It’s a method of fractional barrel-aging that comes from Spanish wine making, which Nodal saw firsthand many years ago. Wines from one harvest are kept in a row of barrels solera or “on the ground” as we say in English. Another vintage of wine is kept in a second row of barrels. Eventually, these two harvests with different ages are combined. After that, they’re aged some more, and then perhaps blended with another row. According to the master vintners, this creates a more uniform blend. For Aging Room Solera Maduro Cigars, tobacco from different harvests is integrated and packed together in bales for an additional aging stage that takes about a year. After that, the tobacco is rolled into cigars. This is different from the standard process which would see leaf from different harvests aged separately, then rolled together in the end to make a blend.