Lustau 3 en Rama Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda 2025

Bodegas Lustau, founded in 1896, was the first house to release a set of three en rama wines, one from each town of the Sherry Triangle, to show how place shapes a Fino or Manzanilla. This is the Sanlúcar de Barrameda bottling, a Manzanilla made from Palomino on the albariza chalk soils around the Guadalquivir estuary. Sanlúcar's cool, humid Atlantic climate sustains a thicker, longer-lived flor than inland Jerez, which gives the wine its salinity. After a dry fermentation and light fortification to around 15 per cent, it is aged about five years under that veil of yeast in part-filled butts through the criaderas and soleras. Bottled en rama with minimal filtration, it keeps more of the flor character and texture than a standard release, drawn close to the cask. The colour is pale lemon, the nose shows almond, fresh dough and chamomile with a saline lift, and the palate is light, dry and saline with a clean, persistent finish. As a vintage en rama release it is best drunk young and fresh. Serve well chilled at around 7 to 9 degrees in a white wine glass. It suits seafood and Iberian ham.