EQUIPO NAVAZOS Amontillado La Bota 117 (Navazos) - DOP Montilla – Moriles Bottle 17.5%abv

Description

The La Bota de Amontillado Montilla 117 from Equipo Navazos is a remarkable expression of tradition, showcasing around 25 to 30 years of age. Its intense, salty nose reveals elegant layers of salted caramel, nuts, and a hint of iodine. The palate is rich and creamy, with flavours of vanilla, orange marmalade, and dried fruits that dance harmoniously. A touch of sweet leather and spent wood adds complexity, while a piquant, peppery finish imparts both character and balance. This medium-aged Amontillado exemplifies the unique qualities of Montilla, making it both approachable and profound. Rated 96 points by James Suckling and The Wine Advocate, it is best enjoyed now through 2032, offering endless pleasure in every sip.

*****

Equipo Navazos was born out of a group of friends’ passion to share the authentic, traditional wines of Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, El Puerto de Santa Maria and Montilla … legitimately some of the greatest wines of the world!

These wines come from soleras and individual casks that remain, relatively neglected by the market in corners of many of Andalusia’s most prestigious bodegas. These unexpected yet fortunate findings have been made available to wine lovers around the world in limited quantities under the La Bota series (consecutively numbered editions, with the date of each saca or withdrawal date on the label) … in doing so, respecting generations of expertise and care for these rare and beautiful wines. Today, their efforts are increasingly focused on producing their own exceptional wines, such as Florpower, that truly express the character of Sanlúcar and its unique terroir. Outside of Andalusia, Equipo Navazos has collaborated with winemakers including Dirk Niepoort and Sergi Colet to develop authentic, individual wines that never fail to impress.

The white chalky soil of the Jerez area, 'Albariza,' is ideal for the cultivation of Palomino grapes which produce the sherry for which Jerez is so well known. With a focus on the old vine vineyards of Mirafloes La Baja, Sanlúcar from which their Florpower wines come from. However, experience has shown them that, in the end, the vineyard always prevails regardless of the intensity and duration of ageing, which is why they increasingly tend to limit the latter more and more.

JAMES SUCKLING 96 points
Intense and salty, yet with elegance that shows even on the nose. Electric complexity and layers with salted caramel, iodine, toffee, sweet potato, spices and iodine. Super intense and creamy, with dissipated flavors in the back of the palate that grow and extend. Lots of finesse after lengthy aging of around 30 years. Endless. Saca from October, 2022. Drink now.
Zekun Shuai
Senior Editor

THE WINE ADVOCATE 96 points
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
Drink Date: 2022 - 2032
Published: Sep 08, 2022
The NV La Bota de Amontillado Montilla 117 is a new Amontillado from Montilla-Moriles that was never bottled before. Selected from the cellars of Pérez-Barquero, the wine is between 25 to 30 years of average age, not fortified but bottled at 20% alcohol from pure concentration from evaporation, as the Fino that is the base for this wine was never fortified, which is the tradition in Montilla. It's a medium-age Amontillado with textbook characteristics and the evolution of the Fino Amontillado but with some 10 to 12 years more. It's nutty, pungent, intense and sapid, with a saline, iodine twist. This is a bottling from the summer 2022. 3,000 bottles produced.

Equipo Navazos keeps churning out bottlings of incredible wines of high-quality sherries. I had not tasted their wines for a while, so there were a lot of wines to taste. During the pandemic years, they celebrated their 15th anniversary and 100th new wine (either with a new name or a new vintage). I have now tasted up to their 118th wine. They have been really influential, almost inventing and recovering styles and a type of project that others are now following. They have also branched into more spirits, vermouth and even vinegar, which I didn't taste!

DECANTER 95 points
Tasted by: Sarah Jane Evans MW
(at Montilla-Moriles: Regional profile tasting, 14 Aug 2023)
Part of Regional profile: Montilla-Moriles
Drinking Window: 2023 - 2035
Bota 117 is, like so many of its predecessors, a grandee – it speaks powerfully and nobly of its origins. Equipo Navazos specialises in Sherries, but there are occasions when it finds that only Montilla does it better. As here: boldly aromatic with vanilla, orange marmelade, walnuts. In the mouth it's piquant, powerful and peppery, laden with dried fruits and nuts, with just a hint of bitterness on the finish. Perfect equilibrium.

JANCIS ROBINSON 16.5 points
Light tawny/amber. A fuller style of Amontillado and highly approachable. Some sweet leather, dried apricot and sultana on the nose, with discreet oxidative touches. The palate is racier, yet still quite delicate. Touch of hops, bitter-orange peel, spent wood fire, sunflower seed. Medium-length finish. (DB)