Equipo Navazos, La Bota No 131 Manzanilla de Florpower MMXXI, Jerez, Spain

Producer Profile

Equipo Navazos was born out of a group of friends’ desire to unearth some of the many treasures lying forgotten in the bodgas of Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, El Puerto de Santa Maria and Montilla… wines whose age and provenance place them among the best value in the world.

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, on the label)as a mark of respect for the generations of expertise and care that have gone into making these exceptional wines. Today, however, Equipo Navazos’ efforts are increasingly focused on producing their own wines, such as Florpower, which truly express the character of Sanlúcar and its unique terroir. Beyond Andalusia, they have also collaborated with winemakers of the calibre of Dirk Niepoort and Sergi Colet to develop authentic, individual Spanish wines that never fail to impress.

Viticulture

La Bota de Manzanilla 131 “florpower MMXXI” is, first and foremost, a vintage (2021) white wine, and a single-vineyard one, 100% varietally made from Palomino Fino sourced from vineyards in the Pago Miraflores La Baja (Sanlúcar).

Winemaking

After one year ageing under flor at natural strength, it was slightly fortified with wine spirit and has additionally aged in Sanlúcar de Barrameda for almost three years following the traditional biological system. It is, therefore, a manzanilla: a single vineyard, vintage manzanilla. It is also the same wine once bottled as La Bota de Florpower 114 MMXXI (vintage 2021), as in its day they reserved some lots of that wine to be fortified from the beginning and aged as manzanilla, and then blended with some butts of Florpower 2021 that were fortified later on, after biological aging at natural alcohol levels. We admit it is a complex scenario, and perhaps a complex message for the many wine professionals who daily bring the wines of Equipo Navazos to the tables of aficionados and restaurants all over the world: if Florpower has always been an unfortified white wine, why mess it up with a Manzanilla “florpower”? Well, because it's what it is, and because the common thread of all our “florpowers” is the exceptional vineyard at Pago Miraflores La Baja from which they come and that always ends up imposing its character regardless of the aging style and whether the wine is fortified or not. It's both a manzanilla and Florpower 2021, only with a little added alcohol and and a couple of extra years of age under flor. We believe it is better to explain complex things as they are than to try and simplify something complex and lose it in the process. This may have to do with our opinion that much of the long crisis that traditional Andalusian wines have suffered has to do with oversimplified messages and 1970s marketing strategies based on homogenized products and mass market positioning. Those policies pushed many fine wine lovers away from our winemaking tradition. Hopefully, this delicious 2021 manzanilla--a fine and delicate, yet racy wine--will help make a few more sherry aficionados; maybe in spite of the complex message, perhaps precisely because of it.

Tasting Note

100% Palomino Fino grapes sourced from the esteemed Pago Miraflores La Baja in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. After one year of ageing under flor at natural strength, the wine was slightly fortified and aged for nearly three years following the traditional biological system. The result is a delicate yet racy wine that showcases the exceptional character of the vineyard.

Food Matching

This wine pairs beautifully with a variety of dishes, including grilled seafood, tapas, aged cheeses, and cured meats.