2021 Equipo Navazos Ovni Palomino Fino White
| Type of Wine | |
|---|---|
| Country | Spain |
| Region | |
| Appellation | Elgin (Appellation) |
| Winery | |
| Vintage | 2021 |
| Grape | |
| Content (Alc) | 0.75 ltr (11.5%) |
| Drink window | 2022 - 2026 |
Low Stock
Only 4 left
Description
Everything indicates that the origins of Andalusia's biological aging date back to the second half of the eighteenth century, halfway between Sanlúcar (which supplies the wines) and Cádiz (which supplies the market and commercial channels and the beneficial effects of the flor were also valued first.
The palomino fino grape meets - along with moscatel and pedro ximénez - the trinity of historic Andalusian varieties. The grape of sherry and manzanilla, it has been the dominant variety in Sanlúcar vineyards for over two hundred years and the domain across the sherry triangle was established after the phylloxera debacle. The ideal natural alcohol content usually varies between 11.5 / 12% alc. near the coast or the Guadalquivir River, and 12/13%
It should certainly not be overstated that Equipo Navazos has also been the trendsetter in making unfortified white top wines from Palomino, because not only fantastic sherries can be made from Palomino, but also white dry salty top wines.
The unfortified white Ovni Palomino Fino 2021 comes from vineyards close to the coast, in Pago Miraflores la Baja in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Fermentation took place in barrels as was the tradition for centuries until a few decades ago. It fermented in sherry casks with native yeasts and usually aged without flor in stainless steel, but it always develops some flor that gives it a light sherry twist or perhaps better some kind of fresh oxidative content. The alcohol percentage is only 11.5%, this is only the third vintage to be bottled after 2015 (2015, 2018 and now 2021). The wine is very clean and precise, pure, with good freshness and some austerity. The wine has a complex nose dominated by minerality and tropical fruit with aromas of white flowers, fragrant notes of bread and balsamic notes. This wine has been aged under a veil (flor) of yeast and then these notes come into their own when they are tasted between 3° and 6°C - so serve very chilled.
The idea behind this project by Coalla Gourmet and Equipo Navazos is to provide a new perspective on the true essence of Andalusian wines. Without denying authenticity in any way, the magical chalky soils of Lower Andalusia can produce the raw materials for wonderful finos, manzanillas, amontillados, palos cortados and olorosos - undoubtedly wines of world quality and reputation - as well as refreshing and minerally structured wines such as this one OVNI Palomino Fino 2018. A cheerful wine without artifice or pretense, pure, authentic and natural.
Specifications
| Type of Wine | White |
|---|---|
| Country | Spain |
| Region | Andalucía |
| Appellation | Elgin (Appellation) |
| Winery | Equipo Navazos |
| Grape | Palomino |
| Biological certified | No |
| Natural wine | No |
| Vegan | No |
| Vintage | 2021 |
| Drinking as of | 2022 |
| Drinking till | 2026 |
| Alcohol % | 11.5 |
| Alcohol free/low | No |
| Content | 0.75 ltr |
| Oak aging | No |
| Sparkling | No |
| Dessert wine | No |
| Closure | Cork |
| Parker rating | 91 |
| Tasting Profiles | Aromatisch, Complex, Fruitig, Krachtig, Rond, Wit fruit |
| Drink moments | Cadeau!, Lekker luxe, Terras |
Professional Reviews
Parker
Rating 91
Release Price $25
Drink Date 2022 - 2028
Reviewed by Luis Gutiérrez
Issue Date 8th Sep 2022
Source September 2022 Week 1, The Wine Advocate
No 2019 or 2020 was bottled, so I jumped to the unfortified white 2021 Ovni Palomino Fino, which was produced with grapes from vineyards in Sanlúcar in a very low-yielding vintage, healthy (unlike 2020 in Sanlúcar) when the rains were in winter and the spring dry. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured mostly without flor in stainless steel, but it always develops some flor that gives it a slight sherry twang. It has only 11.5% alcohol and reminded me of the 2018, aged with fine lees and with some bottle age now (it was bottled six months before I tasted it). This is only the second vintage bottled after 2015. They are very different years; 2018 saw more rain and less alcohol, and the wine is clean, straight, with good freshness and some austerity. 6,000 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!
