Emilio LUSTAU - Oloroso Anada 1997
Bodegas Lustau is a famous sherry producer in Andalusia, Spain. La Bodega is arguably the most recognised fortified wine producer in the world. The estate was founded in 1896 by José Ruiz-Berdejo as Almacenista, and also cultivated his own vines. Almacenistas usually bought young wine (Ruiz made his own) and raised it in their own soleras, before selling them to larger houses, who mixed it with older wine or matured it longer in their larger soleras. It wasn't until the 1950s that Ruiz's son-in-law Emilio Lustau Ortega started bottling and exporting his own wine. Now based in Jerez, Lustau is the only winery to have sites in the three towns of the Sherry Triangle: Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Lustau buys grapes, while maintaining two of its own vineyards. The first is the Montegilillo vineyard, which is on white limestone albariza soil, local to the region. The second is the Las Cruces vineyard, which is found on sandy coastal soils.
The Lustau Añada 1997 is the youngest of the Lustau vintages so far (after 1989 and 1990). It was made from grapes cultivated in their Montegilillo vineyard, set in the Carrascal area (North of Jerez) and matured in American oak for more than 13 years until it was bottled in December 2010. The label of this sherry says Rich Oloroso Abocado. Abocado means “smooth” and it usually indicates that the originally dry Oloroso wine has been sweetened by the addition of some Pedro Ximénez after maturation. In this case however, it indicates that the grapes were partly dried in the sun before pressing (soleo) and that the fermentation wasn’t completed: during the fermentation process, the must was strengthened to around 17 degrees in order to retain part of its natural sugars. These partially fermented wines will develop into a kind of naturally sweet Oloroso.
Grape variety: 100% Palomino
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