Lustau Pedro Ximenez San Emilio Sherry Solera Reserva

San Emilio is a sumptuous, darkly expressive PX Sherry, where intense sweetness harmonizes with dried fruit, molasses, and deep complexity. It’s indulgent yet balanced—ideal for contemplative sipping or pairing with rich desserts.

Origins & Craftsmanship

Part of Lustau’s Solera Familiar collection, San Emilio is made from 100% Pedro Ximénez (PX) grapes, typically those dried in the sun (asoleo) to concentrate sugars. The wine is aged in a Solera y Criaderas system under full oxidative aging—no flor protection—allowing it to evolve richly over many years in American oak barrels.

The system blends wines of different ages, creating depth by nesting younger and older elements. The result is a Sherry that combines fresh raisin intensity with integrated oxidative maturity. San Emilio is non-vintage, drawing from multiple criaderas to maintain balance and complexity.

Tasting Profile

Nose: Luxuriously deep—dark raisins, figs, blackstrap molasses, black cherry, and caramel. Beneath the sweetness lie notes of toffee, burnt sugar, espresso, dark chocolate, and a hint of leather and tobacco.

Palate: Rich, viscous, and complex. The core is intensely sweet: dried figs, raisin, prune, molasses, and sticky toffee. Layers of espresso, nut praline, dark caramel, and candied pecans weave through. Despite its weight, it remains balanced by a thread of raisined acidity and oak-tannic backbone.

Finish: Long and opulent. The sweetness recedes to dried fruit, dark chocolate, and a whisper of saline. A lingering echo of prunes and caramel persists, with a faint suggestion of burnt orange or citrus peel at the very end.

Quick Overview

"With piercing aromas of raisin pudding, molasses and spice, this rolls out the welcome mat and more. Luscious is probably as tame as you can put it; this is a ribald sweet wine with acidic backbone and hugely intense flavors of baked brown sugar, cinnamon cake and molasses. Powerful but still racy due to bracing acidity. About as good as it gets with P.X." Wine Enthusiast 93 Points

"Delivers the weight you expect from a PX, but with a fresher cut. The singed walnut, brown bread, ginger, ganache and Turkish coffee notes are allied to a mouthwatering spearmint and treacle spine. Features good energy through the finish to match the mouth coating feel." Wine Spectator 91 Points