Málaga and Sierras de Málaga

Málaga and Sierras de Málaga are two different Spanish Denominaciones de Origen (DO) for wines in the province of Málaga (Andalusia, Spain).

Although vines were probably first introduced by Phoenicians, who founded the city of Málaga, the first documented evidence of wine production in the region dates from the Low Roman Empire, and consists of a fermentation vat which was discovered in Cártama, a town about 30 km from Málaga.

During the centuries of Arab dominion over the Iberian Peninsula, there was a constant conflict between the tenets of the Koran, which prohibits the drinking of wine, and the tradition of drinking wine, which was long established by that time. Slowly, over time, the severe punishments (including the death penalty for being drunk) were replaced by fines (garima), which in turn were later replaced by taxes (qabäla) to be paid by wine-sellers.

When Málaga was reconquered after the Siege of Málaga (1487) by the Catholic Monarchs they encountered the following situation as described by Cecilio García de la Leña in his book Conversaciones Históricas Malagueñas:

Some years later, on 12 January 1502 in Seville, the Catholic Monarchs confirmed the creation of the Fraternity of Vintners by Royal Decree. The guild privileges were confirmed again by their daughter Joanna of Castile in 1513.

In 1791, Mr Gálves, the Spanish ambassador in Moscow, presented the Tsarina and Empress of Russia, Catherine II, with some cases of Málaga wine, and such was the pleasure she experienced that she exempted all shipments of wine controlled by the Fraternity of Vintners from Russian taxes.

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Wikipedia