MOUNTAIN BLANCO

It is a surprising and original wine, marked by the aromatic intensity of the muscat grape and an unexpected mouthfeel, showing complexity and great balance between freshness and ripeness.

Area: Sierras de Málaga

Villages: Competa and Archez

Place: La Esparraguera, Fogarate and La Loma

Variety: 100% Muscat of Alexandria

Viticulture: Traditional. Many of the vineyards in polyculture vineyard / olive tree. Bush vines. Manual harvest.

Processing and aging: Pressed in oil presses with esparto mats.

Soils: Very steep vineyards facing south and west, located at around 550 meters asl. Shallow, stony and fine textured soils developed from Paleozoic schists.

The great wines of the past were often sweet wines: Tokaji, Sauternes, Vin Santos, Madeiras, Late Harvest Rieslings, Vins de Paille,... all associated with the great wine regions of the Old World. In Spain as well, the Tostadillos, raisin wines and Supurados had their moment and faded. In 1990’s we decided to revive what no doubt had once been the most important of all: the “Mountain Wine” of Málaga.

We faced difficult vineyards, almost impossible, which had miraculously survived thanks to the tradition of raisin production. Men continued to cultivate grapes in ravines and canyons, tirelessly working the slopes of the Montes de Málaga, while the women produced the raisins, giving loving care to the Moscatel grapes until they became “the best raisins in the world”. We threw ourselves in with great enthusiasm but scant knowledge about how to produce “Mountain” with lines from Shakespeare and Alexandre Dumas resounding in our dreams. We also remembered that Hugh Johnson once said that old “Mountain Wine” was the best wine he’d ever had.

In its first auction in 1769, Christie´s placed Malaga wines right next to the best wines from the Rhine and Burgundy. We were determined to learn, learn from the mountain and from the people of Axarquía who for so many years had unknowingly nurtured and cultivated what for us was the finest Moscatel. We defied oenology by using the old raisin dryers to dry our grapes. This was the origin of “El Molino Real”.