Lagar de los Frailes is an estate in Moriles Altos, one of the historic areas with quality vineyards within DO Montilla-Moriles. The vineyards lie at around 400 metres elevation, and the soils are mostly albariza, although red clay becomes more prevalent at lower elevations.

The town of Moriles grew out of the former Aldea de Zapatero, where the people who worked in the 13 lagares in the area settled. One of them was Lagar de los Frailes, which is now administratively part of Aguilar de la Frontera, although geographically it lies very close to Moriles.

The earliest records of Lagar de los Frailes appear on the 1749 Catastro de Ensenada census. It mentions, in the Moriles vineyard district, a vineyard owned by the Carmelites of Aguilar which, in terms of its size, ownership and location, corresponds to the present-day estate.

In 1982, the property was acquired by pharmacists Jesús Pérez de Cisneros and his cousin José María Ayala Pérez, both from Puente Genil, who shared a passion for the countryside and fortified wines. The family tradition went back to their grandfather, Pedro Pérez Porras, and great-great-grandfather, Enrique Reina Morales, who had already been making wine in Puente Genil at Hijos de Enrique Reina, a winery founded in the late 18th century and behind labels such as Fino CR, Solera Fina Manolete and Natilla.

The cousins’ original plan was to produce and market bottled wine made exclusively from the estate’s 20 hectares of Pedro Ximénez vines, ageing the wines at the Lagar itself. They installed a new press, bought old American oak casks and extended the winery with a partly underground section to house the soleras and criaderas. The crisis that hit the fortified-wine sector in the 1980s and 1990s, however, put paid to those plans. Although they did over 10 vintages, the last in 1993, the wine was only ever sold in bulk, while the winery operated as a almacenista, storing and ageing wine for other producers.

Over time, activity at the Lagar declined. The grapes were sold to the local cooperative, while the wines remained untouched, in static ageing, for more than 20 years. From 2010 onwards, the Pérez family set about reviving the winery’s liquid heritage, buying must from Moriles Altos to refresh and maintain the biological-ageing casks and to classify all the wines.

Today, Lagar de los Frailes has 10 hectares of vines and a family winery run by Cristóbal, Charo, Ana and Dolores Pérez Morales, four of Jesús’s six children, who died in 2017. As none of them can yet devote themselves full-time to the wine business, the grapes are sold to the local cooperative, while Lagar de los Frailes buys must to feed its criaderas and soleras. It is always sourced from Moriles Altos and selected for quality, in order to preserve the winery’s identity. The family’s aim is to make the business viable enough to become self-sufficient in grapes from its own vineyards.

The estate comprises a cellar with 39 butts used for oxidative ageing, another with 35 tinajas, now out of use, and the main cellar, which is built partly underground, with around 350 butts for biologically-aged wines.

Since 2022, with Miguel Castro Maíllo as winemaking consultant, the winery has released nine wines, although the portfolio is currently being reorganised to reduce this number. The family is also moving towards 75cl bottles across the range, replacing the smaller formats in which the older wines are currently sold.

The wines

The range starts with Anzur (800 bottles, €12), a white wine first released with the 2024 vintage. Like the rest of the range, it is made from Pedro Ximénez, but here the aim is to produce a fresh, light white with no oak. Blanquizal (1,050 bottles, €23) is the result of the partnership with Miguel Castro. In Moriles, blanquizales was the name given to the finest calcareous soils of albariza made up of soft marl, and the wine seeks to express the sapidity and structure that these soils impart. It comes from a parcel in the upper part of the Lagar de los Frailes estate and spends a year in cask before being blended in stainless steel for four months and bottled after the following Christmas.

With an ageing period well beyond the minimum required by DO Montilla-Moriles, the entry-level, biologically-aged wines are Fino Lagar de los Frailes (1,000 bottles, €10), with an average of six to seven years’ ageing, and Fino en Rama Lagar de los Frailes (500 bottles, €19), with eight to 10 years. Both convey the character of Moriles Altos, with structure and grip, and provide an excellent introduction to the wines of the area at an unbeatable price. They are also sold in bag-in-box at the winery’s premises and in local restaurants and bars.

The more pronounced saline character of the wines becomes apparent in Fino Viejo Lagar de los Frailes (300 half bottles, €25), with an average age of 10 to 12 years, and in the striking and distinctive Fino Viejísimo El Franciscano (300 half bottles, €37). Aged for more than 20 years, it still retains its flor.

The three Amontillados from Lagar de los Frailes, all without fortification, are kept in the old butts in the cellar devoted exclusively to oxidative ageing. It is an atmospheric room, filled with the aromas of the wines, which also serves as the bodega’s sacristía or cellar for library wines.

Amontillado Lagar de los Frailes (300 bottles, €24) combines biological ageing under flor with a subsequent 12 to 15 years of oxidative ageing, reaching 16.5% abv. Amontillado en Rama (200 bottles, €35) has 20 years of ageing and a clearly defined saline character. Cáliz (available on demand) comes from the oldest soleras at Lagar de los Frailes. It has undergone 20 years of biological ageing, followed, after the flor naturally disappeared, by another 20 years of oxidative ageing. The result is an extreme, knife-edged wine on the palate, as distinctive as it is scarce and steeped in history.

Lagar de los Frailes offers a range of guided tours to the estate in Moriles, including tastings of its wines and one of the house’s oldest soleras. It also hosts private events.