equipo navazos - european cellars · 2016-10-14 · la bota de oloroso 46 “montilla” comes from...

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 as-sembled one of the finest offerings of Sherries in the mar-ket. 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.

EQUIPO NAVAZOS

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, Equi-po 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.

“Since my early childhood, as fate tossed around human affairs, I have been tossed around in these parts, and this mountain, visible far and wide from everywhere, is always in your view.”

– Francesco Petrarch, The Ascent of Mont Ventoux, 1336

GLOSSARY

F ino Amont i l ladoAn 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.

Manzani l la PasadaThe Manzanilla equivalent of a Fino Amontillado.

Bota PuntaThe 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 NOBota NO is a chalked mark on a barrel that indicated that it should not be refreshed with any new wine. As each barrel de-velops 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.

EQUIPO NAVAZOS – A BASIC PRIMER

REGULAR RELEAES

PER IODIC RELEASES

L IMITED RELEASES

Largest volume releasesIssued on a nearly yearly basis

• Fino en Rama• Manzanilla Navazos• Fino Macharnudo• Florpower• Navazos–Niepoort• Casa del Inca PX

Smaller volume releasesIssued once every two years

• Fino Amontillado• Palo Cortado Navazos• Amontillado Sanlucar• Amontillado Navazos• Oloroso Navazos• Colet–Navazos Extra Brut• Colet–Navazos Reserva

EUROPEAN CELLARS • ERIC SOLOMON SELECTIONS • 2129 East Seventh Street, Charlotte, NC 28204 • 704.358.1565 • [email protected]

Smallest volume releasesSingle releases that usually do not repeat

• Bota Punta• Bota NO• Manzanilla Pasada• Cream• Etc.

LIMITEDRELEASE

PERIODICRELEASE

REGULARRELEASE

N AVA Z O S F I N O E N R A M A

SOURCE Jerez de la Frontera – Cartera and Macharnudo Alto

VARIET IES Palomino Fino, fortified

AGING Solera, average 5 years

ALCOHOL 15%

SRP $20

PACKED 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.

ACCOLADES

92 – NV Fino en Rama Saca of October, 2014 – Wine Advocate

91 – NV Fino en Rama Saca of March, 2014 – Wine Advocate


#44 VINO BLANCO FLORPOWER MMX

SOURCE Sanlúcar vineyards, mainly Pago Miraflores

VARIET IES Palomino Fino, unfortified

AGING Aged under flor 8 months in butts then an additional two years under flor in tank

ALCOHOL 11.5%

SRP $38

PACKED 6 x 750 ml

RELEASE Regular release, bottled June, 2013

For years now Equipo Navazos has made a strong bid for the potential of wines aged under a veil of flor, and at their natural alcohol by volume levels (i.e. unfortified). This spurred the release of our original Navazos-Niepoort series – the

seventh vintage of which will hit the market in 2015 – as well as a number of experiments researching Palomino Fino fur-ther aged in butts and tanks. The evolution of these wines, sourced from different vineyards in the Sherry region, has been carefully observed for the past several years.

La Bota de Florpower no. 44 MMX is the most refined result from that research effort: an unfortified white wine, exclusively from the 2010 vintage (a date that cannot be printed on the label due to bureaucratic impediments, hence our use of MMX on the capsule, cork, and lot number on the back label). Bottled at 11.5% after losing over 1% to the effects of the flor yeasts, the wine is 100% Palomino Fino sourced from Sanlúcar vineyards (mainly from the Pago Miraflores) and fermented in stainless steel tanks. After fermentation – towards December 2010 – it was moved to 15 butts where it aged under flor for 8 months. By late July 2011 the wine was transferred to a single stainless steel tank where it remained under the – now milder and subtler – effects of flor until its bottling on July 23rd, 2013.

ACCOLADES

94 – #44 La Bota de Vino Blanco Florpower MMX – Wine Advocate


# 4 6 O L O R O S O N AVA Z O S

SOURCE Pérez Barquero – Montilla

VARIET IES Pedro Ximénez, fortified

AGING Average age of 25 years

ALCOHOL 21%

SRP $80

PACKED 6 x 750 ml

RELEASE Periodic release, bottled June, 2013

Until La Bota de Oloroso 46 “Montilla”, all of our Oloroso releases have been very old wines from tiny productions, bottled in small formats. We refer to #14 and #28 editions, wines relatively expensive, but a very reasonable price

when you consider their quality, as well as their difficult and costly production. So, we believe it was time to pull a dry old oloroso, comparatively affordable, in line with La Bota de Palo Cortado 34 “Pata de Gallina” or La Bota de Amontillado 37.

