Alvear Extremadura

The winery has extensive vineyards located in the most famous “pagos” (wine production areas) of the Montilla y Morilles mountain range: Las Puentes, El Lagarito and Rompebonetes. There, the main protagonist is the grape Pedro Ximénez, originally from the Rhine’s area. A grape that has become the single base of our sweet, fino, oloroso and amontillado wines. The wine is left to rest in the quite and peaceful atmospheres of the “La Sacristia, El Liceo and Las Mercedes cellars. The wine is placed in American butts, where is aged in wood using the criadera and solera system. That is the traditional method used by the Andalusian denominations of origin to mix and age the fortified wines and brandies. The criaderas reflect the stages of the ageing. The oak butts are piled up on top of each other, starting with the first one on the ground, which is known as the solera. The butts of the first criadera are immediately on top of the solera, the second criadera on top of the first and so on. The wine is passed from one criadera to another (an operation given the name of rocio), after the wine has been sampled to check that the degree of ageing is the correct one for each stage. The last stage of the ageing process is the solera, from where the wine is extracted to be bottled and sold. – Description from Dragac    (hide)