History

Montilla-Moriles is its own denomination of origin, based in the towns south of Córdoba, and it is not sherry. Jerez lies roughly 200km away and works mainly with Palomino; Montilla-Moriles works with Pedro Ximénez, which ripens so high in sugar here that most of its wines reach their strength without fortification at all. The same grape produces the driest fino and the sweetest PX depending on whether it goes under flor or is sun-dried first. Córdoba's tabernas serve it by the copa straight from the barrel, and the Cata del Vino brings ten bodegas onto the Avenida del Alcázar every April.

Common allergens: Sulphites

Make it at home

Yield Serves 2Hands-on 10 minTotal 10 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 1 bottle fino de Montilla-Moriles, well chilled
  • Ice, only for a rebujito
  • Lemon soda, for a rebujito
  • Marcona almonds
  • Jamón ibérico
  • Manchego or a Zuheros goat cheese

Method

  1. Chill the fino hard, to about 7C. It is a dry white wine and should be drunk like one.
  2. Pour into a catavinos, the tulip glass, filling it no more than a third so the aroma has room.
  3. Serve amontillado, palo cortado and oloroso in a wider glass and a couple of degrees warmer.
  4. Set out almonds, jamón and cheese; the salt is what the dry styles are built against.
  5. Finish with Pedro Ximénez at room temperature, poured small, ideally over vanilla ice cream.
  6. Open bottles of fino keep about a week in the fridge; the older oxidative styles keep for months.

Tip from the editors. Never call it sherry in Córdoba. Jerez is a different denomination 200km west and cordobeses will correct you.

Where to eat vino de montilla-moriles

Vino de Montilla-Moriles in Córdoba

Bodega Guzmán ★ 4.5

Wine bar€juderia

Bodega Guzmán pours Montilla-Moriles straight from the barrel on Calle Judíos in Córdoba, under a wall of bullfighting posters and mounted heads.

Signature pour: Fino, amontillado, oloroso and Pedro Ximénez, all D.O. Montilla-Moriles

Wine focus: Montilla-Moriles generosos poured from the barrel

Food: Counter tapas

Order: A copa of the amontillado, chalked up on the barrel head.

Tip: It closes on Thursdays, which is the one day of the week visitors reliably turn up and find it shut.

Calle Judíos 7, 14004 Córdoba

Vinoteca Ordóñez ★ 4.2

Wine bar€€juderiaDaily 12:00-24:00

Vinoteca Ordóñez works a terrace within sight of the Mezquita in Córdoba, running a wide Spanish list built out from Montilla-Moriles wines.

Signature pour: Pedro Ximénez by the glass, poured dark and syrupy

Wine focus: A broad Spanish list with Montilla-Moriles at its centre

Food: Cordobés tapas

Order: A Pedro Ximénez to finish, which is what this list exists to sell you.

Tip: Ask the staff to walk you up the Montilla-Moriles scale from fino to PX rather than ordering blind.

Calle Medina y Corella 1, 14003 Córdoba

Sociedad de Plateros San Francisco ★ 4.4

Wine bar€€riberaTue-Sat 11:00-16:00, 20:00 until close; Sun 11:30-17:00; Mon closed

The silversmiths' guild taberna on Calle San Francisco in Córdoba pours its own Montilla-Moriles labels around a patio set under a glass roof.

Signature pour: Oro Viejo, one of the house labels

Wine focus: The guild's own Montilla-Moriles labels

Food: Cordobés tapas with a documented coeliac protocol

Order: A copa of Oro Viejo, the guild's own bottling.

Tip: Tell the staff if you are coeliac; they swap every round plate on the table for a square one.

Calle San Francisco 6, 14003 Córdoba

Taberna La Fuenseca ★ 4.2

Wine bar€€centroTue-Fri 11:00-15:00, 19:00-23:00; Sat 11:00-15:00; Sun 12:00-16:00; Mon closed

Taberna La Fuenseca pours fino en rama over a wooden bar on Calle Juan Rufo in Córdoba, one of the houses on the city's historic-taberna register.

Signature pour: Fino en rama, unfiltered and poured cold

Wine focus: Fino en rama and the rest of the Montilla-Moriles range

Food: Cordobés tapas

Order: Fino en rama, which is the whole reason the bar has a following.

Tip: Service stops at 23:00 and the place shuts Mondays, so plan it as an early-evening stop.

Calle Juan Rufo 20, 14001 Córdoba

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