A history still being written.

The Phoenician settlement of Doña Blanca, beside the Bay of Cádiz, was occupied from the eighth to the late third century BCE. Archaeology in the surrounding Sierra has also identified a winery dated to the third century BCE. These remains place wine within a Mediterranean world of settlements, agriculture and exchange — a more useful starting point than assigning Andalusia a single, legendary first vintage.

Sources: El Puerto de Santa María tourism ↗

Under Roman rule, the Cádiz area exported wine alongside olive oil and preserved-fish products. Columella, the agricultural writer born in Cádiz, discussed the care of vines and the making of wine. This is evidence of an established wine culture, not proof that a Roman wine tasted like a present-day Sherry.

Sources: Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and Manzanilla ↗

Islamic restrictions on alcohol did not erase viticulture. Research presented by the University of Córdoba describes vines as an important Andalusi crop: grapes supplied raisins, syrups, vinegar and other foods, while wine also appears in medicinal and cultural contexts. Cultivation knowledge and grape diversity continued to develop. Practices differed across time and communities; neither universal abstinence nor unrestricted wine drinking describes the whole period.

Sources: University of Córdoba, UCC+i ↗

After the Castilian conquest of Jerez in 1264, land redistribution and planting helped reshape its wine economy. Later northern European demand encouraged longer ageing. From the late eighteenth century, changes to trade restrictions, larger bodegas and the development of criaderas and solera helped give Jerez’s wines their recognisable modern form. The ancient roots and the later cellar system belong to different stages of the story.

Sources: Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and Manzanilla ↗

Jerez and Málaga led major wine-export industries, alongside Montilla-Moriles, the Condado de Huelva and Granada’s Contraviesa. Elsewhere, vineyards supplied local markets; Axarquía produced raisins and Almería’s Andarax valley developed its trade in fresh grapes. Andalucía’s vine economy was already more diverse than its two most internationally familiar wine names.

Sources: Junta de Andalucía, Instituto de Estadística y Cartografía ↗

Phylloxera was formally identified in Málaga on 10 July 1878. Historical research traces the infestation at La Indiana, in Moclinejo, to imported vine cuttings that arrived in late 1874. The pest devastated vineyards and livelihoods. Replanting proved especially difficult in Málaga; research into the crisis examines unsuitable planting choices as part of the explanation. It was a profound rupture in the vineyard landscape, not the disappearance of all Andalusian wine.

Sources: Francisco Manuel Pérez Hidalgo, University of Málaga; Aportes 110 (2022), pp. 103–134 ↗

Recovery differed from one district to another. Andalucía’s vineyard area expanded again in the early twentieth century, contracted during the Civil War and its aftermath, and recovered in the 1960s and 1970s before a later decline. Some former vineyards became olive groves; elsewhere wine production and cellar traditions persisted. This uneven history is why a story of a century-long regional silence is misleading.

Sources: Junta de Andalucía, Instituto de Estadística y Cartografía ↗

Today’s diversity includes dry whites, rosés and reds alongside the celebrated sweet and flor-aged traditions. Sierras de Málaga’s council describes a range of still-wine categories, including sweet reds. In Ronda, La Melonera documents work to recover scarce historic grapes and bring them back into cultivation. These projects add new possibilities to a wine culture that has continued to evolve.

Sources: Consejo Regulador Vino Málaga ↗ · La Melonera ↗