcar who owned some of the best plots in the Armijo vineyard inside Pago Miraflores in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where this wine was likely born. At that time the wines were cask fermented and could have had a few years under flor. The Palo Cortados 47, 48 and this one, and even the Amontillado 49 are somehow related and have a common origin, but this one is closer to the 48. Given that it's not easy to define these wines, other than to compare them with each other, I find this one to have more Palo Cortado character with a little more sweetness and with a hint of Oloroso. Out of these beasts, this is the most approachable and drinkable." 98 points, Luis Gutierrez, eRobertParker.com #216, Dec 2014
Nº 36 La Bota de Pedro Ximénez "Bota NO"
This remarkable Pedro Ximénez is sourced from the oldest solera of sweet PX at Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla. Jésus explains that these wines, in contrast to the more common PX wines of Montilla, boast a clear Jerezano style; markedly oxidative, and with a lower alcohol content, at the very minimum of what is legally accepted. He goes on to note that, "Such moderate percentage of alcohol helps maintaining the candied fruit notes coming from the raisins, despite the very old age of this wine, which is certainly more than thirty years of average age." Following the Navazos métier, the team selected the butts that displayed the most exceptional quality and the most distinctive personalities. These casks had been excluded from the bodega’s own blend as their personality did not ‘fit’ the traditional style. They were therefore marked as "Bota NO", as per the tradition, hence the labeling of this wine with the same name. It’s over 30 years old on average, with lifted aromatics and a thick, viscous texture and super complex notes of licorice, market spices, dried fig, Turkish delight and wonderful, sweet coffee and cacao on the finish. Lovely fresh, racy acidity and very, very long. As Neal Martin indicates, a WOW wine.
“The Lot 36 La Bota de Pedro Ximenez comes from the old Solera of sweet PX from Bodegas Fernando de Castilla that probably averages around 30-years in age and has pronounced oxidation and low alcohol. The selection for this bottling demonstrated the most depth and definition. Dark brown in color, this oozes out of the bottle. It has wonderful definition on the nose with marmalade, molasses and just a very faint adhesive scent. The palate is unctuous on the entry but extraordinarily well-balanced as the acidity slices through the thickly layered treacle infused with molasses, cloves and a pinch of white pepper. Long and sensual, this is an intense PX that threatens to overwhelm the senses and yet it is so perfectly balanced and harmonious that you just fall into its arms. This PX can be summed up in three letters. WOW.” 98 points, Neal Martin, eRobertParker.com #208, Aug 2013
Nº 46 La Bota de Oloroso
This is a wonderful old wine that intensely expresses the stunning chalky soils of the best Pedro Ximénez vineyards on the Montilla ridge. No 46 is drawn from the Bodega of Pérez Barquero, whose venerable soleras filled the No 3, No 12 and the mind altering No 24, and has an average age of 25-30 years old. This wine has the intensity and depth of only the finest Oloroso—and then some. Such complexity with orange rind, ripe apricot, caramel, grilled nuts and pink salt notes. Amazing stuff. Bone dry, yet with powerful impression of sweetness both on the nose and the palate, which is textured and viscous (thanks to the richness of glycerol, a byproduct of the flor). Made from very ripe grapes (with 16% potential natural alcohol) the final wine needs only a small fortification to get it to the final 17.5%.
“The NV La Bota De Oloroso 46 is produced from Pedro Ximenez grapes in Montilla-Moriles, sourced from the Perez Barquero winery. It displays a deep amber color, denoting its old age (it could be around 25 to 30 years old), the nose and palate show the different grape, Pedro Ximenez, which gives more powerful wines than Palomino, with a touch of rusticity. Montilla has a continental climate which ages and concentrates the wines faster than in Jerez. The nose has some sweet notes of dry apricots, very fine and elegant. The palate is surprisingly dry, it fills the mouth with penetrating flavors of hazelnuts and cashews, is powerful, with a very long finish. Benchmark Montilla Oloroso.” 94 points, Luis Gutiérrez, eRobertParker.com #208, Aug 2013
Nº 53 La Bota de Florpower “Más allá” [2010]
“Más allá” stands for “Beyond” (as in “beyond the original Florpower”), and is so named as No. 53,which is exactly the same wine as No. 44 La Bota de Florpower, only it has been aged for a further 10 months under flor. When the original wine was bottled, Navazos saved 3,000 litres and transferred those (from tank) into fifteen, 225-litre barrels that had previously housed a Manzanilla and then a Palo Cortado. Some of these vessels developed a thin veil of yeast that not only prevented excessive oxidation, but even granted some additional #florpower character to develop in the wine. Ten months later, the contents of these barrels were finally bottled. Although from a single vintage (2010), Navazos are not legally allowed to present this on the label.
A little history for those who didn’t get to see the original Florpower: After the Navazos-Niepoort bottling, Florpower became the team’s second single-vineyard white wine. Navazos-Niepoort is sourced from Jerez’s ‘grand cru’ Macharnudo, while this comes from the Sanlúcar equivalent, Pago Miraflores. No. 44 was (and is) 100% Palomino Fino, fermented in stainless steel tanks and then transferred to 15 butts where it aged under flor for 8 months WITHOUT being fortified. It was bottled at 11.5% alc after losing over 1% to the effects of the flor yeasts. No. 53 is the same wine, simply aged for another ten months, mostly under flor. In both, cases what we have is the super-complex, white wine equivalent of an unfortified Manzanilla (albeit with its own unique developed notes). These wines should hopefully encourage other sherry producers to move down this exciting path.
“I know it sounds like heresy, but this is a Palomino wine that fermented, was aged and was under 'flor' without being fortified. The 2010 La Bota de Florpower MMX Más Allá 53 is a unique wine that could be described as an unfortified, single-vintage, flor-aged white wine, from a diversity of vineyards mainly Miraflores in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, like... Manzanilla. Part of the wine was bottled as La Bota de Florpower 44 and part was kept in barriques that had contained a young Palo Cortado, mostly full, but some developed some flor for a further 10 months and went even further... 'más allá'. It has an intense amber color and a complex nose, while the palate is sharp showing no glycerin plus a touch of volatility. All in it is a little extreme, with chalky, chewy intensity and a texture reminiscent of a Champagne. This is clearly not a wine for everyone, but for the hardcore Sherry lover that wants to go one step beyond... 3,000 bottles were produced.” 94 points, Luis Gutiérrez, eRobertParker.com #216, Dec 2014