Old Guard House

The best wines of Málaga, at the guard house.

Old Guard house

The Antigua Casa de Guardia was founded in 1840 by Don José de la Guardia, coinciding with the visit of Her Majesty Queen Isabel II to Málaga. On the occasion of this visit, a fair was held showcasing all the products produced in the province.

Old Guard House.

The best wines of Málaga, at the Casa de Guardia.

The first historical evidence we know of winemaking in Málaga dates back to the Late Roman Empire and consists of a prismatic fermentation tank discovered in Cártama, about thirty kilometers from the capital.

During the Arab rule, a bitter struggle arose between the Koranic rules prohibiting the consumption of wine and the custom of drinking it, which had taken root in our people. Little by little, and with ups and downs, the harsh punishments—even the death penalty for drunks—were replaced by fines (garima), which progressively became taxes (qabäla), which wine sellers had to pay and which came to constitute one of the state's most important resources. When the Catholic Monarchs reconquered Málaga in 1487, they found the panorama described by Don Cecilio García de la Leña in his "Historical Conversations about Málaga":

"Our Catholic Conqueror Princes, the first thing they did to make this city happy, rich, and powerful, was to establish a Brotherhood of Winegrowers to oversee the production of their wines, which, even under Moorish rule, had accounted for no small part of their trade and the wealth of their subjects. They knew that the vineyards would be, in addition to the happiness and opulence of this, their beloved people, a significant asset to their Royal Treasury, due to the abundant produce their extraction would provide to other domains."

Years later, on January 12, 1502, the Catholic Monarchs confirmed the creation of the Brotherhood of Winegrowers in Seville by Royal Decree, whose guild privileges were confirmed once again by Queen Juana of Castile in 1513.

In 1791, Señor Gálvez, the Spanish ambassador in Moscow, presented the Tsarina and Empress of Russia, Catherine II, with some cases of Málaga wine. She was so pleased with the wines that she exempted from taxes all Málaga wines that arrived in her Empire under the control of the Brotherhood of Winegrowers.

Freetor Malaga

In Málaga, there are three designations of origin related to wine:

Málaga, Sierras de Málaga, and Pasas de Málaga.

The D.O. Málaga protects sweet and fortified wines, while the D.O. Sierras de Málaga protects red, white, and rosé wines, and the D.O. Pasas de Málaga focuses on sun-dried raisins.

Wines protected by the "Málaga" Designation of Origin are classified as:

·         Fortified wines, including naturally sweet wines

·         Naturally sweet wines

The traditional names used to describe wines protected by the "Málaga" Designation of Origin, in addition to those defined above and others that define the product's characteristics, are as follows:

"Lácrima": This is a wine produced using only the must that flows from the grapes without any mechanical pressure once they have been crushed. This wine, if aged for more than two years, may be called Lacrimae Christi.

"Pajarete": This is a liqueur wine, or a naturally sweet wine with a total sugar content between 45g/l and 140g/l, made without the addition of syrup, aged, and with amber to dark amber color.

But what is syrup?

It is a wine must, reduced over direct heat or in a bain-marie.

The more syrup and the longer the aging, the darker the wines will be, and they can be called:

"Dorado or Golden," without syrup. The color provided by aging, with wines ranging from golden to amber in color. "Rojo dorado" (Golden Red) or "Rot Gold" (Golden Red), with up to 5% arrope, are wines ranging from amber to dark amber, with reddish-golden hues. "Oscuro" (Dark or Brown), with between 5 and 10% arrope, are wines ranging from dark amber to dark mahogany. "Color" (Color), with between 10 and 15% arrope, are wines ranging from dark mahogany to ebony. "Negro" (Black or Dunkel), with more than 15% arrope, with a color ranging from ebony to black.

Málaga's winemaking tradition gives each wine a different name depending on its aging.

"Pálido" (Pale), with an aging of up to 6 months.

"Noble", 2 to 3 years.

"Añejo", 3 to 5 years.

"Trasañejo", more than 5 years.

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