Palomino Fino, “La Bota 84”, “Florpower MMXVI”, Vino Blanco, Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Over time, the Equipo Navazos team has shortened the period of flor exposure for their “Florpower” series, preferring a slightly lighter kiss of yeasts on releases like the MMXXI described above. This earlier bottling, La Bota #84, comes from the same plot—55- to 85-year-old vines of Palomino Fino in Sanlúcar’s Miraflores la Baja vineyard—as the MMXXI, but from the 2016 harvest (hence “MMXVI”), and it saw 19 total months of flor exposure: eight months in bota followed by 11 months in steel. Unlike the MMXXI, this wine underwent alcoholic fermentation in bota rather than steel, and its overall character is brinier and more intense, with a gripping saline texture that has been nicely burnished by a few years in bottle. 12% alcohol; 3,000 bottles produced.