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A life under flor: How Montserrat Molina became Sherry’s leading lady
Pharmacist turned winemaker Montserrat Molina took an unexpected path eventually to become one of Sherry’s most prominent figures, reputed for her thirst for knowledge and creative flair.
Warm autumn sun gently seeps into the dark-panelled tasting room of the Barbadillo offices in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on Spain’s Atlantic coast, north of Cádiz. New-release wines sit alongside bottles of old vintages whose labels are barely legible in the dappled light.
It’s quiet, with the silent energy that only exists in the criaderas (Sherry ‘nurseries’) of the region’s bodegas, where flor – the layer of yeast and other microorganisms that forms on the surface of some Sherries – industriously yet discreetly goes about its work on the wines.
Here in this golden gloom, winemaker Montserrat (Montse) Molina speaks softly and thoughtfully about the wines. The conversation is technical and detailed, as one would expect of someone with her experience and knowledge.
Then something shifts: a spark, a flicker in her eye and Molina grows animated. Why? The subject has turned to yeast.
‘We can’t always explain the “why” – why something tastes the way it does, even though it’s the same wine but in a different barrel,’ Molina explains. ‘It’s the yeast. The manzanillas are old but lively because of the type of yeast that has developed. And once I’m gone, these yeasts will still be here.’
‘More than anything, we have to maintain and defend the wines of the region’
Montserrat Molina
Heading south
(Image credit: Credit Unknown)
Molina arrived in Sanlúcar in 1997 without any previous experience or knowledge of the region. She grew up in Catalonia in the northeast and studied pharmacy in Navarra.
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There she was interested in the classes relating to food and so went on to undertake a master’s degree in winemaking and viticulture. Having been introduced to the aromatic and expressive rosé wines of Navarra, Molina had planned to work in the region.
Just then, a newspaper advertisement appeared for a role with the winemaking team at Barbadillo. ‘I didn’t know anything about Sherry wines but I was sure the region would be amazing (my grandparents are from Andalucía). And it combined my interest in chemistry and viticulture.’
When Molina was selected, it was August and she was working in a very busy pharmacy in Girona. ‘I finished work on a Saturday and the next day packed up the car and left.’
After a quick stop at a local tourist office to buy a map (of course, no GPS!), she arrived in Sanlúcar. Molina remembers that it wasn’t easy to adapt, at first living on her own in a room above the winery. ‘I kept my bags packed each night,’ she muses.
But this was simply a period of adjustment to her new life and a different culture. In fact, everyone was very supportive. ‘There was a technical director here and I was assisting him. He was very generous with his time and taught me a lot.’
It was a time when there weren’t a lot of women working in the region’s wineries, but Molina never felt that this was a problem. ‘I remember one of the retired workers coming into the winery one evening to have a drink – a normal occurrence at the time – and he showed some surprise that I was busy working among the barrels. But his comments weren’t directed towards me in a negative way at all.’
A woman’s work
Sherry is often portrayed as a male-dominated region steeped in tradition, so it may surprise some readers that women have occupied key winemaking roles in some of its most established wineries. Some of these include…
• Pilar Aranda was one of Sherry’s first female winemakers and in the mid-20th century owned what is today Bodega Alvaro Domecq
• Ana Cabestrero Ortega started working as the winemaker at El Maestro Sierra in 2004 and is also the bodega’s commercial director
• Reyes Gómez Rubio has been the technical director and winemaker at Sánchez Romate since 2005
• Paola Medina is from the second generation of the owners of Williams & Humbert. She has been working at the winery since 2010 and is now the technical director and winemaker
• Silvia Flores is now assisting her father Antonio Flores as part of the winemaking team at González Byass. She represents the third generation of the Flores family at this well-known Sherry house
Trial and error
As a big company, Barbadillo has had the capacity to invest and experiment, and Molina believes it has been very open to doing new things over the course of its 200-year history.
When she arrived at the winery, she was able to digitalise some of the systems and paperwork with the acquisition of a computer, only the company’s second. ‘Barbadillo has been very ready to adapt to the market, not to copy other people but to do something that adds value.’
She has led her team to create new wines, as she explains, ‘to take people on a journey through Sherry’. The range of still white wines, grown on albariza soils – the chalky soils, rich in calcium carbonate, clay and marine fossils, found only in Jerez – and aged in Sherry casks without flor, is an entry point for many consumers into the world of Sherry.
Mirabrás, a 100% Palomino Fino from old vines, was launched with the 2014 vintage and, in 2020, Molina took the same must and aged it under a fine veil of flor in individual casks to create a light manzanilla as a stepping stone to the winery’s more complex Sherry wines.
Molina saves some of her biggest pride for the red wine that Barbadillo has been producing, classified as Vino de la Tierra de Cádiz (2022, £13.75 Bowland Forest Vintners), since the mid-2000s.
‘A hundred years ago, nobody planted any red varieties and there was no history of reds in the area, so it took a lot of work to make wines that taste of our region, and not to copy others,’ she explains. ‘And they are hard to sell.’
Crafting the future
(Image credit: Credit Unknown)
Despite being in charge of so many historical products and having worked so long for the same company, Molina believes in innovating and adapting to new consumer preferences. ‘I really like working with our sparkling wine Toto,’ Molina explains.
Made mostly from Palomino grown on albariza soils, it’s a traditional-method brut nature. ‘It has a manzanilla-like palate with a lot of salinity, like a base wine for Champagne. Even though it’s sparkling, it reflects the region because of the fruit and structure.’
But of course, we soon return to the topic of yeast and the future of the region’s fortified wines. ‘I am always taking photos of the flor – it is so beautiful. It makes me think of all the generations that came before who contributed to this history.’
And what is her biggest pleasure? ‘Seeing how amazed people are when they taste the yeast’s influence in manzanilla and appreciate its unique taste profile.’ Her final words resonate the strongest.
‘More than anything, we have to maintain and defend the wines of the region, which are culturally really important and unique in the world.’ Molina’s contract with Barbadillo was initially for three months – 28 years later, it looks as though she isn’t going anywhere.
