Equipo Navazos

Jerez, Spain The story of Equipo Navazos is the story of a passion shared by a group dedicated to traditional Andalusian wines. Aware of the sleeping treasures that rested buried in the cellars of Jerez, Sanlúcar and El Puerto, as well as in and around Montilla, Jesus Barquín, Quim Vila and Dirk Niepoort decided to rescue some of these jewels. In 2005 they started to select specific butts of special finesse and complexity and to bottle them in very limited series, at the beginning only privately for their own enjoyment and that of friends from Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and the U.S., mostly people from the wine world: oenologists, wine writers, distributors, sommeliers, as well as deeply knowledgeable aficionados. It all began in December of 2005 during a visit to a small and antique bodega in Sanlúcar, when these Sherry lovers “discovered” several dozen butts of an exceptionally fine old amontillado that had spent twenty years without running, unsold. They selected the equivalent volume of a butt and bottled it privately under a brand name that evokes Edgar A. Poe’s popular story “The Cask of Amontillado”: La Bota de Amontillado "Navazos". These scarce 600 bottles triggered the team’s hunting activities. Another two selections, still exclusively intended for private circulation, would appear along 2006. The results aroused great enthusiasm among this reduced circle of partners, and limited releases of later selections appeared in the market through several important distributors that had participated in the venture from the beginning. Since the summer of 2007, backed by the enthusiastic support of a small number of good friends who are also distributors and importers, a small amount of these bottles is made available for 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.