Fino Holy Ground - A Single Barrel
Lustau Fino del Puerto En Rama 500ml
Impressive En Rama Debut
In Sherry, the great terroirs, the "Grand Crus," aren't slopes, but warehouses in towns.
When it comes to Fino, the sweet spot is in El Puerto Santa María.
When you look through old Sherry books, the town of El Puerto de Santa María is almost always referenced as the ideal place for raising Fino sherries.
The problem these days is that El Puerto de Santa María Finos are rare. In terms of availability, El Puerto is simply dwarfed by its neighbors in Jerez and Sanlúcar (where Fino is called Manzanilla). There are, at most, four producers available in the U.S.
El Puerto Finos are beautiful, delicate wines full of seashell minerality and salty tang. Once you've tasted them, it's almost impossible not to wish they were more readily available.
We should warn you from the outset, though: For the debut of their En Rama series, Lustau selected a single barrel and bottled just over eighty cases of 500ml bottles.
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For their En Rama series, Lustau is releasing a fino from each town in the sherry triangle, Jerez, Sanlúcar and El Puerto Santa María. Tasting through the series is a great tour of sherry terroir (you can find all three here), but unsurprisingly the Fino from El Puerto is the star.
El Puerto is close to the sea and the flor thrives imbuing the wines with a salty, iodine, flor influenced richness. The easy comparison to draw is to the Manzanillas of Sanlúcar. Their close proximity to the water lends both cooler temperatures and higher humidity levels than those of Jerez, yet El Puerto Finos tend to be a little rounder, a touch softer than the Manzanillas.
Lustau's careful selection of a single extraordinary barrel and their bottling the wine with minimal filtration emphasizes the profundity and uniqueness of El Puerto. There's an energetic complexity of savory elements that marries beautifully with the intensity of the textured palate.
We've discussed this in previous sherry emails, but En Rama (minimally filtered) sherries have more complexity, better texture and more dynamism than very filtered versions. The use of filtration dates back to the 60s and 70s when industrial methods altered the region's winemaking. It's really nice to see Lustau choose to bottle a very small amount of their Finos and Manzanillas En Rama.
Lustau's beautiful rendition of an El Puerto Fino is a really exciting addition to the sherry landscape. Sadly, quantities are limited. Please give us you ideal order and we'll try our best.
To order, reply to offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits
Lustau Fino del Puerto En Rama
Lustau Fino En Rama arrives mid-June.
NET | No further discount