Equipo Navazos is not really a bodega at all. It was founded in 2005 by Jesus Barquin and Eduardo Ojeda, friends and fellow aficionados of the great fortified wines of Andalucia, and the prime movers of a group of about 30 like minded connoisseurs and professionals, with the intention of obtaining and bottling these wines for their personal pleasure.
They were aware that many wine treasures lay hidden away in Andalucia's bodegas and in December 2005 they visited an almacenista in Sanlucar, Miguel Sanchez Ayala, where they discovered a few dozen butts of old and very fine amontillado. The scales of the solera hadn't been run in 20 years, and the wine was ageing and improving statically. They chose and bought the equivalent of 1 butt which they had bottled with the name "La Bota de Amontillado No.1" Coincidentally (?) this is also the name of an Edgar Allan Poe story. The wine was eventually chosen after an exhaustive tasting from 65 butts.
These 600 or so bottles marked the beginning of the selection and bottling process, then they chose a name: Equipo (Sp. "team") Navazos (an ancient Sanlucar - probably arab - viticultural system whereby the coastal vineyards were dug down to below sea level, the soil heaped up at the edge to protect the vines from the wind, and provide more humidity.) The following year saw two more selections. The members of the group loved them thus encouraging more, and in 2007 small quantities of wine were put directly onto the market thanks to the professional members who were important national and international distributors.
The wines are bottled in one-off limited editions in numerical order so that each bottling can be compared to another from the same solera, and any development compared. As time has gone by, the team has bottled other interesting wines; Montilla, Sparkling wine from Jerez, and even Brandy. They work with talented and go-ahead winemakers to bring new ideas to fruition. For the Sparkling wine: Sergi Colet, expert in Cava with interesting ideas for spakling wine Jerez style. They also work with Dirk Niepoort (of Niepoort Port) to produce a wine which is what they think Sherry was like in the 18th century before the solera system became widespread: a Palomino from top vineyards, barrel fermented with wild yeast and aged briefly under flor. At 13% vol it is more of a table wine to our modern tastes, but still delicious - and very interesting.
The list of bodegas who provide these wonderful wines includes some top names, needless to say:
Rey Fernando de Castilla; La Guita (Grupo Estevez); Valdespino (Grupo Estevez); M Sanchez Ayala; Perez Barquero and Bodegas Gracia (from DO Montilla). There are many other bodegas with treasures, but some are committed to supply other companies such as Lustau, who have the wonderful "Almacenista" range. The Equipo Navazos wines have not surprisingly scored very high points from the critics. 99/100 is not unusual. Search them out. They are not cheap, but then no treasure is.
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