To do so we went to Montilla, at Perez Barquero, where Rafael Córdoba has been controlling vineyards and vintages for decades with exceptional care and getting truly excellent musts. This is where we source the raw materials for our Casa del Inca and where we found this Oloroso – a very fragrant and full-bodied wine, that highlights the strong character of the Pedro Ximénez grape.

La Bota de Oloroso 46 “Montilla” comes from a selection of butts at the Diogenes Solera, located at Bodega El Puente of Pérez Barquero, in the venerable ‘cachón’ of old PX is, from which was the source, many years ago, of our release – #3 La Bota de Pedro Ximénez “De Rojas” (and a couple years after that, our release #12). The estimated average age of this Oloroso is around 25 years.

ACCOLADES

94 – #46 La Bota de Oloroso – Wine Advocate


# 5 1 PA L O C O R TA D O B OTA G F

SOURCE Gaspar Florido / Pedro Romero


AGING Average age between 50–80 years old

ALCOHOL 22%

SRP $150

PACKED 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 Ru-biños, 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 distinc-tion--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 re-mained marketing GF-25 under the usual label “Jerez Viejísimo.” In Gaspar’s opinion – perhaps questionable but not lack-ing 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, exhaust-ingly, 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 pre-cious 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.

ACCOLADES

98 – #51 La Bota de Palo Cortado #51 – Wine Advocate

# 5 4 F I N O M AC H A R N U D O A LTO

SOURCE Valdespino – Macharnudo Alto


AGING Average 10 years under flor

ALCOHOL 15%

SRP $50

PACKED 6 x 750 ml

RELEASE Regular release, bottled June, 2014

La Bota de Fino 54 is the release for June 2014, and belongs to the same set of casks coming from the six previous editions of La Bota de Fino (numbers 2, 7, 15, 18, 27 and 35). This time, it’s a selection of the bottom and the second criadera,

mean estimated age of ten years.

As wine Connoisseurs, it has been bottled almost ‘en Rama’, with only a slight filtering, in order to preserve its golden color and intense character. It can be enjoyed without restrictions from the start, and will continue to give satisfaction for many years if it is stored with a minimum of care.

Serve between 50 ° F, to enjoy its lighter and more refreshing side, and about 57 ° F, where it fully expresses its complexity and rich aromatic range. On the table is an extremely versatile wine: Jamón Ibérico of course, but also stews, shepherd’s pie, pulpo a feira, or grilled vegetables ...

ACCOLADES

94 – #54 La Bota de Fino Macharnudo – Wine Advocate


# 5 5 M A N Z A N I L L A N AVA Z O S

SOURCE Sánchez Ayala


AGING Average 10 years under flor

ALCOHOL 15%

SRP $55

PACKED 6 x 750 ml

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..

ACCOLADES

93+ – #55 La Bota de Manzanilla – Wine Advocate


#56 PEDRO XIMÉNEZ VIEJÍSIMO BOTA NO

SOURCE Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla

VARIET IES Pedro Ximénez, fortified


ALCOHOL 15%

SRP $110

PACKED 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 sweet-ness 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.

ACCOLADES

95+ – #56 La Bota de Pedro Ximénez Viejísimo Bota NO – Wine Advocate



#57 FLORPOWER MMXI I



AGING Aged under flor 8 months in butts then an additional 15 months under flor in tank

ALCOHOL 12.5%

SRP $38

PACKED 6 x 750 ml

RELEASE Regular release, bottled October, 2014

For years now Equipo Navazos has made a strong bid for the potential of wines aged under a veil of flor, at their natural alcohol levels (i.e. unfortified). This spurred the release of our original Navazos-Niepoort series – the seventh vintage

of which will hit the market in 2015 – as well as a number of experiments researching Palomino Fino further aged in butts and tanks. The evolution of these wines, sourced from different vineyards in the Sherry region, has been carefully observed for the past several years.

