Discover Moclinejo

September is the perfect month to visit the pretty village of Moclinejo in the Axarquía, which is home to one of Malaga’s best-known wineries, Bodega Antonio Muñoz Cabrera. Also known as Dimobe, the winery has been run by the same family since 1927.

In fact, the bodega was originally a bakery before its founder, Juan Muñoz Navarrete, turned his hand to winemaking with five second-hand oak barrels and a century-old wooden press.

The Fiesta de los Viñeros is taking place on Sunday 13 September. Each year the festival happens on the second Sunday in September and pays tribute to all of the people who work in the Muscat of Alexandra grape harvest and wine-making industry, with demonstrations including the traditional treading of the grapes, tastings, music and more.

The bodega rose from the ashes of the devastating phylloxera plague, which was first detected here at the La Indiana estate in July 1878. The pest quickly spread across the province, virtually wiping out local vineyards, leaving Moclinejo to forever bear the unfortunate distinction of being the outbreak’s origin.

In 1930, despite many efforts to resume cultivation, there were only about 36,000 hectares of vineyards left in the entire province (from a peak of 110,000) and this led to depopulation as people sought work elsewhere. Yet, Antonio Muñoz Cabrera started making wine again and his family have continued the tradition until the present day.

The bodega itself is well worth a visit as it is also home to a museum documenting the family’s winemaking history and tradition. Tours in Spanish, English and French are available outside of the harvest (vendimia) season (reservations must be made via the website: www.dimobe.es).

Apart from the wine, Moclinejo is an open-air art gallery with mosaics and tiles on almost every street and home to the ‘Ratoncito Pérez’; Spain’s version of the tooth fairy. There’s a special trail for children to follow the clues and find the house of the ratoncito (little mouse).

The Antonio Segovia Lobillo art gallery is just one of the many nods to art in the village and its hamlet, El Valdés.

This is where the Casa Museo El Valdés can be found and is open to the public (by prior appointment.) The fascinating house-cum-museum was constructed mainly from rubble by resident Antonio Montañez in 2005 and pays tribute to the traditions of the Axarquía as well as local craftsmanship.

From carved chameleons that form part of the wooden bannisters which climb the winding staircase up the four floors of the house, to bunches of grapes in the windows and a map on the wall which shows every one of the 31 pueblos that make up the east of Malaga province, everything about the house is a celebration of the Axarquía.

Each piece of art or object in the house forms part of the cultural legacy of the Axarquía that Montañez built up over the years and fans of Gaudí will appreciate the design.

The adjoining children’s playground, even has its own ‘cochinita’. This is the name given to the train that used to run along the coast from Malaga city to Vélez-Málaga and then up to Periana before stopping in Zafarraya on the border with Granada province, until it was pulled from service in the 1960s.

Guided tours of the Casa Museo, conducted in English and Spanish, can be booked through AxarTrips (www.AxarTrips.com). Led by the knowledgeable José Carlos, the visit concludes with a tasting of sweet wine from Dimobe’s bodega.

Don’t leave Moclinejo without a bottle of the local sweet wine, vermouth or one of the bodega’s white, red or sparkling wines to remember the visit and the story of wine in the heart of the Axarquía.

If anyone loses a tooth while visiting the village, they’re in good hands with el Ratoncito Pérez as a local resident.

Axarquía where costa del sol meets costa tropical