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Showing 1 to 16 of 25 (2 Pages)

Buy Wine from Emilio Lustau

Bodegas Lustau cannot be explained without the complexity of the Jerez region, but it is also true that today it is difficult to understand the Jerez region without talking about Lustau. Founded in 1896 by Don José Ruiz-Berdejo, a notary who started out as a warehouseman, then a secondary figure in the Jerez hierarchy, but essential in the shadows, Lustau has evolved from a humble supplier of bulk wine to become one of the most influential and respected fortified wine houses in the world. This evolution, however, was neither linear nor the result of an aggressive expansion strategy, but rather a series of coherent, almost silent decisions that always prioritised content over form.

The transition to self-bottling - A curatorial decision

The real metamorphosis began in the 1980s, when the Lustau family abandoned its role as warehouseman and began bottling under its own brand. It did not do so with an obvious commercial aim, but with an almost curatorial desire: to show the diversity, range and expressiveness of the wines of Jerez as they are experienced in the bodegas themselves. Since then, Lustau has been defined by its obsession for nuances: for that minimal difference between a fino from El Puerto and one from Jerez, for what happens when a solera ages under barely perceptibly different conditions. Where other houses have tended to homogenise styles, Lustau has dedicated itself to highlighting micro-differences.

The Almacenistas Collection - Living memory of wine

One of its most notable contributions to the understanding of Jerez is its Colección de Almacenistas, a series of wines from small criaderas maintained by families who never bottled under their own name. Rather than absorbing these wines into the Lustau identity, the bodega chose to highlight their origin and give credit to the silent work of entire generations. Here we are not looking for the oenologist's signature, but for the fine trace of time, humidity, the veil of flor at its exact moment. There is an almost anthropological dimension to this collection: it is wine as oral testimony, as a recovered manuscript.

Three cities, three souls - The sherry triangle

From a technical point of view, Lustau works in the three cities of the Jerez triangle: Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Few wineries can boast of this. Each city imprints a different character on the wine, even though they start with the same grapes, the same harvest and the same type of ageing. The fino from Jerez is tense, saline, incisive; the fino from El Puerto, rounder and more marine; the manzanilla from Sanlúcar, ethereal and sharp, almost floating in the mouth. This territorial diversity, which might seem redundant to the neophyte, is precisely what Lustau has managed to convert into its language. The result is a kaleidoscopic range of wines that do not overlap, but complement each other, like different voices in the same choir.

Tradition and risk - A sought-after balance

Lustau' s approach also stands out for its attention to the balance between tradition and risk. Although they respect the times and the rules of the Consejo Regulador, they have not hesitated to explore less travelled paths: their static ageing, outside the traditional system of criaderas and soleras; their rarities such as the East India Solera, a cream that reinterprets the British style of the 19th century, or their collaborations with internationally renowned bartenders to recover the use of Jerez in cocktails. Far from diluting the identity, these movements have served to broaden the scope of Jerez without betraying its roots.

Wines with a signature without a signature - The language of Lustau

The bodega has also achieved something unusual in the world of wine: to create recognisable labels without falling into repetitive formulas. Its Amontillado Los Arcos, for example, maintains a clear line of oxidative expression, but it is nothing like the Amontillado Escuadrilla. One speaks with a deep, rounded voice, the other with a dry edge and a background of hazelnut and smoke. The same goes for their finos, palo cortados and olorosos: each seems to have something to say. There are no filler wines at Lustau.

Relevance without artifice - The power of silence

Perhaps the greatest compliment that can be paid to the house is that, in a market that tends towards standardisation, Lustau continues to focus on the personality of the wine rather than its commerciality. And it does so without pretension, without grandiloquent campaigns or empty slogans. Its most powerful marketing is still the liquid in the glass: wines that do not shout, but are rarely forgotten.

Today Lustau belongs to the Caballero Group, but it maintains intact that spirit of independent judgement that made it great. It is not the oldest, nor the biggest, nor the most mediatic. But it is, without a doubt, one of the most relevant. A winery that does not seek to be a protagonist, but an instrument: a house that lets the sherry speak for itself.

