The Authentic Extravagance of Equipo Navazos

Sherry, baby.

In 2005, a group of friends who were aficionados of Sherry were exploring the caves of small, old bodegas in the area’s various appellations (in Spain; province of Cadiz, region of Andalusia)) and happened upon several dozen butts of an exceptionally fine old amontillado that had spent twenty years without running, unsold. (A butt is a standard size cask, generally 126 gallons, used for maturing Sherry.) They selected the equivalent volume of a butt and bottled it privately. for their own enjoyment. The friends followed the same procedure the next year, but by 2007 had decided to provide a small number of bottles for commercial sale. Equipo Navazos now sells and in some cases helps produce or oversees production of the range of Sherry styles, always in limited amounts — a few thousand or a few hundred bottles — of extraordinary quality. These are not the Sherries you keep on the sideboard in case Aunt Matilda decides to visit. Their power, individuality, complexity and depth are amazing.