“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 EQUIPO NAVAZOS What originally started out as a private buying club for an Since that first cask of Amontillado, labeled simply Bota de outstanding Amontillado located in the cellar of Miguel Amontillado no.1 in honor of the short story by Edgar Allan Sánchez Ayala, has become one of the most sought after Poe, each successive bottling as been numbered, bottled en series of bottlings sourced from, and inspired by the wines rama, limited in release and quick to sell out. Not content of Jerez and Montilla-Moriles. Jesús Barquín, a professor with only exploring the possibilities of fortified wines, Equi- of criminal law at the University of Granda and Eduardo po has also released brandies, unfortified Palomino Fino Ojeda, the technical director of Grupo Estévez, guided by aged under flor, and a couple of PX wines, one dry and one their vast knowledge of, and unparalleled access to, the best made from raisined grapes. They have also partnered with wines, cellars and soleras of the region, have since 2005 as- Dirk Niepoort and Quim Vila to make a Vin Jaune styled sembled one of the finest offerings of Sherries in the -mar Palomino Fino and Sergei Colet to produce a Cava utilizing ket. When word got out about their project, what was once a flor in the secondary aging of the wine as well as Sherry and hobby became a full-fledged commercial enterprise. Supply Montilla for the dosage. remains limited and demand has only increased. EQUIPO NAVAZOS – A BASIC PRIMER REGULAR RELEAES Largest volume releases Issued on a nearly yearly basis • Fino en Rama LIMITED • Manzanilla Navazos RELEASE • Fino Macharnudo • Florpower PERIODIC RELEASE • Navazos–Niepoort • Casa del Inca PX REGULAR RELEASE PERIODIC RELEASES GLOSSARY Smaller volume releases Fino Amontillado Issued once every two years An archaic term for a style of Fino sherry, that due to the age of the solera, experiences a weakening of the flor resulting in • Fino Amontillado a slightly oxidative character to the wine. Can be drunk upon • Palo Cortado Navazos release or cellared. • Amontillado Sanlucar • Amontillado Navazos Manzanilla Pasada • Oloroso Navazos The Manzanilla equivalent of a Fino Amontillado. • Colet–Navazos Extra Brut • Colet–Navazos Reserva Bota Punta The 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 LIMITED RELEASES airflow, and due to its easy access, is frequently disturbed for tasting. These factors combine to make for a wine with a Smallest volume releases greater average age, more concentration and a more singular Single releases that usually do not repeat expression. • Bota Punta Bota NO • Bota NO Bota NO is a chalked mark on a barrel that indicated that it • Manzanilla Pasada should not be refreshed with any new wine. As each barrel de- • Cream velops its own microbiological ecosystem some are so uniquely • Etc. 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. EUROPEAN CELLARS • ERIC SOLOMON SELECTIONS • 2129 East Seventh Street, Charlotte, NC 28204 • 704.358.1565 • [email protected] NAVAZOS FINO EN RAMA SOURCE Jerez de la Frontera – Cartera and Macharnudo Alto VARIETIES Palomino Fino, fortified AGING Solera, average 5 years ALCOHOL 15% SRP $20 PACKED 12 x 375 ml RELEASE Regular release, current saca October, 2014 ino en Rama comes from Jerez de la Frontera, the most significant town in the DO for the production of wine and Fthe 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 EUROPEAN CELLARS • ERIC SOLOMON SELECTIONS • 2129 East Seventh Street, Charlotte, NC 28204 • 704.358.1565 • [email protected] #44 VINO BLANCO FLORPOWER MMX SOURCE Sanlúcar vineyards, mainly Pago Miraflores VARIETIES 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 or years now Equipo Navazos has made a strong bid for the potential of wines aged under a veil of flor, and at their Fnatural 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 EUROPEAN CELLARS • ERIC SOLOMON SELECTIONS • 2129 East Seventh Street, Charlotte, NC 28204 • 704.358.1565 • [email protected] #46 OLOROSO NAVAZOS SOURCE Pérez Barquero – Montilla VARIETIES Pedro Ximénez, fortified AGING Average age of 25 years ALCOHOL 21% SRP $80 PACKED 6 x 750 ml RELEASE Periodic release, bottled June, 2013 ntil La Bota de Oloroso 46 “Montilla”, all of our Oloroso releases have been very old wines from tiny productions, Ubottled 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 EUROPEAN CELLARS • ERIC SOLOMON SELECTIONS • 2129 East Seventh Street, Charlotte, NC 28204 • 704.358.1565 • [email protected] #51 PALO CORTADO BOTA GF SOURCE Gaspar Florido / Pedro Romero VARIETIES Palomino Fino, fortified AGING Average age between 50–80 years old ALCOHOL 22% SRP $150 PACKED 6 x 375 ml RELEASE Limited release, bottled February, 2014 aspar Florido used to market two very old wines sourced from their soleras at their old cellaring facility at calle Ru- Gbiños, 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.