NV Equipo Navazos La Bota de de Oloroso No. 46

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. Drink 2013-2020. Equipo Navazos is a small negociant business started in 2006 by Jesus Barquin, a criminology professor at Granada University, expert in and passionate about the wines of Andalucia, and Eduardo Ojeda, technical director of Grupo Estevez (Marques de Real Tesoro, La Guita Valdespino?). They source rare lots of high quality Sherries and bottle them unfined, unfiltered, (more or less) as they are in the bota. The whole thing started as a non-business adventure, with the two of them and historian Alvaro Giron unearthing, purchasing and bottling some superb, unique botas from different bodegas for a private group of aficionados. Word about these private bottlings started spreading through the Spanish Internet wine forums, interest and demand increased, so they decided to bottle a little bit more and sell small quantities to three distributors in Spain. The same happened with small importers here and there, UK, US, Singapore, Australia? and now they are probably the hottest name in Sherry for hardcore fans! As with most projects run by enthusiasts, things tend to get complicated, joint-ventures with other passionate producers (Dirk Niepoort from Douro/Porto, Sergi Colet who makes sparkling wines in Penedes), special wines that do not follow the normal release patterns, non-fortified biological wines, etc. Being so small, they have done so much to bring Sherry back to the attention of the public, both in Spain and the rest of the world. After almost 20 years involved in wine in Spain, I’m friendly with most producers in most regions, but I have to disclose that I’m probably closer to Jesus Barquin, who’s also been a colleague of mine at elmundovino.com, and co-authored, together with Victor de la Serna and myself a book on Rioja and Northwest Spain. Of course, I have no commercial relationship or interest in Equipo Navazos other than the fact that I´ve purchased their wines for my own cellar from the very beginning. Imported by Eric Solomon Selection, European Cellars, Charlotte, NC; tel. (704) 358-1565

This is a sample from a single cask rather than the finished wine. Was due to be bottled June 2013. Average age of wine 30 years. Deep golden ochre. Rounder than is typical for Oloroso because it is Montilla rather than Jerez and PX rather than Palomino Fino. Walnut skin and just a touch floral. Harsher than any of the wines tasted in this line up so far. Very dry, powerful and just a little astringent but also distinctive. More rustic and belligerent. Rough but characterful. (JH)