The southernmost wine-growing region of Spain includes several sub-regions, which produce a range of wines, from dry to sweet. The most famous of these is undoubtedly Jerez, which produces sherry, but other regions include Malaga, Montilla-Moriles and Condado de Huelva.
The climate at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula is Mediterranean warm; the grapes reach a high alcohol content and often hold good ageing potential.
However, the white limestone soils found in many places, known as albariza, reflect a lot of sunlight. The most famous wine of Andalusia is the sherry, which is available in a dry style as Fino and Oloroso, but also as medium Amontillado or the sweeter Cream-Sherry.
A sherry, no matter what style, is always dry at first, sweetened with grape must, mostly from the Pedro Ximénez grape variety. This variety is also used to produce an enormously complex and dense and noble sweet sherry from dried grapes.
The centers of sherry production are the towns of Jerez and Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where the trading houses that produce and age sherry are located. Less known are the fortified wines of Montilla-Moriles, produced in the hinterland from the same grape varieties; Palomino and Pedro Ximénez.
Many know the name Malaga only from ice cream production, but in fact it is well known for sweet, alcohol fortified wine made from Airén, Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel, which used to be produced from dried grapes, a process that is uncommon today.
Wine production in Malaga has declined a lot, unlike Jerez, and today just two producers dominate the scene here. Andalusia was one of the richest regions of Spain in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. With the rise of the big cities like Cordoba, Seville or Granada, the region fell behind, but wine was produced here as early as 1000 B.C. and even under the rule of the Muslim Moors, which lasted several centuries, viticulture was tolerated.