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
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Wijnhuis
Equipo Navazos makes sherry trendy again. Jesús Barquín is a prophet and he believes in sherry. Under the name Equipo Navazos, he and his close friend Eduardo Ojeda are responsible for a recent - albeit modest - revival of attention to sherry. Recently he was in Amsterdam to spread his happy message. We listened and tasted with him. Every time Jesús Barquín has to explain again how and especially why he got so addicted to sherry. He is a professor at the University of Granada in the field of criminology. Besides his work, he is a great wine lover and he writes about wine. For example, he co-authored the book about Rioja that appeared in the prestigious series The Finest Wines of… and last year a book by him and Peter Liem about sherry was published. He is therefore a connoisseur and lover of Spanish wines in general and sherry in particular.
The first barrel
In Andalusia, its residential area, Jesús Barquín regularly visits the cellars where the barrels of sherry are kept. During one of those visits in 2005, he tastes an older amontillado from a certain barrel that he clearly likes better than the same wine from other barrels. That barrel has to be emptied soon to store new wine, the owner says. Jesús then decides to approach a number of wine friends with the proposal to buy the barrel and bottle the contents themselves for private use. The label of this first bottling under the name La Bota de Amontillado no.1 stated in large letters not for sale.
Barquín not only makes his about forty wine friends very happy with it, he also draws the attention of writing colleagues at home and abroad. Jesús: “The first bottling was purely for private use. We did not want to compete with the existing wine trade. But when a second bottling also received a lot of publicity, we decided in consultation with producers and traders to offer the sherries we selected for sale. That benefits the entire sherry business. ”
Greedy
The wines selected by Jesús and Eduardo are marketed under the name Equipo Navazos. In addition to a name, each new bottling also receives a number. But what is most striking: the bottles are flying out the door! And that for sherry, a wine that has been in the dark for years with a gigantic image problem. Why are the wines of Equipo Navazo so very hip and popular? Jesús: “Because they are so good. We bottle the best the sherry area has to offer. Many people think that we are only treasure hunters, treasure hunters who know their way around the warehouses of small and large sherry houses and select the treasures to bottle there. But that is not true. Or rather: no longer true. Indeed, we only select what we find interesting, but then we treat the wine in our own way: we bottle it straight from the barrel, with as little filtration as possible, for example. That is very important for the taste. Our fino can therefore also be much more yellow than usual.
Moreover, we are currently also in the middle of the process of making our own wine from purchased grapes. Our wines range from a sparkling wine and a Florpower - un fortified 'sherry' of 100% palomino fino - to our own version of the PX. ” When making wine yourself, Jesús benefits greatly from the input of Eduardo Ojeda. He is production director at Grupo Estévez, which includes the bodegas La Guita in Sanlúcar and Valdespino in Jerez.
The Florpower 2010 is one of the last releases and is already completely sold out, says Barquín proudly, but fortunately he brought a few bottles for this tasting. Limited availability is one of the secrets of Equipo Navazos' success; each edition contains only 3 to 6 thousand bottles. The stuff is almost impossible to get and that makes many wine lovers worldwide very greedy.
Niepoort method
Incidentally, the idea to release a non-fortified sherry does not come from Equipo Navazos himself, but from another wine celebrity: Dirk van der Niepoort. He came to Andalusia to make the first edition of the Navazos Niepoort in 2008. A wine made according to the classic method - in large, not quite full barrels, so that the flor has the opportunity to grow - but without adding alcohol. The idea that an alcohol percentage of 15% is necessary for the flor to thrive is dismissed by Jesús as nonsensical. Old books show that fortifying the wine was only applied much later.
The low-alcoholic Niepoort Navazos turned out to be a fresh, crispy sherry with a lot of character and quickly became popular. Why then a second non-fortified wine under the name Florpower? Jesús: “This is called spreading risk. Due to an unexpected temperature change in the summer of 2009, the flor suddenly disappeared and the wrong bacteria got the upper hand. We were able to use only ten of the forty barrels of young wine. In 2010 we chose to make a part according to the 'Niepoort method', with grapes from Jerez and a fermentation and long stay in barrels, and another part in a new way. The Florpower comes from grapes from Sanlúcar de Barrameda and of the 32 months that it has been under the flor it has only 8 on barrel. The rest of the time it matures on stainless steel tanks. They have become two wines that are so different that it is justified to release them side by side. ”
Top wine
Is what Equipo Navazos only creating a lot of fuss about? In other words: is the old wine in new bottles, or is the hype justified? The latter is certainly the case. What they bring is really the crème de la crème of what the sherry area has to offer. We may have to admit that we hardly remember what top wines from this area can taste like. Taste a La Bota 42 Manzanilla or a La Bota 37 Amontillado and try to remember which wine comes close to these two wines in complexity and taste finesse. Then you automatically come up with wines with a world reputation.