Showing 1 to 16 of 25 (2 Pages)

Buy Wine from Emilio Lustau

Bodegas Lustau cannot be explained without the complexity of the Jerez region, but it is also true that today it is difficult to understand the Jerez region without talking about Lustau. Founded in 1896 by Don José Ruiz-Berdejo, a notary who started out as a warehouseman, then a secondary figure in the Jerez hierarchy, but essential in the shadows, Lustau has evolved from a humble supplier of bulk wine to become one of the most influential and respected fortified wine houses in the world. This evolution, however, was neither linear nor the result of an aggressive expansion strategy, but rather a series of coherent, almost silent decisions that always prioritised content over form.

The transition to self-bottling - A curatorial decision

The real metamorphosis began in the 1980s, when the Lustau family abandoned its role as warehouseman and began bottling under its own brand. It did not do so with an obvious commercial aim, but with an almost curatorial desire: to show the diversity, range and expressiveness of the wines of Jerez as they are experienced in the bodegas themselves. Since then, Lustau has been defined by its obsession for nuances: for that minimal difference between a fino from El Puerto and one from Jerez, for what happens when a solera ages under barely perceptibly different conditions. Where other houses have tended to homogenise styles, Lustau has dedicated itself to highlighting micro-differences.

The Almacenistas Collection - Living memory of wine

One of its most notable contributions to the understanding of Jerez is its Colección de Almacenistas, a series of wines from small criaderas maintained by families who never bottled under their own name. Rather than absorbing these wines into the Lustau identity, the bodega chose to highlight their origin and give credit to the silent work of entire generations. Here we are not looking for the oenologist's signature, but for the fine trace of time, humidity, the veil of flor at its exact moment. There is an almost anthropological dimension to this collection: it is wine as oral testimony, as a recovered manuscript.

Three cities, three souls - The sherry triangle

From a technical point of view, Lustau works in the three cities of the Jerez triangle: Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Few wineries can boast of this. Each city imprints a different character on the wine, even though they start with the same grapes, the same harvest and the same type of ageing. The fino from Jerez is tense, saline, incisive; the fino from El Puerto, rounder and more marine; the manzanilla from Sanlúcar, ethereal and sharp, almost floating in the mouth. This territorial diversity, which might seem redundant to the neophyte, is precisely what Lustau has managed to convert into its language. The result is a kaleidoscopic range of wines that do not overlap, but complement each other, like different voices in the same choir.

Tradition and risk - A sought-after balance

Lustau' s approach also stands out for its attention to the balance between tradition and risk. Although they respect the times and the rules of the Consejo Regulador, they have not hesitated to explore less travelled paths: their static ageing, outside the traditional system of criaderas and soleras; their rarities such as the East India Solera, a cream that reinterprets the British style of the 19th century, or their collaborations with internationally renowned bartenders to recover the use of Jerez in cocktails. Far from diluting the identity, these movements have served to broaden the scope of Jerez without betraying its roots.

Wines with a signature without a signature - The language of Lustau

The bodega has also achieved something unusual in the world of wine: to create recognisable labels without falling into repetitive formulas. Its Amontillado Los Arcos, for example, maintains a clear line of oxidative expression, but it is nothing like the Amontillado Escuadrilla. One speaks with a deep, rounded voice, the other with a dry edge and a background of hazelnut and smoke. The same goes for their finos, palo cortados and olorosos: each seems to have something to say. There are no filler wines at Lustau.

Relevance without artifice - The power of silence

Perhaps the greatest compliment that can be paid to the house is that, in a market that tends towards standardisation, Lustau continues to focus on the personality of the wine rather than its commerciality. And it does so without pretension, without grandiloquent campaigns or empty slogans. Its most powerful marketing is still the liquid in the glass: wines that do not shout, but are rarely forgotten.

Today Lustau belongs to the Caballero Group, but it maintains intact that spirit of independent judgement that made it great. It is not the oldest, nor the biggest, nor the most mediatic. But it is, without a doubt, one of the most relevant. A winery that does not seek to be a protagonist, but an instrument: a house that lets the sherry speak for itself.