La Bota de Florpower no. 57 MMXII is a continuation of this research effort: an unfortified white wine, exclusively from the spectacular 2012 vintage (a date that still cannot be printed on the label due to bureaucratic impediments, hence our use of MMXII on the capsule, cork, and lot number on the back label). Bottled at 12.5% alc/vol., the wine is 100% Palomino Fino sourced from Sanlúcar vineyards (mainly from the Pago Miraflores) and fermented in stainless steel tanks. After fermenta-tion – towards December 2012 – it was moved to 15 butts where it aged under flor for 8 months. By late July 2013 the wine was transferred to a single stainless steel tank where it remained under the – now milder and subtler – effects of flor until its bottling on October, 2014.

ACCOLADES

92+ – #57 La Bota de Vino Blanco Florpower MMXII – Wine Advocate


#58 AMONTILLADO NAVAZOS

SOURCE Hijos de Rainera Pérez Marín



ALCOHOL 18.5%

SRP $80

PACKED 6 x 750 ml

RELEASE Periodic release

Since the 1980s and until very recently, the Amontillado soleras of Rainera P. Marín were made from very different soler-as labeled as “Manzanilla Pasada”: from the third criadera of Amontillado “M. Pda.” all the way to the little shrine of

1/3 “M. Pda. Viejísima”, and including solera 1/10 “M. Pda. Vieja” (source of #31 and #61 Bota NO bottlings).

After its purchase by the Estévez Group, the greater part of these confusingly labeled stocks (corresponding to the solera and criaderas of Amontillado “Manzanilla Pasada”) were strictly restructured. The finest and deepest butts were selected, their contents refreshed with true (and unfortified) manzanilla pasada (this is a natural amontillado), in order to create an amontillado solera that was slightly over 100-butt strong. We have selected a dozen of these butts which shine for their supe-rior freshness as well as intense notes of aromatic herbs, baked sweet potato, and caramel. The resulting blend is a delicious amontillado, extremely dry, long, serious, complex, but also perfectly drinkable.

The estimate average age of this wine is around 18 years. It is best enjoyed in a sufficiently large white wine glass towards 15ºC—so it should be served slightly below that to allow for aeration. An excellent aperitif on its own, it also works beau-tifully with some dishes: powerful crudités such as morcón or bull negre, spring haricots with black pudding, sautéed lamb sweetbreads with garlic, fabada asturiana... Needless to say, it is an excellent match to a wide variety of cheeses, both hard and soft.


#59 MANZANILLA PASADA CAPATAZ RIVAS




ALCOHOL 16%

SRP $50

PACKED 6 x 750 ml

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.


#60 MANZANILLA PASADA BOTA PUNTA




ALCOHOL 16%

SRP $100

PACKED 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 inten-sity 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.


#61 AMONTILLADO BOTA NO




ALCOHOL 20%

SRP $100

PACKED 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 “Man-zanilla 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 dis-plays 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 tem-perature, 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.

2 0 1 2 N AVA Z O S N I E P O O R T



AGING Aged under flor 8 months in butts then an additional two years under flor in tank

ALCOHOL 13%

SRP $31

PACKED 6 x 750 ml

RELEASE Regular release


Everything suggests that the origin of Andalusian biological aging should be dated back to the second half of the eigh-teenth century, halfway between Sanlúcar (providing the wines) and Cádiz (providing the market and commercial chan-

nels 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, pro-duced 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 six 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.

ACCOLADES

93 – 2012 Navazos Niepoort Vino Blanco – Wine Advocate

C O L E T- N AVA Z O S E X T R A B R U T

SOURCE Colet Vins – D.O. Penedes

VARIET IES Xarel-lo-based

AGING 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

PACKED 6 x 750 ml



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 add-ed 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.

ACCOLADES

90 – 2009 Colet Navazos Extra Brut – Wine Advocate



COLET-NAVAZOS RESERVA EXTRA BRUT

SOURCE Colet Vins – D.O. Penedes

VARIET IES Chardonnay

AGING 42 months in bottle, secondary fermentation with flor, dosage of Manzanilla Pasada

ALCOHOL 12.5%

SRP $50

PACKED 6 x 750 ml



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 add-ed 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.

ACCOLADES

92 – 2008 Colet Navazos Reserva Extra Brut – Wine Advocate




2 0 1 3 CA S A D E L I N CA P X

SOURCE Pérez Barquero, Montilla – Casa del Inca

VARIET IES Pedro Ximénez, asoleo and fortified

AGING 18 months in conos (cone-shaped tinajas)

ALCOHOL 15%

SRP $60

PACKED 6 x 750 ml


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 subse-quent 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 centu-ries 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.

equipo navazos - european cellars · 2016-10-14 · la bota de oloroso 46 “montilla” comes from...

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