Going north towards Córdoba from Malaga is an experience. Olive groves spread kilometre after kilometre. Rarely do you see so many olive trees at once. And where olive trees thrive, vines are never far away. It’s hot and dry in Andalusia, but with the right kind of soil and grape variety, they produce some of Spain’s most memorable wines here. We have visited Bodegas Toro Albalá in Montilla-Moriles. The company is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. An opportunity to taste some really old wines.
Actually, the story of the Toro Albala wine began back in 1844 in a small cellar near the town of Aguilar de la Frontera. The wine was sold in the family tavern. A few generations later, the business had grown, and in 1922 it was time to move to large premises in the city, a former electric power station, with a large cellar where the wines could be aged for many years. José María Toro Albalá founded Bodegas Toro Albalá in 1922, so this year, 2022, the bodega celebrates its 100 years. I visited Toro Albala for a few days in May and got to know a region in Spain that I knew existed but didn’t know much about.
This is a longer version of an article published on Forbes.com.
Bodegas Toro Albalá is located in DO Montilla-Moriles in Andalucia in southern Spain. Montilla is a small attractive town on a hill, 50 kilometres south of Córdoba. Moriles is a village just south of Montilla. 17 municipalities make up the entire appellation, which covers around 4,000 hectares.
Other important cities are Aguilar de la Frontera and Lucena. In 1933, Montilla-Moriles became an independent wine-producing region and was designated a DO, denominación de origen. Sierra de Montilla and Moriles Altos are considered the best locations.
The Sherry region may be about 200 kilometres from here, but it is impossible not to compare the two areas. There are strong ties between them; think of the word amontillado, which comes from Montilla. The wine styles are similar. Montilla-Moriles also makes fino, amontillade, oloroso, PX, etc. The wines develop flor and are aged in soleras.
Montilla-Moriles also, like Jerez, has the characteristic albariza soil, a dazzling white limestone soil. It is good soil for this climate because it absorbs water and moisture that the roots can assimilate during the hot summer.
But there are interesting differences. Montilla-Moriles is one of the sunniest and warmest parts of Spain; thus, it is warmer here than in Jerez. The wines from Montilla-Moriles are naturally high in alcohol, and they are not fortified (except sometimes the sweet ones).
The main grape is pedro ximénez, a white grape variety, which is found on 95% of the surface. It is a hardy grape with good resistance to the high summer temperatures and lack of water. It is harvested fully ripe and fermented to an alcohol content of around 15.5–16%. In Montilla-Moriles, the grape is used for both dry and sweet wines. Pedro ximénez is also found in Jerez but is used there for sweet sherry.
Before 1933, much of the wine from Montilla-Moriles was sent to Jerez to be blended with sherry. Some pedro ximénes used in Jerez still come from Montilla-Moriles. The grape does not thrive nearly as well in the coastal sherry region.
When the grapes are used to make sweet wines (called Pedro Ximénes or PX), they undergo a drying process. The bunches are harvested by hand and dried for a number of days out in the sun. When they have reached a certain maturity, the grapes are pressed, and the must ferments as usual.
Bodegas Toro Albalá and indeed the whole of Montilla-Moriles is best known for its sweet wines. And they are truly fantastic wines. But the dry wines were a great discovery for me. So similar to sherry and yet not.
Tasting of some gems from Bodegas Toro Albalá
The grape in all the wines is pedro ximénes.
Poley, Fino del Lagar en Rama, Solera 10 años, Bodegas Toro Albalá, DO Montilla-Moriles
A fino from Montilla-Moriles is a little different. The flor that forms is thinner and does not eat as much of the glycerol as in Jerez. The result is a wine that is a little less dry than a sherry-fino; it is slightly softer with less intensity but more body. You still feel that it is a fino and it is delicious.
Palo Cortade en Rama, Solera 25 años
Aromas of nuts, lemon peel, apricot; there’s great intensity; it is dry with lovely freshness and some saltiness. It is slightly oxidized. Superb. Palo cortado is a wine that loses its flor early and starts oxidative ageing instead. This wine has been aged in this way for 25 years.
Marques de Poley Olorosa en Rama Solera 15 años
This dry oloroso is incredibly flavourful and full-bodied in an oxidized style. A bit like a more powerful fino.
Marques de Poley, Amontillado Selección 1951
This amontillado has developed from some of the best fino wines. When the wine lost its flor after 10–15 years, a long oxidative ageing began in 1951. So, the vintage indicates when the oxidative ageing began. Beautiful amber colour, very aromatic and complex, hazelnuts, apricot and ripe plums, oxidized and yet refreshing as only an amontillado can be—a very dry and exciting wine with great character.
Marque’s de Poley, Palo Cortade Selección 1964
Powerful and intense with a taste of saffron, lemon peel, tobacco and nuts. Fresh with a hint of bitterness. Very drinkable and elegant. Amazing wine.
Centennial wines
Toro Albalá’s cellars hide some very old wines. A few were selected for our tasting in honour of the 100th anniversary:
Palo Cortade Centenario Single Cask
A single cask, 300 bottles of very, very old wine. Taste of almonds, a little caramel, a particular saltiness, quite pronounced bitterness, a little sharp on the palate.
Amontillado Centenario Single cask
An incredible amontillado with a long and rich taste. Very powerful and concentrated. Bone dry with some saltiness and bitterness.
Don PX Centenario Single Cask
PX stands for sweet wine. Here, ageing more than a hundred years has given an aroma of tobacco leaves and caramel and high volatile acidity. It is full-bodied and very sweet though it feels less sweet than its over 400 grams of sugar per litre.
Don PX Escelso
Incredibly concentrated, a sugar bomb with a taste of dried figs in particular.
Miut – a new project with dry wines
Under the guidance of Fatima Ceballos, one of Toro Albalá’s winemakers, we tasted a brand-new series of wines that have been vinified as “regular” wines without flor. “This is a completely new project,” says Fatima. “We wanted to exploit pedro ximénes’ potential for dry wines and also discover and exploit different vineyards within the appellation. We fill the casks completely to avoid the formation of flor, we age it in new oak barrels and partly in clay amphorae, and we do batonnage every week.”
2020 was the first vintage, as an experiment that was very successful. The volume is small, between 1200 and 4000 bottles per wine.
Miut El Jabonero, Bodegas Toro Albala
Fresh citrus aroma, fresh herbs, powerful and mouth-filling, a little buttery. Delicious, fresh, long taste. Fermentation in 500-litre oak barrels (85%) and terracotta amphora (15%). Ageing on the lees with batonnage for ten months.
Miut Santa Magdalena 2020, Bodegas Toro Albala
Apricot, fresh almonds, and fresh, high acidity and a long finish, a bit toasty. Full-bodied. Grapes from Moriles Alto, a region with very hot and sunny climate. But a very reasonable alcohol degree of 13%.
Miut l’Assemblage, Bodegas Toro Albalá, DO Montilla-Moriles (PICTURE)
Very fresh in taste, despite low acidity. Fermentation in steel tanks and ageing on the lees for seven months. Powerfully structured wine with a lovely mouth feel, fresh apricots and a dry finish.
I ask Antonio Sorgato Godeau, export manager at Bodegas Toro Albalá, what his immediate plans are. “I want the whole of Montilla-Moriles to become better known, and I want people to understand, not only the sweet wines but also the dry ones, fino not least. And that these wines, even though they don’t have a vintage on the label, still age for a long time. And that they are unique.”
Bodegas Toro Albalá exports 90% of its production to 72 countries.
