EQUIPO NAVAZOS – Navazos Niepoort 2016

Luis Gutierréz the critic Robert Parker writes:

"The 2016 Navazos-Niepoort, the pioneer of unfortified, floral whites from the Jerez region, is a single-harvest Palomino now entering its ninth vintage. This type of wine should soon be recognised by the Sherry appellation and may then bear its true origin on the label. The wine was fermented in old 600-litre oak barrels with indigenous yeasts, just as all sherries used to be fermented. The wine has 12% alcohol and is bone dry after ten months of ageing in sherry casks. This is always a powerful wine, showing the signature of the Macharnudo vineyard in a year with more finesse. The year had high yields but also oidium problems which helped to limit those yields. The wine is always very chalky, with the yeast and leaf decay after some time in bottle, turning into aromas and flavours of esparto grass and dry herbs. It has a volatile note that makes this vintage look more like a wine from the Jura, with an added touch of freshness. It tastes of the salty feeling that the river brings. The finish is dry and long. It keeps very well in the bottle, as you can tell if you open one of the earlier vintages. 4,000 bottles and 300 magnums were bottled in April 2018."