The origins of Emilio Lustau S.A. date back to 1896, when Mr. José Ruiz-Berdejo, a secretary to the Court of Justice, started cultivating the vines of the family’s state, Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza, in his spare time. With these humble beginnings he made wines which were then sold on to larger Sherry producers. This business role in the production of Sherry is traditionally designated as almacenista or stock keeper.

In 1931, his daughter, María Ruiz-Berdejo Alberti, acquired a small winery closer to the centre of Jerez de la Frontera and moved there all the preexisting soleras, gaining notoriety and visibility. The winery was moved once again in the 1940s, to buildings that were part of the Moorish walls. The business grew, working still as almacenista.

In 1945 Emilio Lustau Ortega began to sell his wines directly, and in 1950, the company started to export its sherry wines. Lustau continued to grow, developed its Solera Familiar range of entry wines, as well as its Almacenista and Vintage Series bottlings, which have more depth and nuance.

Lustau is the only Sherry winery that produces wines in each of the cities in the Sherry Triangle formed by Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María, and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. This region is known for its white limestone soils, known as albariza. There is plenty of sunshine and not a lot of rain, though moisture blows from the ocean in the morning, with the porous soils retaining some of that moisture. Lustau works with the three classic grapes: Palomino, Moscatel, and Pedro Ximenez. The work in the winery is exemplary, with Sergio Martínez leading the team. Sergio has been recognized as the Best Fortified Winemaker by the International Wine Challenge in 2021 for the fifth consecutive year. Attention is given to every detail–Lustau maintains a team of coopers that produce barrels of exceptional quality for use in Lustau‘s solera.

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Bodegas Lustau