 Although the region's best known labels come from Andalusia's four historical Denominaciones de Origen, there is hardly a place in southern Spain that doesn't make wine, but most of it is simple, unaged wine destined for local consumption, such as the heady Vino de la Costa produced in the south of Granada province.
There are, however, some interesting developments taking place independently of the traditional Denominaciónes. In the past, old fashioned wine-making methods meant it was almost impossible to make table wines of any quality in the hot Andalusian climate, but thanks to temperature-controlled fermentation methods this is now feasible. Thus, the Barbadillo winery in Sanlúcar was able to introduce a still white wine made from the normally difficult Palomino grape. It is called Castillo de Sandiego - although most people know it simply as Barbadillo - and it is today the best-selling table white in the region.
The most exciting developments involve introduced varieties that traditionally were not grown in southern Spain, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz and the Spanish grape Tempranillo. Interesting wines are being produced by the Villagran winery in Granada (although production is still small) and Paez Morilla in Arcos de la Frontera (Cádiz), while the biggest success story is Cortijo de las Monjas in Ronda, an estate owned by Alfonso von Hohenlohe, founder of the Marbella Club. With the aid of a top French-trained enologist, the estate is producing excellent wines combining Tempranillo with French varieties, under the label Príncipe Alfonso.
Herein could lie the future of Andalusian wine making. The regional government has initiated a scheme whereby several hectares of experimental vineyards in each of Andalusia's eight provinces have been planted with a number of different varieties, to see which ones respond best to the local environment. Stay tuned for developments.
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