Navazos Niepoort 2016

The pioneer of the unfortified, flor-aged white wines from the Jerez zone, the 2016 Navazos-Niepoort is a single-harvest Palomino now in its ninth vintage. This style of wines should soon be approved by the sherry appellation and will be able to carry their true origin on their labels. The wine fermented in old 600-liter oak casks with indigenous yeasts, the way all sherry used to be fermented in the past. This is 12% alcohol and bone dry after some ten months in sherry casks under flor. This is always a powerful wine, showing the signature of the Macharnudo vineyard in a year of more finesse. The year had high yields but also oidium problems that helped to limit those yields. This is always very chalky, with the yeasty and leesy reduction of some time in bottle, turning into esparto grass and dry herb aromas and flavors. It has a volatile touch that makes this year look more like a wine from Jura, with an extra touch of freshness. It has the tastiness of the salty sensation provided by the flow. It finishes dry and long. It keeps very well in bottle, as you can see if you open any of the earlier vintages. 4,000 bottles and 300 magnums were filled in April 2018.