Sunday 10 August 2014

La Bota de Vino Blanco No 44 MMX Florpower 11.5%, Equipo Navazos

Appearance
Amber tinged gold, quite deep for a white wine, some legs.
Nose
Full, intense, traces of apple, oxidation, dried flowers, straw, quince jelly, some bitter scrub from the flor, slight traces of hazelnut in syrup and light saltiness. This is different, intriguing.
Palate
Almost like a mixture of Manzanilla and white table wine, gentle oxidative apply notes, trace brine, dry feel that's not quite tannic, strong flor flavours yet hints of orchard fruit, then that dry, almost Manzanilla finish. A totally different kind of wine, and not just delicious but fascinating.
Comments
This is effectively unfortified Manzanilla which has not undergone solera ageing. It is a table wine made from 100% Palomino grapes from the vineyards of Sanlucar (mainly Miraflores), aged for 24 months in stainless steel tanks then for a further 8 months in butts, all under flor. During this time the wine lost 1% of alcohol to the flor. MMX stands for 2010, the wine's vintage, which for some reason is not permitted to be printed on the label. The wine was bottled in July 2013 without filtration. It is an ode to the soil! It is intended to show how wines are born in the vineyard and not the bodega, and how wines were in the XVIII century before routine fortification and soleras. It is worth pointing out, however, that many wines of the past with flor were regarded as sick until it was discovered how good they were. This is a most unusual wine which should be approached with an open mind and a bit of knowledge of what it is intended to be.
Price
Just over £20 at Drinkmonger. UK importers Rhone to Rioja





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