Bodegas: Pilar Aranda

This famous firm is one of the oldest bodegas in Jerez, and the oldest of the almacenistas. It was established in 1800 by Don Antonio Maria de Aranda y Cardenas, the great grandfather of Pilar Aranda. Don Antonio had four children: Carlos, Felix, Pepa and Fermin. Fermin became a very famous surgeon, and was often invited to speak at medical conferences. At one such in 1924, attended by King Alfonso XIII, he extolled the virtues of Sherry so well that the following day, 1200 of those at the conference visited Jerez! Medical man though he was, he looked after the family bodega and expanded it. He even experimented briefly with growing tobacco. A street was later named after him (the old Calle Medina).

A republican and the owner of vineyards – he came to own four fincas: La Rosa Celeste, La Blanquita, La Huerta de la Marquesa and  La Venta Cantero - and of course the bodegas. He spoke three languages and was known for his charm. He married Dona Pilar Latorre Nieto, and they had four children: Antonio, Fermin, Jose and Pilar, born on the 11th of July 1907.

It was Pilar, widowed young - her husband was killed during the Spanish Civil War - who inherited the bodega containing some 500 butts on her father’s death on the 1^st of May 1946. Along with her sons and the accountancy skills of her cousin Guillermo Ferguson’s stepson, she continued with the winemaking. She was a woman ahead of her time, possessing grace and spontaneity as well as an excellent knowledge of the workings of a bodega, and great skill as a taster. With a great sense of humour and agility of mind, she was well known and respected not only in bodega circles but also in public. 

Pilar had seven bodegas, but three were rented out. The other four contained about 700 butts. She worked a lot with Manuel Maria Gonzalez Gordon of Gonzalez Byass, buying mosto from them and selling them back matured Sherries, in fact 85% of her bodegas output was sold to them for their blends, the rest being sold to Emilio Lustau – such as a lovely Amontillado Fino - to be bottled unblended and sold bearing her name as well as that of Lustau. One treasure in the bodega was an ancient PX, well over 100 years old, which has been aged statically in only four butts, but it is almost impossible to procure any. There is also some outstanding vinegar.

In 1975, at the Harvest Festival, the Consejo Regulador named her “Capataz de Honor” in recognition of her dedication to Sherry. As she grew older, her grandson, Fermin Garcia Villaescusa managed the business. A trained enologist with experience, he is also an artist, and perhaps his greater interest lay there. Dona Pilar passed away in 1997, aged 90, and in 1999 the firm was sold to Alvaro Domecq, a member of that famous bodega family (qv). In 2006 a street in Jerez was renamed in her honour.

It is hard to say whether or not this is a lost bodega, but many changes have certainly been made. The firm now markets the brands based on the existing soleras, but is now part of a big financial group. Lustau is no longer bottling the wines.

Her brands were: 
Fino La Janda
Oloroso Alburejo
Cream Aranda 
These brands have been continued by Alvaro Domecq along with some very old wines which are now  as the 1730 range.

Bodegas: Emilio Lustau

One of Jerez's most prestigious bodegas, Lustau dates back to 1896 when it was founded by Don Jose Ruiz-Berdejo, a legal secretary who cultivated a modest vineyard in the outskirts of Jerez caled Finca Nuestra Senora de la Esperanza. Here he made and stored his own wines in a small bodega, and as such was an Almacenista. He would later sell the wines to the big exporting bodegas.

In the 1930s he died, and his son in law took over in 1940. His name was Don Emilio Lustau Ortega from Granada. He managed to combine a rather impressive military career with that of a bodeguero, deciding to move the bodega to the old Santiago area in the heart of Jerez. There, in historic buildings which formed part of the old Arab city walls, he set about slowly but surely building up the business - still as an almacenista. He also invested in more vineyards, in 1948 he purchased Pago La Guita in Balbaina and Pago Pino Fiel in Raboatun, followed in 1962 by Pago la Cruz de Usillo in Balbaina. Emilio began to export wines in the 1950s. In 1962 the company became an SA (limited Company) and his sons took over.

The company continued to expand during the 1970s, constructing new bodegas at the old family finca, then at the start of the 1980s, under the management of Rafael Balao Chilla (1933-93) it became one of the most innovative firms in Jerez. He felt Lustau should be at the forefront of quality, and what with its almacenista roots, he introduced the Solera Reserva range which comes from old almacenista stocks then added the Almacenista range, a series of beautiful wines from small almacenistas bottled by Lustau. Balao also revived the old tradition of Old East India Sherry, and released Vendimia Cream (now Lustau Anada) in 1992.

Luis Caballero, a Sherry, brandy and liqueur producer in Puerto de Santa Maria purchased Lustau in 1990. His Ponche Caballero is Spain's biggest selling liqueur. This added 170 hectares of vineyard at Montegilillo to the portfolio. In 2001 Lustau purchased 6 bodegas in the Calle Arcos from Allied Domecq totalling 20,000 square metres which were then restored, and in 2008 they purchased the great Domecq brands La Ina, Botaina, Rio Viejo Macarena and Vina 25 along with the appropriate soleras - 4,000 butts in all. Lustau now market over 40 wines, not to mention brandy and vinegar. They are now the Sherry division of Caballero which concentrates on spirits.

Their impressive list of products is as follows:

Solera Reserva Range:
Puerto Fino; Fino Jarana; Manzanilla Papirusa; Amontillados Los Arcos and Escuadrilla; Palo Cortado Peninsula; Oloroso Don Nuno; Creams Capataz Andres, Candela and Rare Cream Superior; Moscatel Emilin; PX San Emilio

The Domecq Range
Fino la Ina; Rio Viejo Oloroso; PX Vina 25; Botaina Amontillado; Manzanilla Macarena

Solera Gran Reserva
Oloroso Emperatriz Eugenia

Especialidades
VORS Amontillado; Palo Cortado; Oloroso; PX
East India Solera
Seleccion Centenaria PX Murillo
Anada 1990 Oloroso Dulce

Almacenista Range
10 different rare wines from small almacenista soleras.


Visits? Yes, by previous appointment
Contact
Address: Calle Arcos, 53, 11402 Jerez de la Frontera (Cadiz)
Tel: (+34) 956 341 597
Web: www.lustau.es