Equipo Navazos La Bota 109 Amontillado Bota Punta (375ml)

Equipo Navazos is perhaps the most significant thing to have happened in the world of Sherry for a very long time. It has some of the most influential people in the fine wine world raving about the quality of these wines, and they are talking about the quality first and the fact that they are Sherries second. These are wines to make Sherry sexy again. They are also as rare as hens’ teeth and are being sought after with the same urgency that wealthy Burgundy collectors seek out the wines of DRC or the greatest Montrachet. This makes sense: these wines are every bit as profound, deep, long and complex as any bottle of DRC (and that is no insult to DRC!)

The Navazos Sherries are drawn from several bodegas, and represent a variety of styles: Manzanilla, Fino, Palo Cortado, Oloroso, Pedro Ximénez, Cream and even a brandy. The wines are bottled in limited series, in successive numbered editions, dated and named “La Bota de….” (the cask of…). The date of each saca, or racking, has been precisely stated on the label so that it is possible to compare editions of the same solera. This also enables precise tracking of the evolution of the wines, as these wines are expected to evolve in the bottle (it’s Sherry, but not as we know it). These are once off bottlings and once the bottles for each La Bota… release are spoken for, there are no more.

Jesus Barquín introduces La Bota 109 as “another great wine of very old age and a lot of character within the La Bota series”. This old Amontillado was bottled from the ‘treasure’ casks looked after at the Albarizas de Trebujena cooperative, northwest of Sanlúcar. Barquín and Ojeda draw comparison with the legendary La Bota de NPI No.5 Amontillado Viejísimo, released very early in the Navazos story. Firstly, it’s fresh in character despite the tremendous age and concentration: “We believe that those who remember La Bota de NPI No.5 will find here clear echoes of that wine, perhaps in this case with an even greater sense of age and concentration”.

Secondly, the uncertainty about its origin: the cooperative was founded in 1977, but the wine and casks that include this Amontillado are much older and it is not entirely clear how they got there. Nor do the veterans at Albarizas de Trebujena agree on whether the wine was considered an old Amontillado or an old Oloroso when it arrived decades ago. In Barquín’s learned opinion, it shows a clear profile of Amontillado from Trebujena, with a style shared—not by chance—with Sanlúcar.

Other Reviews....
The NV La Bota de Amontillado Bota Punta 109 is a very old wine they selected from the cooperative of Trebujena that had never been bottled before. The cooperative was created in 1970, but one of the members had these butts from before; their history was really unknown, but the wine has a profile of coastal Amontillado (from Sanlúcar or Trebujena) with less glycerin, sharp and saline, not as sharp or as bitter as the iconic NPI but with crazy numbers—alcohol, acidity, dry extract and everything. It's very intense but very balanced. An amazing wine that should live forever. It was bottled into 1,200 half bottles (one bota) in October 2021. Drink 2022 - 2050.
98 points
Luis Gutiérrez - Wine Advocate (Sep 2022)