The world of Sherry is mourning the loss of one of its stars. Yesterday Manuel Lozano Salado died suddenly at the age of only 61. Loved and respected by all who knew him, he was the chief oenologist at Emilio Lustau, the wine division of Luis Caballero where the bodegas fell silent on hearing the dreadful news.
“Manolo” as he was known to all his friends and colleagues was a calm and modest man who inspired in people his love of Sherry.
He won the “Best Fortified Winemaker in the World” award from the International Wine and Spirit Competition, considered the “Oscars” of the trade, on no fewer than seven consecutive occasions. This is quite unprecedented and demonstrates the level of his skill, but it never went to his head. What gave him most pride was the Premio Ciudad de Jerez awarded for his life’s work in promoting Sherry.
Tributes have been pouring in from people like Luis Luengo, director general of Luis Caballero, Mamén Sánchez, mayor of Jerez and César Saldaña, director general of the Consejo Regulador, who said that he had
great qualities as a person whom it was always a pleasure to be with and from whom you always learned so much.
He expressed his condolences on his own behalf and that of the Consejo to Manuel’s widow and two sons for the loss of an extraordinary person and an extraordinary bodeguero, a great professional who perfectly reflected the bright future Sherry is now facing.
His parents were in the bar and restaurant business and through their contacts with representatives, Manuel was able to visit the bodegas which awoke an interest in him at an early age. He first worked the harvest at González Byass then in 1983 started work at the laboratories of Terry and later worked at the production bodega at Harveys. In 1999 he joined Lustau where in 2008 he supervised the removal to Lustau of the classic Domecq soleras: La Ina, Botaina, Rio Viejo and Viña 25. Two years later he added Manzanilla Macarena and Candela Cream.
And he was also an innovator. He introduced Lustau Vermouth and Tres en Rama, a range of three wines, one from each of the three Sherry towns: Finos from Jerez and El Puerto and Manzanilla from Sanlúcar. A skilled taster, Manuel was also a member of the Consejo tasting committee.
In this revolutionary year in which Sherry is showing such positive signs of a comeback, it has lost one of its principal ambassadors, a great Jerezano.
