2008 Equipo Navazos Vino de Mesa de Andalucía Navazos-Niepoort - Spain, Andalucía, Vino de Mesa de Andalucía (1/10/2013)
-- popped and poured --
-- tasted non-blind over 2 Days --

NOSE: very salinic; celery; lettuce; hay; faint hint of petrol; after a few hours, a slight orange-water note comes forth. DAY 2: light and mostly inexpressive: light apple juice and light Fino.

BODY: light maize color; medium-light bodied.

TASTE: like a weak Fino; also shows some similarity to Viura; ample mineral flavor; very little fruit; canvas tent; 12.5% alc. not noticeable; good acidity, but not mouth-puckering; quite surprising how similar this is to a Fino; dry; not much fruit; finish is of medium-light intensity and is medium to medium-long in length; showed additional signs of life and character when paired with Moroccan-spiced roast chicken with sage; not impressive on its own -- really needs food. DAY 2: light apple juice flavor; still lots of mineral; dry; finish is the same as yesterday; maybe a shade better on Day 2 than Day 1, so I’m bumping this up to 87 today: I was at 86 yesterday.

B: 50, 5, 11, 15, 6 = (87 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

I guess the 2008 should have been drunk by now. Mags of the 2009 were drinking beautifully as late as autumn, but I'm right now enjoying a 2011 (and wishing it were a 2010, right, but not any older). The 2012 are about to be released any minute, I suppose.
Man, do I enjoy the peep back to my good old WS days

Howdy, Stranger! Long time, no see. Hope you're well and happy.

Doing fine, can't complain really. I've gone really as obsessive into photography (birds mostly) as I was (still am, right? ) into wine, married little lady Gastronauta, grown a couple gray hairs, gone a complete Sherry weirdo (80%+ of my cellar content right now). Great to see so many of you still around!!

Congratulations on your wedding. Stick around- always loved your input.

Thanks so much!

Back to the somewhat hijacked thread (sorry Brashley ), this is a version of fino before fortification and with only a little under flor, so it only makes sense that the aromas and flavors should foreground the chalky 'albariza' soil of Jerez.
Palomino is not a dramatically fruitdriven variety, as you know, and in fact when I first tasted something like this--well before the Navazos/Niepoort venture was even designed (http://forums.winespectator.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3146091161/m/501105042?r=501105042#501105042) it was simply a white wine resulting from bottling raw unfortified pre-sobretablas for pleasure. The minerality puts it in the neighborhood of other very austere whites (normally with much higher acidity) such as my beloved savennieres and aged muscadets. Still, while the 2008 were the first to be released, the 2009s are the most expressive so far.
As you can see, when I first tried something similar I compared it to verdejo, and actually viura is indeed a better comparison.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Gastronauta,

Hi, Gastronauta.

Thanks for chiming-in on this thread. I'll check my local wine store for the '09. My experience with the '08 was kind of disappointing, but perhaps I should give the '09 a chance. And, if I lived in Spain, my cellar, too, would be stuffed to the gills with sherry!