Emilio Lustau is a Spanish sherry producer. The firm is known for its "Almacenista" range of sherries, the products of small family-owned bodegas that it sells as specialist bottlings under its brand name.
The history of Bodegas Lustau dates back to 1896, when it was founded by Don José Ruiz-Berdejo. He grew some vines in his own finca called Finca Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza, aged the wines for some time and then sold them to bigger houses that commercialized and exported the wines. This is what we call an almacenista, a warehouser or stockkeeper.
After his death in 1930, the bodega was moved to the old town centre of Jerez and slowly expanded. By then, the founder’s son in law Don Emilio Lustau Ortega from Granada was at the head of the company. Emilio began to export wines in the 1950s and felt Lustau should be at the forefront of quality, while staying loyal to his almacenista roots. He introduced the Lustau Solera Reserva range, composed with old stocks acquired from different almacenistas, and later (in 1981) added the Almacenista range, a series of hand-picked wines from small almacenistas, bottled and labeled by Lustau but with the provenance mentioned on the label. Both are still highly respected ranges and among the more widely available premium sherries.
The Lustau company was sold in 1990 to Luis Caballero, a company famous for its Ponche Caballero liqueur, the most popular of its kind in Spain. The sale gave Bodegas Lustau a solid financial backbone and oxygen for further expansion. One of the latest achievements was the purchase of six bodega buildings that belonged to Domecq, when this house was split and sold to different buyers. In 2001 and 2002, these 20.000 square metre buildings were restored and now house all of the Lustau wines. Since 2008, the company also owns some of the great Domecq brands as well as their related soleras: La Ina, Botaina, Rio Viejo Macarena and Viña 25 – 4,000 butts in all.