montilla

/mon til"euh/; Sp. /mawn tee"lyah/, n.

a dry, rather bitter wine of Spain.

[1785-95; after Montilla, Spanish town]

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▪ Spain

      city, Córdoba provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, southern Spain, southeast of Córdoba city. Inhabited since Roman times, the district was taken from the Moors by Ferdinand III in 1237. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, known as El Gran Capitán, was born in Ferdinand's castle in 1453. There Garcilaso de la Vega, called El Inca, composed his voluminous works on the Inca Empire of Peru. Montilla was declared a city in 1630 by Philip IV.

      Viticulture is important, and a wide variety of wines are exported, including Amontillado, a pale dry sherry made from grapes grown on the slopes of the Sierra de Montilla to the southeast, and Pedro Ximénez, an aromatic, sweet wine. Olives and cereals are also grown, and limestone and gypsum are quarried. Pop. (2007 est.) mun., 23,650.

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