Málaga is one of the oldest appellations in Spain, drawn up in 1932, and it protects the sweet fortified wines the province has exported since the Phoenicians: dark, raisined wines from Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel, aged in oak, which were known in England simply as Mountain and were among the most prized wines in Europe in the eighteenth century. Phylloxera arrived in 1878 and destroyed almost all of it.

Sierras de Málaga was added in 2001 for dry wines, in effect a second appellation over the same ground. The vineyards fall into four zones, the most striking being the Axarquía, where Moscatel grows on slate slopes so steep the grapes are carried out by mule and dried on open terraces called paseros. The others are the Montes de Málaga above the city, Manilva near the coast, and the high, cool Norte around Ronda, where the modern dry reds and whites are mostly made.