A note about the prices. Indeed, Equipo Navazos wines are not cheap. A quote from Jancis Roberson in this regard: 'They are not cheap. But then nor is Grand Cru Burgundy. " In other words, it is just what you compare them to. In the top wine category they are still cheap!
Everything indicates that the origins of Andalusia's biological aging date back to the second half of the eighteenth century, halfway between Sanlúcar (which supplies the wines) and Cádiz (which supplies the market and commercial channels and the beneficial effects of the flor were also valued first.
The palomino fino grape meets - along with moscatel and pedro ximénez - the trinity of historic Andalusian varieties. The grape of sherry and manzanilla, it has been the dominant variety in Sanlúcar vineyards for over two hundred years and the domain across the sherry triangle was established after the phylloxera debacle. The ideal natural alcohol content usually varies between 11.5 / 12% alc. near the coast or the Guadalquivir River, and 12/13%
It should certainly not be overstated that Equipo Navazos has also been the trendsetter in making unfortified white top wines from Palomino, because not only fantastic sherries can be made from Palomino, but also white dry salty top wines.
The unfortified white Ovni Palomino Fino 2021 comes from vineyards close to the coast, in Pago Miraflores la Baja in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Fermentation took place in barrels as was the tradition for centuries until a few decades ago. It fermented in sherry casks with native yeasts and usually aged without flor in stainless steel, but it always develops some flor that gives it a light sherry twist or perhaps better some kind of fresh oxidative content. The alcohol percentage is only 11.5%, this is only the third vintage to be bottled after 2015 (2015, 2018 and now 2021). The wine is very clean and precise, pure, with good freshness and some austerity. The wine has a complex nose dominated by minerality and tropical fruit with aromas of white flowers, fragrant notes of bread and balsamic notes. This wine has been aged under a veil (flor) of yeast and then these notes come into their own when they are tasted between 3° and 6°C - so serve very chilled.
The idea behind this project by Coalla Gourmet and Equipo Navazos is to provide a new perspective on the true essence of Andalusian wines. Without denying authenticity in any way, the magical chalky soils of Lower Andalusia can produce the raw materials for wonderful finos, manzanillas, amontillados, palos cortados and olorosos - undoubtedly wines of world quality and reputation - as well as refreshing and minerally structured wines such as this one OVNI Palomino Fino 2018. A cheerful wine without artifice or pretense, pure, authentic and natural.
| Type of Wine | White |
|---|---|
| Country | Spain |
| Region | Andalucía |
| Appellation | Elgin (Appellation) |
| Winery | Equipo Navazos |
| Grape | Palomino |
| Biological certified | No |
| Natural wine | No |
| Vegan | No |
| Vintage | 2021 |
| Drinking as of | 2022 |
| Drinking till | 2026 |
| Alcohol % | 11.5 |
| Alcohol free/low | No |
| Content | 0.75 ltr |
| Oak aging | No |
| Sparkling | No |
| Dessert wine | No |
| Closure | Cork |
| Parker rating | 91 |
| Tasting Profiles | Aromatisch, Complex, Fruitig, Krachtig, Rond, Wit fruit |
| Drink moments | Cadeau!, Lekker luxe, Terras |
Parker
Rating 91
Release Price $25
Drink Date 2022 - 2028
Reviewed by Luis Gutiérrez
Issue Date 8th Sep 2022
Source September 2022 Week 1, The Wine Advocate
No 2019 or 2020 was bottled, so I jumped to the unfortified white 2021 Ovni Palomino Fino, which was produced with grapes from vineyards in Sanlúcar in a very low-yielding vintage, healthy (unlike 2020 in Sanlúcar) when the rains were in winter and the spring dry. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured mostly without flor in stainless steel, but it always develops some flor that gives it a slight sherry twang. It has only 11.5% alcohol and reminded me of the 2018, aged with fine lees and with some bottle age now (it was bottled six months before I tasted it). This is only the second vintage bottled after 2015. They are very different years; 2018 saw more rain and less alcohol, and the wine is clean, straight, with good freshness and some austerity. 6,000 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!
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Exclusive Content
Sign in to unlock professional wine reviews from world-renowned critics
Equipo Navazos makes sherry trendy again. Jesús Barquín is a prophet and he believes in sherry. Under the name Equipo Navazos, he and his close friend Eduardo Ojeda are responsible for a recent - albeit modest - revival of attention to sherry. Recently he was in Amsterdam to spread his happy message. We listened and tasted with him. Every time Jesús Barquín has to explain again how and especially why he got so addicted to sherry. He is a professor at the University of Granada in the field of criminology. Besides his work, he is a great wine lover and he writes about wine. For example, he co-authored the book about Rioja that appeared in the prestigious series The Finest Wines of… and last year a book by him and Peter Liem about sherry was published. He is therefore a connoisseur and lover of Spanish wines in general and sherry in particular.
