Malaga is renowned for its different terroirs, soils, elevations on which vineyards are situated and climatic conditions. It is no suprise that this provides an optimal environment for the production of a variety of grape types and different wine styles.
The Malaga appellation is historically linked to sweet wines made from sun-dried grapes, but today, the region produces wines using various methods, amongst others the production of Vino Dulce Natural.
The Malaga wine region consists of diverse soil compositions and varying altitudes and its weather dependent on the conditions of the Mediterranean Sea. This strongly influences the region's rainfall and creates a predominantly dry and hot environment.
While Málaga has coastal areas, much of the land quickly ascends steeply behind the coast, especially in the Axarquía and Sierras de Ronda regions, where vineyards are planted on steep slopes between 600 and 1,000 meters above sea level. Therefore, due to the challenging terrain, mechanization is often impractical, leading to the prevalence of what is known as "heroic winemaking" or ‘’viticultura heróica’’, amongst others because of manual maintaining the vineyards and harvesting.
The Malaga Denominación de Origen (DO), the wine authority governing the region, oversees not only the renowned Malaga DO but also the Sierras de Malaga DO.
The Malaga DO permits fortified wines with alcohol content ranging from 15 to 22%, and unfortified wines with a minimum of 13% alcohol.
The labelling of wines plays a critical role in communication regarding the aging duration prior to release:
