The NV La Bota de Fino Macharnudo Alto 68 is a similar wine to what was bottled in the editions 54, 34, 27, 18, 15, 7 and 2; it is produced like the wines from yesteryear, fermented in bota and kept in contact with flor for some ten years. This is a classic already, and they are bottling more or less the same botas as in previous editions. Here, the soil is as strong (or more) than the long aging, and has lots of things in common, the chalkiness, with their other wines (think Navazos Niepoort for example), which provide a special sapidity. Some 6,000 bottles produced; they are producing a little bit more, so the wine is bottled every two years, as the wine ages nicely in bottle.

A saca made in June 2016 from the same batch of casks that gave the seven previous editions of La Bota de Fino. This most recent Fino release, with an average age between ten and eleven years, comes from a selection of casks of the solera, the first and the second criaderas.Pale gold. Smells of heather honey without the sweetness – that smoky, spice, dried-grasses aroma but with a floral side, almost like lavender. But also a dusty/chalkymineral quality that tones down all those complex aromas. Gets more smoky in the glass, more dried grasses. I’m not sure what the numbers are on this wine but it tastes almost slightly sweet, even though it is bone dry. According to Jésus Barquín, it is the long ageing on the lees that give it this buttery/creamy (mantecoso) richness and thus the impression of sweetness. Rich, rounded, deep and long but still fresh even with all the generous creamy texture that contrasts with the almost bitter flavours. Salty, yeast finish.