Wine tourism in Córdoba

Wine is the clearest example of the perfect blend of tradition and quality in Córdoba cuisine. There are different types of ageing and, in biological ageing, the wine matures under the “flor veil” in oak vessels. In oxidative ageing, the wine matures in wooden vessels, mainly as a result of natural physical-chemical oxidation reactions, either through the criaderas and solera system or through vintages. No other ageing process in the world resembles biological ageing; its creation and use are the exclusive heritage of Andalusia. Montilla-Moriles Appellation of Origin: it extends across the whole south of the province of Córdoba, growing different grape varieties, notably Airén, Moscatel, Pedro Ximénez, Torrontés and Baladí, a wide range of flavours and aromas that invite tasting. They enjoy international fame and are a fundamental part of Córdoba cuisine.

Montilla and Aguilar de la Frontera are the natural base for discovering the D.O. Montilla-Moriles, with rural houses and former presses turned into lodgings among olive groves and Pedro Ximénez vines. The city of Córdoba, a step away, offers hotels with a patio in the heart of the Jewish Quarter.

To the south, the Sierra Subbética invites you to sleep in white villages such as Zuheros or Priego de Córdoba, while the Los Pedroches valley, a land of dehesa and ham, keeps quiet rural houses. The province makes it easy to alternate monumental city and wine country.

Córdoba offers far more than tastings. The Sierras Subbéticas Natural Park, with its geopark and its viewpoints over the Iznájar reservoir, offers hiking and whitewashed villages such as Zuheros, with its Bat Cave. Los Pedroches unfolds endless dehesas towards the Sierra Morena.

In the capital, the Mosque-Cathedral, the flowered patios and the Roman bridge over the Guadalquivir are must-sees. The Montilla-Moriles Wine Route links presses, oil mills and inns where time seems to stand still.

The south of Córdoba is ideal for the open air. Around the Iznájar reservoir, nicknamed the lake of Andalusia, there are campsites and motorhome areas with inland beaches, water sports and views of the Subbéticas.

The pinewoods and sierras of Cardeña-Montoro and Hornachuelos, deep in the Sierra Morena, offer dehesa settings to camp among holm oaks and watch wildlife. Travelling by motorhome through the countryside lets you rise early among vineyards, taste at a press and end the day beside the water or under the stars of Los Pedroches.