D.O. Montilla-Moriles

The DO area named after two cities is located in the south of the province of Córdoba in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. The vineyards cover about 10,000 hectares and are located at an altitude of 300 to 700 metres above sea level. Until 1933, the majority of the wines were delivered to Jerez further to the west, where they were used to produce sherry (from then on no longer permitted). Today, the white grape variety Pedro Ximénez, which dominates here, is used in a Solera process to produce sherry-like wines in the Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso and Palo Cortado varieties. For the heavy, sweet varieties, the grapes are left to dry on the vines. In contrast to its "more famous big brother", it only needs to be enriched with alcohol in rare cases, because the fermentation of the immensely sweet Pedro Ximénez grape variety (instead of Palomino as with sherry) results in an alcohol content of up to 16% vol. Furthermore, fruity white wines (Jovenes Afrutado) from the Baladí(Cayetana Blanca), Torrontés, Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel(Muscat d'Alexandrie) varieties are pressed.