Description
About Equipo Navazos Wines
The history of EQUIPO NAVAZOS goes hand in hand with the passion shared by a large group of great lovers and connoisseurs of Andalusian fortified wines. Aware of the treasures hidden in the wine cellars of Jerez, Sanlúcar and El Puerto, and also of Montilla and its surroundings, we set out to recover some of these jewels. At the end of 2005, EQUIPO NAVAZOS began to select some of these wine casks based on their special complexity and finesse and to bottle them in very limited series, mainly for our own enjoyment and satisfaction and that of our friends.
At first, distribution was almost private among a group of passionate people of these amazing wines from Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, mostly wine people: oenologists, writers, distributors, sommeliers and aficionados with profound knowledge.
It all began in December 2005, during a visit to a small, old winery in Sanlúcar, when we “discovered” several dozen casks of an old, very fine natural Amontillado that had been practically unavailable for twenty years. We selected and acquired the equivalent of a winery cask and bottled it privately under a brand that evokes the well-known story by Edgar A. Poe: The Cask of Amontillado NAVAZOS. These 600 or so bottles were the start of the Navazos Team’s selection and production of wines.
Then came two other selections carried out throughout 2006 on an exclusively private basis for the same group of wine enthusiasts and professionals. The results were enthusiastic among the “partners” of the initiative, which encouraged its continuation, with part of the production now placed directly on the market through several influential national and international distributors who, on the other hand, had been part of the team from the beginning.
From the summer of 2007, as a result of the enthusiastic insistence of some friends who are also prominent wine merchants, both in Spain and in other countries, a small number of bottles of each of the successive editions began to be sold to the general public: La Bota de Amontillado “Navazos”, La Bota de Fino “Macharnudo Alto”, La Bota de Palo Cortado “Bota Punta”, La Bota de Manzanilla, etc.
Later on, the number of bottles in circulation has grown, always within artisanal limits: a few thousand bottles at most, sometimes just a few hundred. Likewise, Equipo Navazos has become increasingly involved in the previous stages, collaborating intensively with the producers in the different phases of production, from the vineyard itself, and even partnering with some of them in the production of some specific wines and brandies under our direct participation.
The wines from the “La Bota” editions are bottled in limited and sealed editions, in a series that follows a consecutive numerical order and with the release date identified precisely, so that the consumer can consciously compare the different editions of the same solera. And also, so that a precise control of their evolution can be kept, because – like all great wines – these also mature and go through various phases in their long enjoyable life in the bottle.
The first editions were distributed exclusively within a closed circle, so that, if any bottles are found out there, they will necessarily come from the private batch of the little more than thirty private “partners” who, with their help and collaboration, made this exciting project possible and continue to support it.
