Bodegas Lustau

Bodegas Lustau was founded in 1896 by Don José Ruiz-Berdejo. It was a modest beginning: Don José, a court clerk, cultivated the vines on his estate, Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza. In the vineyard house itself, he aged the wines that he would later sell to the large export wineries. He was an almacenista. An almacenista was a winegrower who made and aged his own wines, but, lacking commercial contacts, ultimately sold his production to large bodegas. Today, their status as almacenistas does not allow them to bottle wine for sale to the public, which has meant that many have gradually disappeared; however, those that remain possess exceptional criaderas and soleras. Lustau is the only winery that produces wines in the three cities of the Sherry Triangle: Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María, and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Its vineyards receive around 3,000 hours of sunshine each year, accompanied by relatively high rainfall, averaging 600 liters per square meter annually. The landscape of the area is made up mostly of hills of very white limestone soil known as “albariza.” Its uniqueness comes from the fact that this area lay beneath the sea thousands of years ago. To a lesser extent, clay and sandy soils appear in areas closer to the coast. Bodegas Lustau is now considered a worldwide benchmark for top-quality wines. In recent years, Lustau has received numerous international awards. Highlights include Best Spanish Winery of 2011 and Best Sherry Producer in 2014 and 2016, awarded in London by the International Wine & Spirit Competition. Lustau was the first winery in the world to receive the prestigious Len Evans Trophy twice, in recognition of its quality and consistency, in 2011 and 2016 at the renowned International Wine Challenge. Year after year, Lustau wines also receive numerous awards and accolades, placing the winery among the most highly awarded in the world. Lustau’s philosophy has remained the same since its origins in 1896: to offer consumers the broadest and most select collection of Sherry specialties.