The first barrel
In Andalusia, its residential area, Jesús Barquín regularly visits the cellars where the barrels of sherry are kept. During one of those visits in 2005, he tastes an older amontillado from a certain barrel that he clearly likes better than the same wine from other barrels. That barrel has to be emptied soon to store new wine, the owner says. Jesús then decides to approach a number of wine friends with the proposal to buy the barrel and bottle the contents themselves for private use. The label of this first bottling under the name La Bota de Amontillado no.1 stated in large letters not for sale.
Barquín not only makes his about forty wine friends very happy with it, he also draws the attention of writing colleagues at home and abroad. Jesús: “The first bottling was purely for private use. We did not want to compete with the existing wine trade. But when a second bottling also received a lot of publicity, we decided in consultation with producers and traders to offer the sherries we selected for sale. That benefits the entire sherry business. ”
Greedy
The wines selected by Jesús and Eduardo are marketed under the name Equipo Navazos. In addition to a name, each new bottling also receives a number. But what is most striking: the bottles are flying out the door! And that for sherry, a wine that has been in the dark for years with a gigantic image problem. Why are the wines of Equipo Navazo so very hip and popular? Jesús: “Because they are so good. We bottle the best the sherry area has to offer. Many people think that we are only treasure hunters, treasure hunters who know their way around the warehouses of small and large sherry houses and select the treasures to bottle there. But that is not true. Or rather: no longer true. Indeed, we only select what we find interesting, but then we treat the wine in our own way: we bottle it straight from the barrel, with as little filtration as possible, for example. That is very important for the taste. Our fino can therefore also be much more yellow than usual.
Moreover, we are currently also in the middle of the process of making our own wine from purchased grapes. Our wines range from a sparkling wine and a Florpower - un fortified 'sherry' of 100% palomino fino - to our own version of the PX. ” When making wine yourself, Jesús benefits greatly from the input of Eduardo Ojeda. He is production director at Grupo Estévez, which includes the bodegas La Guita in Sanlúcar and Valdespino in Jerez.
The Florpower 2010 is one of the last releases and is already completely sold out, says Barquín proudly, but fortunately he brought a few bottles for this tasting. Limited availability is one of the secrets of Equipo Navazos' success; each edition contains only 3 to 6 thousand bottles. The stuff is almost impossible to get and that makes many wine lovers worldwide very greedy.
Niepoort method
Incidentally, the idea to release a non-fortified sherry does not come from Equipo Navazos himself, but from another wine celebrity: Dirk van der Niepoort. He came to Andalusia to make the first edition of the Navazos Niepoort in 2008. A wine made according to the classic method - in large, not quite full barrels, so that the flor has the opportunity to grow - but without adding alcohol. The idea that an alcohol percentage of 15% is necessary for the flor to thrive is dismissed by Jesús as nonsensical. Old books show that fortifying the wine was only applied much later.
The low-alcoholic Niepoort Navazos turned out to be a fresh, crispy sherry with a lot of character and quickly became popular. Why then a second non-fortified wine under the name Florpower? Jesús: “This is called spreading risk. Due to an unexpected temperature change in the summer of 2009, the flor suddenly disappeared and the wrong bacteria got the upper hand. We were able to use only ten of the forty barrels of young wine. In 2010 we chose to make a part according to the 'Niepoort method', with grapes from Jerez and a fermentation and long stay in barrels, and another part in a new way. The Florpower comes from grapes from Sanlúcar de Barrameda and of the 32 months that it has been under the flor it has only 8 on barrel. The rest of the time it matures on stainless steel tanks. They have become two wines that are so different that it is justified to release them side by side. ”
Top wine
Is what Equipo Navazos only creating a lot of fuss about? In other words: is the old wine in new bottles, or is the hype justified? The latter is certainly the case. What they bring is really the crème de la crème of what the sherry area has to offer. We may have to admit that we hardly remember what top wines from this area can taste like. Taste a La Bota 42 Manzanilla or a La Bota 37 Amontillado and try to remember which wine comes close to these two wines in complexity and taste finesse. Then you automatically come up with wines with a world reputation.
A note about the prices. Indeed, Equipo Navazos wines are not cheap. A quote from Jancis Roberson in this regard: 'They are not cheap. But then nor is Grand Cru Burgundy. " In other words, it is just what you compare them to. In the top wine category they are still cheap!