Ratings:
94
Luis Gutierrez - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
"The NV La Bota de Manzanilla 42 from the Balbaina vineyard in Sanlucar has a pure biological profile, saline, with iodine, sea shell, aromatic herbs and a touch of smoke. The palate is extremely fine, saline, pungent, sharp, balanced, intense and elegant. My experience with previous bottlings of this wine is that the wine evolves in bottle, getting more intense, losing the saline edge, mellowing up but getting more complex at the same time. You should experiment and keep a bottle to see if you like it. Drink 2013-2018."
92 Wine Spectator
"Weighty for a Manzanilla, featuring charred walnut and Brazil nut aromas, complemented by singed orange peel, dried peach and persimmon notes, with a long, bracing, hazelnut husk–filled finish. Shows more oomph than most Manzanillas, exhibiting precision and balance. Drink now.-J.M."
Product Description:
This is our sixth release from the same solera that has already produced editions number 4, 8, 16, 22 and 32 of "La Bota". Among them this new one is likely the freshest and most cheerful (we are sure that Don Manuel in his wisdom would have liked this one especially, since for him manzanilla was above all el vino de la alegría). For its selection we have returned to our favorite butts of the oldest manzanilla solera hosted at Bodegas M. Sánchez Ayala and on this occasion we have selected 19 of them. It was precisely the location of this house that inspired our choice of the name that we gave our project, as our first wine, the unforgettable La Bota de Amontillado nº 1, was sourced precisely from the cellaring facilities of this Barrio de la Balsa, between the streets called Banda Playa and Divina Pastora. This was a zone gradually stolen from the Guadalquivir estuary and traditionally surrounded by--today almost gone--navazos.
La Bota de Manzanilla 42 has an intense nose as well as a delicate, salty and cheerful palate; perhaps less powerful but fresher and more jovial. An unbeatable match on the dinner table, it excels with dishes from the Spanish seafood tradition: mackerel potatoes, tuna stew, oven preparations and boiled shellfish; international cuisine: toro sashimi, marinated herrings, mussels; and especially with the spicy dishes of the Asian southeast. It has been bottled after only the slightest filtration in order to preserve its genuine character and its deep golden color with green hues as if straight from the butt.
It is advisable to handle this manzanilla with just as much care as any other great white wine. It should be served at about 9/11ºC in fairly large stemware, never in the cliché copita..