Rediscovering the sherries of Emilio Lustau
By John Schreiner
March 26, 2006
The astonishing importance that sherry formerly held can be summed by a story of how Ferdinand Magellan stocked his five vessels before setting out on his epic voyage around the world in 1519.
The explorer spent more money on wine for his ships than he spent on cannons. In fact, he spent almost twice as much on sherry as was spent on the ships. Where fresh water would eventually become brackish, sherry would remain drinkable indefinitely. When added to water, the alcohol render water safe to drink.
In 1587, when Britain and Spain were at war, Sir Francis Drake’s fleet sacked the port of Cadiz, a point of departure for sherry shipments. Drake helped himself to 3,000 barrels of sherry, a bit of plundering that cemented the market for sherry in Britain.
It was a recent tasting of sherries from the 110-year-old house of Emilio Lustau that sent me to delve into the fascinating history of a wine that deserves more prominence on tables than it has. In modern times, sherry has retreated to a niche market, so much so that when the general manager of Spain’s sherry council conducted tastings in Canada in 2002, they were billed as “Sherry: The Undiscovered Treasure.”
The wine is a very old treasure. It is believed that Phoenician traders brought vines about 1100 BC to the region around Jerez. The city is pronounced Yair-eth. The Islamic Moors, who occupied Jerez for five centuries beginning in 711 AD, mispronounced the name as Sherish.
The Moors, at least in theory, were prohibited by their religion from drinking. Viticulture continued, however, because they ate grapes and could use wine medicinally.
The Christian king who took Jerez back from the Moors in 1264 is remembered in history as Alfonse the Wise, perhaps because he had a vineyard and fostered winemaking. Exports of wine to England began about this time and the English used a variation on the Moorish name for the city as the identity of the wine.
The Spanish recognized they had a good thing going. In 1483, the guild of growers and winemakers promulgated the first rules to govern growing and producing sherry. Sales of sherry have waxed and waned ever since but no one denies that the quality of the wines has been consistently high.
The Lustau bodega started as just another almacenista, a term describing private producers of sherry who sell their wines in bulk to the exporters. Lustau began exporting in the 1940s to private label customers. In the early 1980s, it began selling under its own label and it began bottling wines made by other almacenistas. Often, these are limited volume wines, because small producers may only have a few barrels to sell; or may sell to several exporting firms. It means that Lustau offers at least 40 different sherries.
Lustau was brought to British Columbia in late 1980s by Forbes Fraser Wines, then an emerging wine agency that specialized in finding interesting wines from Spain. Subsequently, Forbes Fraser was acquired by Grady Wine Marketing, which still represents some of those original Spanish wineries.
Lustau, perhaps because its sherry sales had lagged in recent years, has moved over to Freehouse Wines and Spirits as a way of breathing new life into the venerable brand.
If Freehouse gets restaurants and wine stores to sell Lustau sherries, and consumers to taste them, the brand will be around for a long time. These are very fine sherries. I came across Robert Parker’s scoring (done a few years ago, because he is not a big sherry drinker) and noted that most of his scores, like most of mine, are in the 90s.
These are the Lustau sherries that Freehouse is offering. Those listed in specialty stores are identified with this symbol: §.
* Jarana Fino ($25.99). This is a charming wine, fruity and delicate on the palate; both fresh and yeasty in the aromas; and with a finish that is crisply dry with a cleansing touch of saltiness. Served chilled (a must for Fino), this wine is superb with seafood. 88 points.
* Manzanilla Pasada de Sanlúcar, matured by an almacenista named on the label as Manuel Cuevos Jurado ($49.99). When Fino sherries are matured in cellars at Sanlúcar, near the ocean, they take on a distinctly salty note in the aroma and the flavour, along with a crisp, nutty dry finish. I once drank nothing but Manzanillo during a seaside luncheon in Sanlúcar, one of the most memorable food and wine experiences I can recall. The taste of this wine revived the memories. 88.
* Los Arcos Dry Manzanilla ($13.99 for a half bottle). § This is a mature Manzanillo, with a tawny colour, with flavours of nuts and caramel and with a dry finish. The perfect aperitif. 88.
* Peninsula Palo Cortado ($35.99). This is a rare extension of the Amontillado style of sherry with more aging, giving the wine aromas of hazelnuts and flavours recalling a very fine fruit cake. The finish is dry. 90.
* Don Nuño Dry Oloroso ($19.50 for a half bottle). § The glorious mahogany hue of this wine mirrors the sunburnt faces of the grapegrowers of Jerez. The wine is delicious, with fruity aromas, flavours of nuts and chocolate. The finish is dry and lingering. 88. Another great aperitif.
* Oloroso de Jerez Sherry matured by almacenista Angel Zamorano ($55.99). This almacenista is a business consultant in Jerez with a passion for making sherry. He has about 300 butts (each with a capacity for 500 litres) in his cellar and the wine is parceled out to collectors. This is a complex wine: the aromas of spice and dried fruit explode from the glass. The intense flavours run the gamut from nuts and caramel to licorice. The finish is dry and very long-lasting. 92
* Capataz Andrés Deluxe Cream Sherry ($13.99 for a half bottle). § Amber in colour, this full-textured sherry tastes of raisins, figs and dates. The sherry is sweet but is beautifully balanced so that it never cloys on the finish. 90.
* East India Solera Sherry ($19.50 for a half bottle). § Legend has it that sherries carried as ballast in ships sailing to the East Indies developed into this style – rich, luscious and smooth, with flavours nuts, candied fruit, even treacle, somewhat reminiscent of crème brulé. 92.
* Emilín Moscatel Superior ($39.99) This is called a dessert wine but, in truth, it is dessert all by itself. The aroma recalls a rich raisin pie. The flavours are quite complex, with dried raisins, a touch of the barrels in which the wine has aged for eight years, even a sweet whiff of fresh tobacco. The finish is sweet and lingering. 94.
* VOS Amontillado ($167.99). As the price suggests, this “very old sherry” – twenty years or more – is quite rare, with a total production of perhaps 2,000 bottles a year. It has a fragrance of spice and nuts, with flavours of hazelnuts and a generous, warming, dry finish. One can linger for hours over a glass or two. 98.
This is an outstanding range of sherries – and to think that it represents only a quarter of what Lustau produces.
goodgrog@shaw.ca
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