Rafa discovered the wines of Miguel Castro Maillo last summer, while being back in Cadiz. Intrigued, without a further delay he decided to get in touch with the winemaker.

Miguel comes from the family of growers in Montilla-Moriles. During his studies of enology in Cadiz, he grew fond of Marco de Jerez wines, particularly enjoying the unfortified, biologically aged whites made with Palomino. Getting to know the winemakers: Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Perez, inspired Miguel to return to his grandfather’s vines and to experiment with the old Pedro Ximenez grown on chalky albariza soil in Riofrio Alto, an area at 550 metres of elevation in the Sierra de Montilla.

The vines, between 50 – 80 years are pruned “en Vaso” in traditional way called “ojo y coillo” – the two buds that form the spur; “ojo” – “an eye” being a productive bud and “coillo” – “a tail” which will become next year’s spur.

Miguel’s fascination with old ways of winemaking, prompts him to ferment and age his PX with a veil of “flor” in old fino butts. The entry “Ojo y Coillo” is aged for 10 months. In the more elaborated “Estatico” – selection of best botas aged for 24 months – Miguel looks for the identity of the vineyard and the expression of the “flor”.