NV Equipo Navazos Fino En Rama
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Tasting notes
From saca of June 2017. This is effectively the equivalent of I Think Manzanilla – needs a new image. ‘Looks too much like sherry’, says Paul Shinnie of importer Alliance Wine. A blend from Cartera and Macharnudo Alto vineyards. Fermented in stainless steel and aged in solera under flor for an average of five years. Pale gold. Smoky sour apricots. Broad and open in the same way as the I Think. Broad and deliciously tangy, more fruit than the I Think but still with that wild yeasty intensity. Tangy bitter-orange finish and salty aftertaste. Doesn’t have the finesse of the La Bota Fino but it’s VGV . Punchy and long. (JH)
Critic scores
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
This wine is a Fino en Rama from Jerez de la Frontera. It is 100% Palomino Fino grapes from the vineyards Cartera and Macharnudo Alto, in one of the noblest vine areas or pagos in the sherry district, located four kilometers west-northwest of Jerez de la Frontera. The wine ferments with local yeasts and, after a small fortification so as to increase its alcohol content from ca. 12.5% to 15%, 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 ten or more years of age of Equipo Navazos' La Bota de Fino (whose most recent release is no. 54), but also well above the minimum legal age of two years. As a result, this fino is pungent and lively, but also complex and profound. A relevant feature is that it is bottled en rama (as in fact are all sherries by Equipo Navazos). This means that no aggressive means of filtration or clarification have been used in the bottling process of this wine, only a minimal light filtration, without any cooling, so as to prevent that the flor yeasts getting into the bottle. This is therefore an exact example of what you would taste directly from any of the casks from which it has been drawn. This is a return to the tradition of bottling the finos as they are, keeping their natural complexity and depth, as well as it natural colour, far from the extreme paleness and clarification that has been the rule in the last few decades. Bottled May 2015. Really pungent nose with some breadiness. Peachy start and then very fresh and actually quite soft. Not that much evident acidity. Quite an easy drink already. (JR)
Bottled in May 2015. Dark gold colour. Light and fresh on the nose and then creamy, pungent and almost peachy on the finish. Very firm and dense. Dry finish but still embryonic. Quite challengingly dry but very long and tangy. Serious stuff – much more serious than most wines at this price. VGV (JR)
Saca of March 2014. Not yet on sale in the UK yet but should be from Feb next year. It’s a Fino in answer to the I Think Manzanilla bottling for Bibendum, Australia! Really impressive on the nose. Lovely balance. Limpid and salty. Really lovely and perfectly balanced. Firm and fine. Solid and salty. (JR)