This chemist from San Fernando (Cádiz), who grew up amongst his grandfather’s vineyards, has spent half his life at Bodegas Lustau, in Jerez de la Frontera. “After two or three months of being right here, I already knew that I needed to dedicate myself to this,” Sergio Martínez tells NIUS. Because he entered as an intern, being only a child, and ended up taking up from his instructor, Manolo Lozano, seven occasions one of the best winemaker on the earth and who died in 2016. “He taught me all the things I do know. He opened my eyes to this world ”, admits Martínez who, a couple of days in the past, has revalidated his title of Best Winemaker in Spain for the fifth time.
We discovered him in his sanctuary. A cathedral-like vineyard, with excessive ceilings, thick partitions, giant home windows and albero flooring that keep a secure temperature and humidity to favor the microclimate that Jerez wines want.
While checking the outcomes of an evaluation to see if the acidity must be adjusted, he reveals the key of his work: “Close your eyes and see the vineyard, every boot. You should have all the things recorded in your thoughts like on a tough drive ”, she factors out. A chunk of recommendation from his instructor who he at all times retains in thoughts after a profession of greater than 14 years strolling each day, chalk and veneer in hand, the terraces that make up the cellar’s solerajes.
The venenciado is the essence of his commerce
That and loving his craft above all else. “The secret’s that you simply like what you do and have crew, from the one who waters to the one who makes the choices on the high,” he factors out. Although the winemaker, he says, has to manage “from the vine to the glass”, the operate that he likes essentially the most is that of getting older. The essence of the present of him. “Take the venencia and go tasting and smelling boot by boot,” he admits. For this cause, he recollects, oenologist “has to have his sneakers stained with albero from visiting the vineyard.”
Is an oenologist born or made? From his standpoint, each. “They say that you need to have particular genetics to have the ability to recognize smells, however I additionally consider that when you prepare and dedicate your self a hundred percent, you possibly can obtain it,” he factors out. In his case, each realities happen: an innate capacity and half a lifetime of labor and steady coaching that he now completes with a Degree in Oenology.
The local weather, a problem
Martínez acknowledges that the local weather is, yearly, a problem for sherry wines. “It is a particular wine exactly due to the local weather that we solely have right here on this space of Cádiz”, he factors out. For this cause, it’s essential to adapt to the atmospheric circumstances, even though contained in the vineyard there’s its personal microclimate. “We are opening the home windows whether it is West and shutting whether it is Levante, watering albero relying on the warmth, we’re enjoying with that to fight dangerous climate incidents”, he factors out.
A harvest, this yr, particularly atypical with the drought and excessive temperatures. “One of essentially the most disastrous that I do know of however, luckily, now we have the means to acclimatize it, each within the cellar and within the winery”, he factors out. His job, he says, is that the result’s simply as optimum. “We are fortunate to have wines which are alive and that change as a result of it’s biologically aged. A bottle of effective jarana now must be the identical as final yr’s and subsequent yr’s however, clearly, it’s going to have small nuances that differ however the type would be the identical. That is my mission, ”he explains.
Oenology, a science with a brilliant future
This winemaker from Cádiz sees a promising future for this artwork. “There are increasingly generations of younger oenologists who’re dedicated to high quality wine. We don’t give attention to promoting quantity however high quality, which is what’s necessary”, he acknowledges. And not solely at an expert stage. “People are more and more concerned with coaching in a selected manner. More and extra individuals know what an amontillado, an oloroso, a palo cortado is. The client is extremely educated and is aware of what he needs. What makes us be extra attentive as a result of the consumer is extra demanding ”, he warns.
The Amontillado Squad, his favourite
In the cellar there are greater than 60 references, but when he had to decide on one, he would undoubtedly select the Amontillado Escuadrilla. A wine that he defines as “elegant”, filled with nuances, with intense hazelnut aromas and an extended aftertaste within the mouth. Not simply anybody says it, the 5 occasions Best Winemaker in Spain says it, who additionally final yr obtained, for the fifth consecutive yr, the title of Best Winemaker of the World’s Fortified Wines. A chemist who entered a Jerez vineyard as an intern and, on the age of 46, has ended up being a benchmark in his personal: analyzing, figuring out and caring for the jewels that the partitions of Lustau preserve.