Via Vitis

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Montilla

Córdoba · Andalusia

DO Montilla-Moriles

22.305inhabitants

971first mention

1644wine documented

A town in the southern countryside of Córdoba, the centre of the DO Montilla-Moriles. Incorporated into Castile around 1240–1241 and resettled, it belonged to the lordship of Aguilar and to the Fernández de Córdoba family; it received the title of city from Philip IV in 1630.

First mention: As “Montilyana” in the palace annals of the caliph al-Hakam II (covering the years 971–975), in an itinerary between Atana and Wacita Milihah (Cabra). The first Castilian form, “Montiella”, appears in the Libro de la montería of Alfonso XI.

The legend

17th century (survey of 1644); council minutes from 1526; undated legends

The 1644 wine survey and the legend of amontillado

The Municipal Historical Archive of Montilla holds the oldest known document on wine taxes in the town: the aforo, or wine survey, of 1644. To collect the levies with which the Crown paid for its campaigns, officials went street by street and wine press by wine press measuring each householder's wine. That year they counted some 250,000 arrobas shared among about 250 owners, in small lagares and lagaretas in the town and in the Sierra de Montilla. The street with the most wine was San Roque, today Fuente Álamo. The convents do not appear, because they were exempt. Alongside this documented fact, legends are still told in Montilla. One says that amontillado was born in other wineries that wanted to make wine “in the Montilla manner”. Another tells that a soldier of the tercios of Flanders brought the Pedro Ximénez grape from the Rhine. Neither has a date or document to support it.

Alive today: Montilla is the head of DOP Montilla-Moriles, whose main grape is Pedro Ximénez. The model of lagares in the Sierra de Montilla lives on, and wineries such as Alvear (1729) and Pérez Barquero (1905) are still active. Every September the town holds its Grape Harvest Festival (70th edition in 2025). The Municipal Archive organises study days on wine culture.