At Montilla-Moriles, tradition and modernity combine to give wines of incomparable quality that are increasingly appreciated both at home and abroad.

According to archaeological finds, winemaking in the province of Cordoba harks back to the 8th or 9th century b.C. Ever since, a wealth of traces and written records, including references in works of literature, bear evidence to the crop’s importance as one of the local population’s defining identity traits through the centuries.

The first references to the full appellation, Montilla-Moriles, were recorded in 1891, though it was not until 1932 that the two towns’ names were officially combined and acknowledged as a seal of origin for the growers and winemakers of the region’s 17 municipalities, which cover the better part of the province’s southern half.

The Civil War and a number of administrative obstacles delayed the establishment of the Regulating Council to 1944. Since then, the province’s wine production wavered. Only in recent years has it seen a healthy recovery, thanks in part to its crown jewel Pedro Ximenez.

Indeed, this wine, made from the grape variety of the same name, production of which soared to 40,000 hectolitres in the past campaign (10,000 more than in 2005/2006), is the driving force behind the local wine sector’s recovery, which is fortunately now well under way without compromising the long tradition of generoso wines: finos, amontillados, palo cortado, oloroso and moscatel.

These traditional wines made from the Baladí-Verdejo, Lairen, Moscatel and Torrontes, were joined by the younger styles of pale cream, pale dry, cream and medium and, more recently, by reds, under the provisions of the region’s renewal scheme (Vinos de la Tierra de Córdoba).

Against last year’s total yield of 46 M kg, a slight drop in grape production is expected for the current campaign, due to the rabbit plague witnessed over the past couple of years. Adjustments are also expected to last year’s 304,300 hectolitres of must.

In terms of sales, for the 2006/07 campaign the DO Montilla-Moriles Regulating Council endorsed a total 244,442 hectolitres of wine made by the region’s 91 bodegas, of which 70 percent are cooperatives.

Local bodegas earmarked 22 M litres for the domestic market, with a further 3 M going out for export. The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Belgium are the region’s leading buyers within the EU, with additional batches going out to Eastern Europe, the Americas and even Australasia. Indeed, North America is one of Montilla’s most loyal buyers, taking up 120,000 litres a year since 2000.