Victor & me at the end of a spectacular day
saying goodbye to Málaga from the Parador Hotel Gibralfaro

First off I have to say that each of the three bodegas I visited in the Axarquía over two days were all completely different and totally wonderful experiences. First up, after a hearty pre-bodega breakfast at El Roper in El Palo, Victor and I made our way to the ridiculously pretty white village of Moclinejo, high up in the mountains. There we were greeted by Juan Muñoz Anaya and Vicente Inat, two winemakers who work together at Bodegas Dimobe, as well as working together on a separate project Viñedos Verticales. Dimobe was founded in 1927 by Juan’s grandfather and he now runs it with siblings Antonio and María Luísa. In 2015 Juan and Vicente founded Viñedos Verticales, a “sister winery” project which uses the same installation as Bodegas Dimobe in Moclinejo, and with different vine plots and grapes they are creating something that is both old and new.

Just to confuse you further, Vicente is also the winemaker at Bodegas Descalzos Viejos in Ronda, which I had visited a week earlier, and his wife Ana (who I got to meet later in the day after lunch) is the winemaker at another Ronda winery I visited, La Melonera. This was something I got used to over my two weeks of visiting Málaga wineries… that everyone not only knows each other, they sometimes work together and more often than not are very supportive of each others projects. It’s actually a lovely thing to see. Especially in Ronda the whole winemaking scene is quite new, starting sometimes in the 1980s, and everyone wants to see the region doing well. But I digress…

Continue reading →