Clear straw golden colour. The scent has nuances of crisp apples and mocha with a hint of fig. The taste is medium strong, deliciously fruity with notes of nuts and fruit. Amontillado is often referred to as the golden mean, as it combines the fullness of the Oloroso with the freshness of the Fino.
96 POINTS
Decanter World Wine Awards
94 POINTS
The Wine Advocate
The most intense offering in this group is the dry non-vintage Rare Amontillado Escuadrilla Solera Reserva. There is definitely some serious age on this solera. An amber color is followed by notes of nuts, salty sea breezes, sea weed and dried pit fruits.
94 POINTS
Wine & Spirits Magazine
92 POINTS
Wine Spectator
Smoked almond, singed orange peel, date, salted caramel and toasted hazelnut notes all weave together here, with a flicker of sweetness through the finish as a green tea accent chimes in. Shows lovely range and elegance.
91 POINTS
Guia Pennine
Colour: iodine, amber rim;Aroma: sweet spices, acetaldehyde, dry nuts, candied fruit, toasty;Flavour: dry, spicy, fine bitter notes, flavourful.
90 POINTS
Extra Magazine
ELEGANT AND EXTREMELY BALANCED
Fresh scent of fallen pears. Elegant amontillado with pears, citrus, almonds and spices. Great acidity and extremely balanced with a long salty aftertaste.
90 POINTS
The Wine Advocate
EXCELLENT CHARACTER
Medium amber with a dry, nutty character and excellent grip.
90 POINTS
Wine Enthusiast
A pure refined bouquet of butterscotch, caramel, spice and dried apricot aromas is appealing. This feels elegant and complete. Flavors of toasted nuts, salt, malt and stone fruits finish long, properly sharp and nutty.
90 POINTS
CellarTracker
winelab.dk
WOW – AMAZING WINE
Fantastic wine that plays on many keys with great harmony and everything succeeds!If you are usually more at home in high-quality tawny port, you will feel extremely entertained by the aroma, but here the similarities also end: While in it you will find dried fruits, figs, raisins and orange peel, the taste behaves much drier than, for example, a port wine. It is much more complex and vinous and almost cognac-like, with a large complex, dry body and a warm fruit/dish structure. The long and big aftertaste has fruit, fizz and English licorice! Wow!
Northern Jutland Stiftstidende
Lustau Amontillado Escuadrilla is nicely balanced. It is also completely dry with a marked acidity that only really shows up at the end of the taste. It is precisely the acid that makes amontillado so good for e.g. the mushroom soup. It is elegant. Taste of hazelnuts. The drinking temperature should be around 10 degrees. 18.5 per cent alcohol.
About Lustau
Lustau is exceptional sherry. In recent years, Emilio Lustau has won many awards for its sherry quality, not least the title of “Best Spanish Bodega”. Many of the prizes have gone to the house’s own wines, but some have actually also gone to the so-called almacenista sherries, for which Emilio Lustau is very well known. Small, individual winegrowers sell their, often very nuanced, wine to Lustau. Where all other sherry houses blend the almacenistas’ wine in-house, Emilio Lustau is the only house that allows the almacenista wines to be bottled separately. Regardless of which Lustau sherry you choose as your first acquaintance, you will not for a moment doubt why Emilio Lustau is the leading star of the area and a trendsetter in the rest of the world!
The foundations of Lustau were laid in 1896, when José Ruiz-Berdejo, in his spare time, began to cultivate the vines that stood on the family estate, Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza. Humble beginnings, which turned into more when the wines began to be sold to larger sherry producers – an activity known in the area as “almacenista”. In 1931, José’s daughter, María Ruiz-Berdejo Alberti, bought a small winery closer to Jerez de la Frontera and gave the family greater visibility. In the 1940s, Maria’s husband, Emilio Lustau Ortega, moved the winery to the old part of the city and began to expand the business in old, Moorish buildings, still as an almacenista. In 1945, however, Lustau stopped that occupation and began selling his own sherry brands. The name Lustau became synonymous with quality and in 1990 Lustau joined forces with another prominent company name in the spirits industry, Luis Caballero. It ensured further stability and economic muscle.
Today, Lustau is considered a benchmark for world-class sherry. There have been many medals and trophies, e.g. “Best Spanish Winery” in 2011 and “Best Sherry Producer” in 2014 and 2016 at the International Wine & Spirit Competition.
