The Sergi Colet/Equipo Navazos partnership started in 2003 when the two producers began discussing the parallels between Sherry and Champagne (chalk soils, the significance of reserve/aged wines, etc.). The conversation quickly turned to how one could produce Spanish sparkling wines that somehow incorporated the terroir of Sherry country. After several trials, the model was set.

Colet-Navazos sparkling wines fall under the Penedès DO and are produced in the traditional method from Xarel·lo and Chardonnay base wines sourced from Colet’s organically tended vineyards in Pacs del Penedès and Sant Martí Sarroca. The Sherry-country presence is felt in the secondary fermentation, which uses a small amount of flor yeast, and in the dosage, which uses different La Bota Sherries.

Until 2018, the Brut Nature was sold as Extra Brut, but Navazos had to change the name because the wine is bone dry. It’s one of the most unique sparkling wines on the market. Bottled after three years of lees-aging and disgorged with a little Palo Cortado (La Bota de 117), it is vibrant, enthrallingly fresh and elegant, as well as intellectually stimulating. The best of both worlds! Luis Gutiérrez of The Wine Advocate has described these wines as ‘Champagne with a Sherry spirit’. Needless to say, it will beautifully complement a wide range of foods.

In the simplest terms, this captivating wine is a barrel-fermented Palomino Fino table wine inspired by a period in Andalucían wine history before fortification became the norm. Such wines were historically known as ‘vino de Manzanilla’ and were originally more highly regarded than the area’s fortified wines. Thanks to Navazos, this beautiful style of wine is now once again on trend in Spain, with producers such as Muchada-Léclapart and Bodegas De La Riva crafting delicious examples.

Now 15 vintages strong, the Navazos-Niepoort project—which originally included the expertise of winemaker Dirk Niepoort and Quim Vila (owner of legendary Barcelona wine merchant Vila Viniteca), continues to go from strength to strength. As always, the wine is sourced entirely from a mature parcel of hand-harvested grapes in Jerez’s great pago, Macharnudo Alto. Dubbed the ‘Montrachet of Jerez’, its specific albariza chalk—called Tosca de Barajuelas—results in low yields of thick-skinned grapes and a particularly fine, chalky, saline Palomino.

Under the watchful eye of Eduardo Ojeda, the fruit naturally ferments in a 40-year-old bota (Sherry cask) filled to 5/6 capacity to encourage a thin layer of flor. It then matures for some 11 months under a veil of flor before being bottled without fortification. The resulting wine is gorgeously saline and finely textured with notes of white blossom, citrus and sea spray pierced by electric acidity. It’s weighted like a silky, cool-climate Chardonnay but with a completely different personality; it’s far more savoury, with food-friendly umami and roasted almond skin notes topped off by a long, mouthwatering, chalky close. Unique and very delicious.

Once described by Max Allen as licking oyster shells in rolling surf, this ground-breaking Manzanilla comes from a 60-strong cask selection made by Navazos founders Jesus Barquín and Eduardo Ojeda that was plucked from the production of La Guita, one of the most famous (and finest) Manzanilla producers (and where, for decades Ojeda oversaw production in his previous role as the technical director of José Estévez). As always, this current bottling was drawn from its barrels en rama (directly from the barrels with only the lightest filtration). This is how Manzanilla used to be bottled before sterile filtering became the standard in Jerez.

The current batch was bottled in March 2024. It’s a wonderfully potent and briny yet seductive wine with a deep, silky texture and plenty of sustained, tangy drive. Four and a half years under flor and gentle bottling direct from cask has also delivered a vibrant gold colour and some nutty development. It’s a much deeper colour than most other Manzanillas on the market (which are typically very clear due to their youth and sterile filtration). That makes this unique in comparison to other Manzanillas in its price range. It remains light years ahead of more common, conventional Manzanillas.

Saca de August 2022. This stunning Fino comes from the Macharnudo Alto (the ‘Grand Cru’ parcel within Jerez’s legendary Macharnudo vineyard) and was drawn from Valdespino’s Inocente solera. This will need no introduction to Navazos fans, as the same solera and vineyard brought you the fabled La Bota numbers 2, 7, 15, 18, 27, 35, 54, 68 and 91.

