Bodegas Ponce, PF Bobal 2024

Why we love this bottle

Juan Antonio Ponce learned his trade with Telmo Rodríguez, one of the best known winemakers in Spain. Then he went home to his own region, Manchuela, inland behind Valencia. He works organically, with bush vines that never get any water. Everything is picked by hand and the grapes ferment with their stems. We love it because he shows what a forgotten local grape can do.

Bobal is known as a rough farmer's grape that used to disappear into cheap bulk wine. P.F. stands for pie franco, on its own feet. These vines still grow on their own roots, like in the old days, while most vines in Europe have been grafted since a plague nearly wiped them out in the nineteenth century. Cherry, blackberry and a hint of smoke. Dark and deep, yet pure and fresh. Do not serve it too warm, and taste a piece of old Spain.