A Bobal revisited
When I first tasted PF 100% Bobal from Bodegas Juan Antonio Ponce in 2017 I decided to demote it to the penultimate wine in the forthcoming exclusive tasting of Bobals that I’d arranged for some friends, saving the best, a different wine, for end. This was contrary to my original plan.
Juan Antonio Ponce’s P.F Bobal 2016 is made from 88 year old Pie Franco vines grown, organically and indeed biodynamically, at altitude in DO Manchuela. The clue as to why I changed the order is in the vintage. Back in 2017 the wine from only the year before didn’t yet seem quite in balance for me. Its constituent parts were exactly that, parts that had not yet wholly harmonised. It seemed, I remember, that my slight doubt was correct. Though the wine was enjoyed by all tasters, it didn’t come out top of the straw poll I took on the night.
I determined that the wine needed some more time for its parts to integrate properly. I had a spare bottle, so on the small back label I wrote, ‘Drink from 2020’, and it’s been resting comfortably in my ‘la Sommeliére’ wine chiller ever since (they’re excellent for keeping wine at the right temperature, click on the Vinoteca logo on the homepage of my website www.colinharkness onwine.com).
It’s well into 2020 now, so I thought I’d check with one of my Spanish wine gurus, Victor de la Serna (@VictordelaSerna of www.elmundovino.elmundo. es) who knows most things about Spanish wine generally, as well as making wine in DO Manchuelo, from whence hails the PF pictured. Victor said I should bring Juan Antonio’s wine out to play now! That was good enough for me.
As it happened our humble BBQ was elevated to a far higher plain than I’d originally intended. We needed a red wine to go with the marinated pork medallions and sausages so, although such a wine really needs a far better dinner with which to be paired, I thought I’d give the Bobal a go anyway. Obviously we needed an aperitif to accompany our amuse bouches, a highly chilled Dominio de la Vega Reserva Brut Nature did that trick. Plus we had a glass of a superb white wine (Àmfora from Bodegas Les Freses – more on this wine soon) to finish off.
From Cuenca, Juan Antonio Ponce comes from a tradition, not of making wines but of growing grapes to be sold for others to ferment. Having a grandfather in the grape growing business gives him an inextricable link with the land, and with Bobal in particular. He studied winemaking in the Reqena Wine School and has had experience making wines in Gredos, Rioja, Toledo, Toro, Alicante and Ronda.
In 2004, ideally equipped to make wines in any of those areas he decided instead to return home, intent on making the best possible expression of Bobal. He convinced his father (and the bank manager) to start a small company making wine using grapes on their modest two and a half hectares of vineyards. Results were pleasing and their wines sold. They now own 17 hectares and work with another 40.
It’s a small range of wines and the PF is the one for which he is best known. It comes from Pie Franco vines (the name given to vines and their descendents which were never affected by the deadly Philoxera pest) grown in a sandy, historically Philoxera free vineyard.
Whole bunches are foot trodden in large oak vats, as indeed they would have been centuries ago! Fermentation also takes place in oak, but in a very successful attempt to retain the integrity of the fruit, the whole time in oak for this classic, high Peñin Guide scoring Bobal wine, is just 8 months. The oak barrels used hold 600 litres, therefore adding only a very subtle taste and flavour, along with ageing ability and greater depth. It’s all about the fruit.
Tasters often refer to black cherry fruit when describing
Bobal wines – I concur, but have to say that the best example I’ve had thus far of the cherry aromas is this particular wine and it’s delicious. You’ll also find some green leafed herbs in there too, making the whole drinking experience absolutely delightful.
I will definitely return to Ponce wines and I’d suggest you give them a try as well. https://www.facebook.com/ juanantonio.poncemondejar