Equipo Navazos I Think Manzanilla En Rama Sherry 2023  £14.88

EQUIPO NAVAZOS I THINK MANZANILLA EN RAMA

*2021 Bottling

Equipo Navazos is a group of friends who have united over a shared passion for the treasures of Jerez, Sanlúcar, El Puerto and Montilla. Working with local producers to identify high quality butts of sherry with finesse and complexity which they then bottle and offer in very limited amounts. As well as producing sherry, Equipo Navazos has collaborated with other winemakers including Dirk Niepoort and Sergi Colet to develop some intriguing and characterful wines from Jerez and sparkling wines from Penèdes.

Eduardo Ojeda has invested much effort improving the quality of wines, barrels and infrastructure at La Guita over recent years. We have witnessed the success of his work in extraordinary wines like those of the Manzanilla Pasada series (La Bota 10,20,30,49,50 and now 58) but we believe nothing demonstrates Eduardo’s success quite so much as this release of I Think. I Think represents almost a personal selection of the wines available at the La Guita cellars and with this release - at once vital, vibrant, edgy Manzanilla with characteristic salty tang and a linear shaft of minerality piercing through the whole of the palate yet also a wine that has weight and complexity – Eduardo shows us more of the general level of the wines in the bodega.

60 casks are selected out of 12,000 to create the "I think" Manzanilla En Rama. It is, besides a humble homage to Charles Darwin as a symbol of the triumph of reason, a true and untamed Manzanilla. Bottled "en rama" after barely the slightest filtration process, it retains the intense golden colour and pungent character it exhibits straight from the butts where it ages under flor for about four and a half years.

A fine Manzanilla that's powerfully aromatic. Fresh, with a salty tang, with plenty of acidity together with a very satisfying lemon twist to the finish. A natural Product with plenty of colour, weight and concentration.

Try with Seafood, Oysters and Tapas!

92+ Points Robert Parker

I also tasted the June bottling of the NV Manzanilla I Think that is destined for the UK market, a special selection from botas that were marked to be part of this blend, and it tends to keep the character bottling after bottling. It might have more flor character even if the soil is very much present, especially in the textured palate. This has incredible quality for the price. Every year they bottle the same number of bottles (around 2,600) at the same time of the year. This particular bottling felt unusually fresh for the time it had already been in bottle. It has more body and structure, and it might develop slower and longer.

LG, 92+ Points, August 2019.