Montilla-Moriles

Montilla-Moriles is a Spanish Denominación de Origen (DO) for wines located in the southern part of the province of Córdoba (Andalusia, Spain). It is bounded by the river Genil to the east, by the river Guadajoz to the west, by the river Guadalquivir to the north, and by the Subbetic Range of mountains to the south.

This region produces mainly sweet dessert wines using similar techniques to those used for the production of sherry, that is, by crianza bajo velo de flor (which involves allowing a "veil" of flor yeast to form on the surface of the must in the casks) and por el sistema de criaderas y soleras (which refers to the process of aging the wine in soleras). Apart from forming a barrier between the wine and the air, the flor also cause certain chemical phenomena in the wine which affect the taste: they consume glycerine (thus conferring a typically dry character to the wine), they significantly reduce the volatile acidity level of the wine, and they produce great quantities of paraldehydes and acetaldehydes which are responsible for the almond notes of the wines.

The DO includes the following municipalities in their entirety: Montilla, Moriles, Doña Mencía, Montalbán de Córdoba, Monturque, Nueva Carteya and Puente Genil; and covers part of the following municipalities: Aguilar de la Frontera, Baena, Cabra, Castro del Río, Espejo, Fernán-Núñez, La Rambla, Lucena, Montemayor, and Santaella. Within this DO, there are two High Quality Subzones (Subzonas de Calidad Superior) consisting of land that has been selected for its special soil characteristics: Sierra de Montilla and Los Moriles Altos. Production limits are regularly set at 80 hl/ha in the main DO and at 60 hl/ha in the High Quality Zones.

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