Founded by Telmo Rodríguez and Pablo Eguzkiza in 1994, they were inspired by the remote and forgotten landscapes of Spain. They knew that great wines had been made throughout rural Spain in the past, but in the early nineties, few had the vision required to imagine those forgotten regions and varieties could rise again. Most everyone was busy crafting cheap, anonymous wines with international varieties. Not Telmo and Pablo. They knew better from their formative winemaking experiences in France to trust in indigenous varieties and look for inspiration in old vineyards. They spent a lot of time reading old books, picking up hints of where and how the historic wines of Spain were made. In the course of their research, they came across the “Mountain Wines” of Málaga, once a favorite wine of the English. Less famous than Sherry, the wines of Málaga were at a substantial disadvantage, commercially speaking, from their Andalucian neighbors. The wines were made in a rugged, mountainous inland area, rather than right by a major port. As such, the wines eventually simply faded into obscurity after phylloxera, yet Telmo and Pablo were determined to recover the former glory of Málaga’s mountain wines. Thus, Molino Real was born in 1996.