A drive up to Sedella

Our post of 27th June 2012 ended with the discovery of a bottle of Sedella Mountain Wine from Tinta Rome and Garnacha at Lavinia, Malaga Airport. This was by far the best and most interesting wine from Malaga we have ever tasted so we determined to take a look at the vineyard at Sedella on our next trip.

The winery is included in the book 'Rutas del Vino. Bodegas para visitar y recomendar'

so off we went. The vineyard has been chosen as one of Spain's most unique and the wine has won prizes and critical acclaim. The winery is the personal project of Lauren Rosillo who is a young enologist with interests in Rioja, Rueda, La Mancha and the Basque country among other places in Spain. The Mediterranean Mountain Vineyard at Sedella (Axarquia) is his exclusive property and has been designed by the architect Paco Varela.

Rosillo's philosophy is based on the formular TTT - Terroir+Technique+Task. He has revived 100 year old Romé Tinta vines on 45 degree slopes which are worked with draft animals, Roman plows and ancient techniques. The entire operation is needless to say strictly biodynamic, so much so that in 2011 he lost his entire crop to mildew.

The road up to Sedella (population 733) is part of the Ruta Mudejar. The word Mudejar comes from the arabic 'Mudayya' which denoted Muslims who remained in Spain after the expulsion of the Moors. The villages on this route, including Sedella all have Moorish architecture from this Christian era. The road also passes through a Parque Nacional.

On arriving in Sedella you are confronted with an exciting sign 

Sadly the Museo is closed but Sedella itself is charming. An archetypal goatherd with his charges sauntered obligingly up the hill

We enquired in town about the Sedella Mountain Vineyard. Some said construction was not yet completed. Others that it was. We looked in vain for a bottle in the town shop to the right below the church.

At the Bodega we found a bottle of Sedella Mediterranean Mountain wine but people including the local Tourist Office were vague as to where the vineyard was.

Around Sedella are vertiginous slopes covered or not covered with bush vines similar to those we had seen on the Ruta del Paso around Moclinejo.

Some of these vines may have been Tinta Rome, some may have belonged to our Sedella Mediterranean Mountain vineyard. we never found out which only goes to increase the mystery surrounding this deliciously remote and obscure wine.