Juan Fuentes
Head Cellarmaster

Sherry making has been a tradition in Juan's family. His father was Head Cellarmaster of a bodega in Jerez called Antonio Rodrigo Ruiz Hermanos, and his late brother was also a cellarmaster with Domecq.

At the age of eighteen, on the death of his father, Juan began work as an apprentice in the bottling hall of his father's employers, Ruiz Hermanos. Shortly after, he was promoted to work in the bodegas and here he began to learn the skills of sherry making. The Ruiz Hermanos bodega was taken over by the well known cattle breeding family from Seville, Guardiola, and in 1955 they in turn sold the business to another Sherry producer. Juan continued his career with the new proprietors, becoming Second Cellarmaster and was appointed head cellmaster in 1983.

In 1985 when Lustau's former cellarmaster, Andrés Pérez, retired, Juan was invited to join Lustau to take charge of all our bodegas in Jerez de la Frontera.

When Lustau became associated with the Caballero Group in 1990, it was decided to unify the two companies' stocks of sherry and Juan Fuentes was given overall responsibility for the Lustau/Caballero Sherry Division early in 1994. He is assisted by two second cellarmasters, one in Jerez and one in Puerto de Santa María.

Respected as one of the most knowledgeable cellarmasters in the area, Juan is in charge of the maturing and care of some 25,000 butts of sherry.  Since he joined Lustau he has propitiated the qualitative development of our product range, as begun in the early 1980s. Juan is often overheard talking about "his" wines, showing a very justifiable pride in his work, and we are privileged to have his expertise, since the tradtional cellarmaster, or "capataz" is a rare species these days in the bodegas of Jerez.

Sherry making is not Juan's only talent, however. He is an avid reader and, both at the bodega and in his spare time, Juan is a keen and expert photographer. We can thank him for much of the photography we have used for various publications about Lustau.