Wine tourism in D.O. Montilla-Moriles
The production area of the Designation of Origin extends over much of the south of the province of Córdoba.
The Genil and Guadajoz rivers mark its eastern and western borders, while the Guadalquivir, to the north, and the Sierras de la Subbética, to the south, define its outline. Within the Production Zone, the Superior Quality Subzone stands out, made up of areas delimited and selected for their special edaphological qualities: these are the «alberos» of the Sierra de Montilla and of Los Moriles Altos.
A unique region for unique wines
The localities that form part of the production Zone of the Designation of Origin are Montilla, Moriles, Doña Mencía, Montalbán, Monturque, Nueva Carteya and Puente Genil, in their entirety, and in part those of Aguilar de la Frontera, Baena, Cabra, Castro del Río, Espejo, Fernán-Núñez, La Rambla, Lucena, Montemayor and Santaella. The ageing Zone is completed with the urban centre of Córdoba.
The land and the climate
This area preserves the charm of a landscape dominated by vineyards and olive groves, a biodiversity hardly attainable in other wine-growing zones and accompanied by a great Historical, Artistic and Heritage wealth of the villages that make it up.
Zones
The soil is a factor that conditions the response of the vineyard, and therefore the composition of the grape for vinification, under the strong influence exerted by the climate of the area, acting fundamentally as a water reserve for the vine, in addition to exerting an influence through its physicochemical properties.The albarizas are soils rich in calcium carbonate, with soil and subsoil formed of soft marls, poor in natural organic matter, not very fertile, of simple mineralogical composition, with a flaky or crumbly structure, and whose horizons have a high moisture-retaining capacity, in which the roots of the vine develop mainly in the first seventy centimetres of depth, although the main root may reach beyond four metres deep.
Microclimates
The climate found in the area of the PDO «Montilla-Moriles» is generally classified as semi-continental Mediterranean, with hot, long and dry summers and short, relatively mild winters. In this central area of Andalusia the highest temperatures of the entire Iberian Peninsula are recorded in the months of July and August, with historic maximums exceeding 46ºC. The hours of effective sunshine stand at around 3000 per year. Annual rainfall ranges between 500 and 1000 mm, characterised by its irregularity both in annual and interannual distribution.
After the Phylloxera attack on the vineyards of the Montilla-Moriles area in the 19th century, they were replanted practically with the native vines, especially with the «Pedro Ximénez» variety. Some of the earlier native varieties were lost forever, unfortunately, and are not even to be found in nurseries. According to the Specification Document of the PDO «Montilla-Moriles», the production of the protected wines is carried out with grapes coming from the PDO's production area and from the following varieties: Pedro Ximénez, Airén, Baladí, Verdejo, Moscatel de grano menudo, Moscatel de Alejandría, Torrontés, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Macabeo, whatever synonymy is used for each of them.
Pedro Ximénez grape
The wine of the D.O. Montilla-Moriles is a unique and singular product that attracts by itself the interest of society, an interest in the product, in its birth on the vine, its handling in the winepress and its transformation in the winery, in its tradition, in the artisan trades that revolve around it and in the gastronomy that has it as its foundation.
The types of wine that are made come mostly from the main variety, the Pedro Ximénez grape, which offer a wide range of more than twelve products. Among them the wines without ageing, the Young and Tinaja wines, fresh and suitable for the less initiated; wines of biological ageing under a veil of flor, the Fino, Amontillado and Palo Cortado Wines, true jewels of world oenology, which are only achieved in the extraordinary soil and climate conditions of the Guadalquivir Valley; the Oloroso wine of oxidative ageing and the sweet Pedro Ximénez Wine, made from the sun-dried raisined grapes of the variety that gives it its name.
Experiences to enjoy in D.O. Montilla-Moriles
Discover this wine-growing region just 30 minutes from Barcelona and Tarragona
