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 oenology 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 planted on a 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’.