D.O. Malaga covers ‘liqueur wines’ and ‘sweet wines’ production.
Malaga wines could be classified attending to if they are fortified or not:
3.1 Vinos de licor
(‘Liqueur Wines’) and among them, there are the Vinos Dulces Naturales (‘Sweet Natural Wines’).
These wines should be made from Pero Ximén (Pedro Ximenez) and/or Alexandria Muscat but it is also allowed using less than 30% of Doradilla, Lairen and Romé varieties (as a total, not each one). These are fortified wines so this means it is possible adding concentrated must or made-from-wine distilled alcohol which rises up the limit for alcohol volume, by reaching a value between 15% and 22%.
As we said, there is a type of ‘Liqueur Wines’ considered ‘Sweet Natural Wines’. These are fortified sweet wines (their sweetness is natural, not their alcohol content –they are fortified–) because it is also possible to produce fortified semisweet, semi-dry or dry wines and all categories are included into the main ‘Liqueur Wines’ one. These Liqueur wines could ‘suffer’ a transformation process by adding ‘arrope’ (boiled concentrated must) which also changes the final alcohol content and alternates the wine color. More information is available at point 4.
D.O. Malaga covers ‘liqueur wines’ and ‘sweet wines’ production.
3.2 Vinos Naturalmente Dulces
(‘Naturally Sweet Wines’ or unfortified), from at least 13% alcohol volume, they are made from over-ripened grapes and the resulting alcohol content has to source exclusively from the fermentation process, so these are not fortified wines.
All these wines need an oak-aging process but those wines made from Pero Ximén (Pedro Ximenez) and/or Alexandria Muscat that could be considered also a ‘Málaga Pálido’ without an oak-aged period:
– Málaga Pálido (‘Pale Malaga’), up to 6 months.
– Málaga, from 6 to 24 months.
– Málaga Noble (‘Noble Malaga’), from 2 to 3 years.
– Málaga Añejo (‘Old Malaga’), from 3 to 5 years.
– Málaga Trasañejo (‘Very Old Malaga’), over 5 years.
Once we know there are two main categories for D.O. Malaga wines, the fortified and the unfortified, we could deploy a second classification attending to the wine sugar content:
These wines will be considered as ‘Sweet’ when the sugar content comes over 45 g/l, ‘Semisweet’ when it is between 12 y 45 g/l, ‘Semi-dry’ when it is between 4 y 12 g/l and finally, ‘Dry’ when it is less than 4 g/l. There are also traditional names to define some of these wines such as:
– Lágrima (‘Tear’): Made from unpressed must, just the liquid that grapes release. If they are aged for longer than 2 years they can be called ‘Lacrimae Christi’.
– Pajarete (‘Little bird’): This is an ambar liqueur wine (fortified) which has a total sugar content between 45 and 140g/l. It is an oak-aged wine that is made without any addition of arrope.
The third way to classify a D.O. Malaga wine could be according to its varietal:
3.3 Varietals
– ‘Pero Ximén’ (Pedro Ximenez)
– Alexandria Muscat
It will be possible to label under one of these two varieties ’ name when at least 85% corresponds to the mentioned variety. Remember it is also allowed using less than 30% of Doradilla, Lairen and Romé varieties (as a total, not each one).
The fourth way to classify a D.O. Malaga wine could be attending to its color:
3.4 Colours
The older these wines are the darker they get and this goes from a Dorado to a Negro. So a D.O. Malaga wine is darker because of its ageing process (this is common to any white wine worldwide) and also because they could be sourced by ‘arrope’ (and this is a very unique and local process from D.O. Malaga. Arrope is a boiled concentrated must, so its sugar content is really high. In Central and Southern Spain this arrope has been historically a popular dessert that looks pretty similar to a fluffy quince gelatine or jelly.
– Dorado or Golden (*both names are recognised by the D.O., the Spanish or the English term, due to the important historical trade of these wines with the British Isles): It is a Liqueur Wine made with no addition of arrope or it could be also a Naturally Sweet Wine (unfortified) that has been oak-aged.
– Rojo dorado or Rot gold (*): It is a Liqueur Wine made with a 5% arrope-added in volume and subjected to ageing process.
– Oscuro or Brown It is a Liqueur Wine made with a 5-10% arrope-added in volume and subjected to ageing process.
– Color: It is a Liqueur Wine made with a 10-15% arrope-added in volume and subjected to ageing process.
– Negro or Dunkel (*): It is a Liqueur Wine made with more than a 15% arrope-added in volume and subjected to ageing process.
Sweet wines could be classified by their sweetness level:
3.5 Sweetness
– Dry Pale or Pale Dry (*both names are recognised by the D.O., the Spanish or the English term): This is a non-arrope-added Liqueur Wine that contains less than 45 grams of sugar per litre.
– Pale Cream: This is a non-arrope-added Liqueur Wine (fortified) or a Naturally Sweet Wine (unfortified) that contains more than 45 grams of sugar per liter.
– Dulce Crema or Cream (*): This is an amber oak-aged Liqueur Wine that contains between 100 and 140 grams of sugar per liter.
– Sweet: This is an oak-aged Liqueur Wine that contains more than 140 grams of sugar per liter. The color ranges from amber to black.
– Vino maestro (‘Master wine’): The must is added with an 8% by volume of made-from-wine distilled alcohol even before fermentation starts. Due to this fermentation takes place very slowly and is stopped when alcohol concentration gets 15-16% by volume, leaving more than 100 grams of unfermented sugars per litre.
– Vino tierno (‘Tender wine’): Liqueur Wine made from very over-ripened sun-dried grapes. The resulting must gets over 350 grams of sugar per liter which is really high… and remember the fermentation stops when they add the made-from-wine distilled alcohol. Therefore the final wine is pretty high in both alcohol and sugar content.