Of course, this is a single-vineyard wine (extremely rare in the world of Fino these days) from one of the four great pagos that lie to the north and west of Jerez. Dubbed the ‘Montrachet of Jerez’, the albariza chalk here—called Tosca de Barajuelas—results in low yields of thick-skinned grapes and a particularly fine, chalky, saline, structured Palomino. Macharnudo Alto is the most celebrated part of the vineyard, the parcel with the highest altitude and the one considered to have the purest albariza soils.

This time around, it’s a selection from the solera: the oldest casks for complexity, and the second criadera for freshness. This bottling was also blended with some younger criaderas from the Macharnudo Alto estate. Eduardo Ojeda (the Master) explains: “We are looking for particular finesse and freshness in this saca. The wine is now more fluid and fresher than in previous editions, without in any case losing its authenticity.” Its average age is close to eight years, a couple of years less than the previous bottlings. Food? Oysters, olives, anchovies, salted almonds, whitebait, charcuterie, prawns, hard cheese, etc. In fact, drink it with whatever you like, but with the aforementioned foods, you will be in heaven!

Saca de October 2018. Bottled from a single cask, the 86 was sourced from Pérez Barquero’s Bodega Los Amigos in Montilla. This is another remarkable and unique expression. The wine started as an Oloroso but came to be classed as Palo Cortado due to its uncommon finesse. Barquín credits the source vineyard—the high-altitude Altos de Moriles, home to Montilla’s finest albarizas—and the precision for tempering the opulence of old vine Montilla PX.

We have come to associate La Bota’s half bottle format with extremely old, concentrated wines (No. 73 and 78, for instance), and this bottling chimes in at only 30 years old. It is bottled in halves due to the wine’s scarcity and sheer quality. It is a staggering wine. Produced with Pedro Ximénez grapes, it is 19% alcohol from concentration through evaporation. Despite the remarkable finesse and even delicacy, you only need a small glass to be satisfied, such is the intensity. A wine for contemplation. A wine for being blown away. 

Saca de October 2022. Pérez Barquero co-owner Rafael Cordoba has been caring for his vineyards and cellar for decades. He is considered a master at obtaining truly outstanding musts, both yema (first press) and vino de color (second press). It’s with these second-press musts that Pérez Barquero’s winemaker, Juan Márquez, uses to produce his Olorosos. No. 116 La Bota de Oloroso Montilla comes from a selection of casks from the Solera Diógenes, located in the third row at Pérez Barquero’s Bodega El Puente. The main difference from the previous saca, No. 74, is that this time, all the casks selected belong to the solera itself, while Navazos picked some vessels from younger criaderas as well for the previous release. This fact, together with the elapsed time and the small withdrawal from these casks, explains why this wine is almost five years older than its predecessor. Its estimated average age is, therefore, close to 35 years!

Saca de July 2017. La Bota 76 was just the second commercial release of this wine, drawn from an ultra-rare, 100% PX solera resting in Sanlúcar’s Marqués del Real Tesoro bodega (the first release was La Bota No. 11). This 12-butt solera was filled in 2000 with a very old P.X. that had been carefully selected from the stocks of a small Sanlúcar producer that was closing down. Since then, it has remained untouched, except for the two small withdrawals made by Navazos.

Estimated to have an average age of 30 years, this is a mind-blowing example of pure Pedro Ximénez produced in the Jerez style: fortified initially to 18.5% alc. and aged in butts filled only to 5/6 of their capacity (to enhance the complexity of oxidative notes). With time, the alcohol percentage has dropped to 16% alc. This beguilingly sweet wine can be enjoyed on its own or side by side with chocolate-based dishes. Serve on the cool side, so the temperature inside the glass can evolve from 12ºC to about 16ºC.

Navazos disciples will be well familiar with this wine, inspired by the time when Pedro Ximénez was often a vintage wine released without extended aging, and therefore without the resulting rancio characters that such maturation brings.

