Light amber with coppery orange tints, legs.
Nose
Amazingly fresh nose with hints of saltiness and minerals, lots of savoury autolytic notes, a hint of Marmite and yeasty bitterness remaining. Then there's the oxidative side with traces of quince, and the beginnings of the nuttiness and implied sweetness of an Amontillado. This is amazing: at 18 years you could still almost call it a Manzanilla Pasada - but for that hint of sweetness. Manzanilla Muy Pasada?!
Palate
Here the weight and strength of the Amontillado comes in at first, nutty with trace sweetness, but still there are those saline yeasty characteristics giving it a real raw tang which of course balances perfectly with the slight sweetness. A fascinating wine, bursting with flavour, very long and of a type almost unobtainable anywhere else. It is not cheap, but you should get some: it shows you exactly how Amontillados evolve from Manzanillas. A magnificent wine!
Comments
Another masterpiece from Equipo Navazos. 3,000 bottles of this wine (equivalent to @ 4.5 butts) were sourced from Hijos de Rainera Perez Marin (La Guita) in Sanlucar, and bottled in August 2012. When Grupo Estevez bought the bodega in 2007, there were various tiny "Manzanilla Pasada" soleras which had been laid down by a previous oenologist, and these were rationalised. {The term Manzanilla Pasada is used in Sanlucar to denote wines which could be anywhere between old Manzanilla and young Amontillado}. The finest and most complex butts were selected, and they were refreshed with selected unfortified Manzanilla, creating a very natural Amontillado solera of just over 100 butts. Throughout June 2012 Navazos selected a dozen or so of the butts for their freshness and complexity. The average age of this wine is 18 years, yet it is as fresh as a daisy - like an Amontillado Fino!
Price
£46.00 from Drinkmonger Edinburgh. UK agents Rhone to Rioja.
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