Navazos Palazzi: Sherried Brandy from Jerez

Today we move over to Spain with a Spanish brandy from the Alvisa Distillery in La Mancha made from airen grapes. This was sourced by brandy importer/bottler Nicolas Palazzi and aged for six and a half years. For the last four and one half years, it was aged in a very old Oloroso sherry cask from Equipo Navazos, one of the most well regarded sherry bottlers in Jerez. It's bottled without coloring or additives.

There are only 720 half bottles from this cask. As the back label states, its goal is an authenticity that is currently difficult to find in Spanish brandies.


Navazos Palazzi, Single Oloroso Cask, Brandy de Jerez, Bottled March 2012, PM Spirits, 375 ml, 44.2% abv ($80)

The nose on this is pure, dry sherry with tons of dried fruit notes and some wood. The palate continues along the same lines with a dry wine feel, with some sweeter grape juice notes in the back. The finish has prunes and dried apricots.

This is fun stuff, and the strong sherry notes should appeal to lovers of sherried Scotch. At $80 per half bottle, it's not cheap, but it's extremely drinkable. Most of the brandies we've sampled in this series have been fairly old, but this bottle shows that brandy can do well at a younger age as well.