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Local Wineries and Bodegas |
 Nobody knows when wine-making was first introduced to Andalusia. It could have been brought there by the Greeks 2,500 years ago or even earlier, by seafaring Phoenician traders from the east. What we do know for sure is that by the time of the Romans wine was being made in Andalusia in a big way, and the activity has continued more or less uninterruptedly ever since. Wine was appreciated even during the centuries of Moorish domination: the Koran frowns on the consumption of alcohol, but the Moors made wine and imbibed it with gusto, for "medicinal" purposes. They even introduced the technique of distilling into Spain. The Spanish word for still, alambique, is Arabic in origin, as is the English and Spanish word, "alcohol".
 From the 15th century onwards, Andalusian wines were shipped to appreciative drinkers elsewhere in Europe, particularly England, where there was a great fondness for Sack (as Sherry was called) and sweet wines from Málaga. This happy situation prevailed until the 19th century when European vineyards were affected by oidium (a fungus), followed by an even more devastating plague of Phylloxera, the American vine root louse, which first appeared in Bordeaux in 1868 and spread to Jerez and Málaga 20 years later. Jerez's vineyards were replanted with plague-resistant American rootstock, but some areas never fully recovered.
Although the Granada region is less well known for its commercial wineries, in the fertile area to the east of the Las Alpujarras there are some wonderful vineyards where award winning wine is produced. Surrounded by fabulous scenery, and a mixture of picture postcard white washed villages, this relatively unknown wine producing area is certainly worth a visit.
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