Spanish & Portuguese News 2/23/12: Taste the Wine of Bodegas Y Viñedos Ponce

By: Joe Manekin

K&L Spanish & Portuguese Wine Buyer

Good afternoon, everyone,

Just two things to mention this week:

Our Friday tasting in Redwood City will feature some of the most exciting wines in Spain, those of Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce.  Working primarily with organically farmed, old vine Bobal in the D.O. of Manchuela (a few hours SE of Madrid), Ponce has quickly built up a reputation in Spain as being one of the most talented and serious vignerons in the entire country.  Here are some other producers that his bottlings occasionally remind me of:  Jean Foillard, Chateau Pradeaux, and Domaine Gramenon.  OK, now that we got your attention, get over to Redwood City tomorrow at 5pm. 

Tasting lineup and details: http://www.klwines.com/local_events.asp#4

If you can't make it, then you still really need to try these wines.  Read more, here.

As for wines of the week, my thoughts this week are why not keep it simple?  Just one wine ought to do it.  What a wine, though! If you're a fan of Riojas from Lopez de Heredia, Peciña, La Rioja Alta, Riojanas, etc, then I'm nearly certain you will love it.

1999 Viña Valoria Gran Reserva Rioja - $34.99

http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1086703

Saludos,

Joe

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Joe Manekin

Spanish, Portuguese, Latin American Wine Buyer

K&L Wine Merchants

Ph: 877.559.4637 ext. 2748

joemanekin@klwines.com

Wine of the Week: 2007 Ponce "La Casilla"

Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Priorat, Jumilla, Rueda. The list of Spanish appellations you should know about gets longer every year. Add to it now the D.O. of Manchuela, the source of this week's Wine Blogging Wednesday-inspired Wine of the Week: the 2007 Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce "La Casilla" ($21.99). (Thanks Catavino for putting this together.) Just north of Jumilla and west of Alicante, and flanked by the Jucar and Cabriel rivers, Manchuela's 30 or so wineries are defined by a continental climate, with long, hot, dry summers, and limestone subsoils covered by clay. Of the eight red and five white varietals approved for the D.O., the one that's most intriguing is Bobal, a dark, bluish-red-skinned indigenous berry with firm tannins medium acidity. 

For years the wines made from Bobal would go into blends or rosés, but the Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce "La Casilla" proves that in the right hands Bobal makes fantastic, full-throttled varietal wine. The 15 hectares if vineyards that make up the Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce estate are owned and run by the family of Juan Antonio Ponce, who also leases another two dozen vineyards. The grapes for this wine come from biodynamically farmed vineyards ranging in age from 30-70 years. Within those vineyards, seven distinct parcels of sand, clay and limestone soils were identified and vinified separately, utilizing native yeasts and carbonic maceration, finishing malo in different sizes of French oak barrels, where it ages for 10 months.

The resulting wine smells like plums and cherries roasted over a campfire with wild lavender and rosemary. You can even smell the hot rocks that confine the flames. In the mouth the wine is intense, lacking the jammy quality you expect from something carbonic. Instead it's a summer fruit basket full of sweet raspberry and brambles, tangy cherry and savory plum. There's a dusting of spice that isn't overwhelming, and the wildness from the nose carries through, flecked with mineral stoniness and a thread of black licorice. The tannins are perceptible, but well integrated, and the alcohol is kept in check by solid acidity. Fascinating, unique and fun to drink, this is a must-try for anyone who digs Spanish wine.