It is made in partnership with the highly regarded Pérez Barquero family in the D.O. Montilla-Moriles and derives from late-harvested and dried PX grapes from one of Montilla’s best vineyards. Fortification is carried out only with top-quality, grape spirit. After 18 months resting in traditional, large, cone-shaped amphorae (of the type used in Montilla-Moriles for centuries, locally called tinajas or conos), the wine is released as an ultra-pure, viscous, incredibly intense and naturally sweet dessert wine.

For those new to this wine, this isn't your opaque, black, rancio style of PX. Instead, you can expect a bright and perfumed, amber/brown coloured wine of wonderful vibrancy, fruitiness and freshness, with dried raisin, leatherwood honey, cold tea, nutmeg, molasses and fresh resin notes. Of course, with 430 grams of residual sugar, it is very sweet yet balanced by just the right amount of acidity. The wine can be consumed in the same way as an aged PX: served with coffee, tea or with chocolate desserts. Like Navazos’ solera PX, it will keep for aeons in the fridge.

A sweet Vermouth from Equipo Navazos? Yes, and it's predictably wonderful! From the late 1800s through the mid-20th century, Vermut de Jerez was all the rage in Andalucía. Backed by the likes of Valdespino and Lustau, today the style is roaring back into vogue. Eduardo Ojeda and Jesús Barquín have been perfecting their recipe for several years, and now we have their first release. For the base wine they have chosen a five-year-old Oloroso from a prestigious bodega in Jerez, to which Ojeda has steeped a blend of botanicals including wormwood, coriander, liquorice, elderflower, juniper, bitter orange peel and grapefruit peel, all of which can be found growing wild in the fields and mountains of Andalucía.

With this inaugural small-batch release, Barquín confirms they have already achieved their first objective: “To have a few cases in our personal cellars to enjoy them as an aperitif and to prepare the best cocktails in the world!” We should add that it’s a complex, artisanal, unique Vermouth that blew our socks off. Bottled at 17.5%, it leans to the traditional, spicy-citrus side with measured Oloroso sweetness matched by elegant bitterness. You’ll find notes of sarsaparilla root, walnut skin and warm spice floating out of the glass, backed by an elegant bitterness and long, clean finish with citrus peel notes to the fore.

In Spain, a perfectly balanced wine of this quality would be typically served neat or on the rocks with a slice of orange. If you want to take a leaf out of Barquín’s book, it takes to a Boulevardier or Manhattan like a duck to water. Or why not a decadent Negroni Sbagliato? With only 2,000 bottles made, we encourage Navazos lovers to get on their bicicletas.

Saca of June 2024. This astonishing Sherry vinegar is the younger sibling of the exceptionally old Gran Reserva (La Bota 106) we shipped last year. This bottling is also sourced from Bodegas Páez Morilla, which put Jerez vinegar on the international map. Its owner, Antonio Páez Lobato, is known as the ‘King of Vinegar’, and his work was instrumental in getting this unique product its own Denominación de Origen.

Made using the traditional Criaderas y Solera method, this Vinagre de Jerez Reserva was made with wine that was already almost 15 years old, an age to which Barquín estimates another 15 years must be added; it is at least 30 years old. Just 1,400 half bottles were drawn from the de punta casks (located at the extreme of each batch of casks). Compared to the seven or eight degrees of acetic acid that the oldest and noblest vinegars on the market usually have, here we are above 10! At such a high grade, it retains a few degrees of alcohol. “It’s a real beast,” exclaims Navazos’ co-founder Jesús Barquín! Beastly good, we might add.

Vinegars like this are often used to give character to younger ones, but here it has been bottled as is, without any watering down. Ideal for aromatising dishes with just a few drops, usually a minimal amount will suffice as a dressing. Another interesting option could be to prepare a mixture of sherry in a small bottle (it can be very old, but also a young Amontillado, or even a Fino) and this vinegar; for example, 1/4 of the former and 3/4 of the latter. Or it can be used less sparingly: a marinade or escabeche prepared entirely with this vinegar will be an exceptional dish.