Lustau Fino Jarana

Lustau is a flagship house of the Marco de Jerez, founded in 1896 and now part of Grupo Caballero, with vast cellars across six nineteenth-century buildings in Jerez. Fino Jarana is made from Palomino grown on the chalky albariza soils of the region, the white earth that holds winter rain in its depths and reflects summer sun back at the vines. The wine is fortified only to around 15 percent, low enough for flor to thrive, then aged biologically under that veil of living yeast. The flor grows across the wine's surface in the cask, sealing it from air and feeding on it, which keeps the colour pale and leaves the fresh, saline, slightly yeasty signature of a Fino while the wine stays bone dry. The cooler conditions of the Jerez cellars sustain the flor through its biological ageing. The colour is pale straw. The nose has good intensity, with pungent almond and a doughy, bakery note from the flor. The palate has a powerful entrance, dry, fresh and very mineral, with a clean saline finish. Serve very cold at 7 to 9 degrees in a white wine glass. It is at its best as an aperitif with seafood and salty bites.