Equipo Navazos La Bota 86 Palo Cortado “Bota NO” (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.

Other Reviews....
The extremely old wines are bottled in half bottles, but the NV La Bota de Palo Cortado 86 Bota NO taken from a single cask is not that old; it's around 30 years of age and from Montilla-Moriles, not from Jerez, and therefore produced with Pedro Ximénez grapes (selected because of the variety's purity and finesse) instead of Palomino. It was produced by Pérez Barquero, one of the finest producers in Montilla-Moriles—as the finesse of this wine confirms. This is now 19% alcohol, allegedly from sheer concentration through evaporation. But this is not as concentrated and pungent as the extremely old wines; this feels lighter and more delicate, with the finesse and verticality (even if it was never aged under flor) that is expected from the biological wines. It started its life as an Oloroso, but given that fine character, it was deemed a Palo Cortado. And even within the Palo Cortado, this is extremely elegant. This is a true Palo Cortado, a fine oxidative wine. 1,100 bottles were filled in October 2018.
95 points
Luis Gutiérrez - Wine Advocate (June 2019)

Light golden brown. Intensely nutty aroma, walnuts, bitter toffee and caramelised bitter orange, with a sour, provocative and beckoning intensity. I wonder if I might even think it was madeira on the nose if I had been given it blind. On the palate, the concentration is immense but there’s none of the bitterness that you sometimes get on very intense and mature sherry. There’s something a little roasted here but not coffee, smoky perhaps. Even with all this concentration, it finishes wonderfully fresh and goes on for ever so that it is almost a chewy food. As it opens, I find something like dried flowers and lavender. Incredibly complex.
19/20 points
Julia Harding MW - jancisrobinson.com