Navazos 'I Think' Manzanilla Saca de July de 2019 (375ml)

From the stellar Equipo Navazos stable, this Manzanilla comes from a 60-strong cask selection made by Navazos founders' Jesus Barquin and Eduardo Ojeda that was plucked from the production of La Guita, one of the most famous (and finest) Manzanilla producers (and where Ojeda oversees production in his role as the Technical Director of José Estévez). As always, this current bottling was drawn from its barrels, en rama (directly). This is how Manzanilla used to be bottled before sterile filtering became the standard in Jerez. The current batch was bottled in July this year (you can find the bottling month and year on the back label if you look carefully!) and it's a wonderfully potent, briny yet seductive wine with a deep, silky texture and plenty of sustained, tangy drive. Four and a half years under flor, and being bottled gently, direct from cask, has also delivered a wonderful, pillow texture, a vibrant orange/gold colour and some nutty development. It's a much deeper colour than almost all other Manzanillas on the market, which are typically very clear as they are so young and sterile filtered. Here the wine looks pretty much as it did when drawn from the cask. The age and the direct-from-cask bottling already make this unique by comparison to all other Manzanillas in its price range. This is a particularly good version of this wine. It has almost the same deliciousness scale as the horizon-expanding La Bota Manzanilla releases but, understandably, it is not quite as complex as it is more youthful. Nonetheless, it is damn delicious. As far as texture, flavour and persistence are concerned, it remains light years ahead from the more common, conventional, heavily filtered Manzanillas out there.