Review #45: Equipo Navazos/Palazzi Single Oloroso Cask Jerez Brandy, 2005/2012, 44.2% abv, 720 bottles (@375ml)

I'm nervous about this one.

I expect to like it a lot, but then again, I might not. I intended to buy an amontillado from Equipo Navazos, but it's a little hard to justify that for a single bottle of wine that neither my wife nor my friends have any interest in. That is my sherry obstacle. But maybe it doesn't apply to a half-bottle of spirits, so when I saw this I bought it instead. I'll drink it by myself if I have to.

Why not team up with a Scottish distillery? Navazos/Benriach? Navazos/Aberlour? And age it a little longer? Anyway, this is the same stuff as in this post, which is quite informative. Brandy from Alvisa Distillery in La Mancha*, aged for 6.5yrs, the last 4.5 of which were in an oloroso cask. So I guess it's sherry-finished Brandy de Jerez. Don't know much more about it.

(*Also don't know: how Brandy de Jerez can come from La Mancha)

Nose: I don't know too much about sherry, but I'm surprised it's oloroso -- I'd have guessed amontillado. There's a bunch of rich stewed fruit, but it also smells saline and chalky, with a lot of fresh apples and varnish. Juicy grapes and shoes polish and oak spices. Tiny hints of honey and peonies.

Palate: wow, interesting palate. I was expecting sherry at this point, but this, obviously, has a lot more weight, and it really develops. Starts on soft fruit, and then moves through a couple dozen other flavors. A bowl of mixed nuts and something grassy/tannic in addition to everything I noticed before. Some cocoa, some engine oil.

Finish: really, extraordinarily long. Maybe a little difficult: some of the mixed nuts are bitter, there's some astringent wood and engine oil in addition to the fruit and vanilla. But it's really good.

This is disappointing if you expect the best of oloroso and sherry-aged whisky all in one package. I was ready to go lower before I tasted it, too. But it turns out to be a good purchase on my part.

score: 90