The beautiful wines of Juan Antonio Ponce, from Manchuela, Spain
Website: https://bodegasponce.es/
Manchuela is a lesser-known Spanish wine region inland from Valencia, specializing in the Bobal grape variety. It’s a variety known for its thick skins and rusticity, but it does maintain acidity well, even in this warm, arid climate. The vines are untrained, grown as bush vines, and are not irrigated. Altitude is 700 m.
Juan Antonio Ponce (pronounced ‘pon-thay’) began his winery in 2005, at the age of 23, after gaining experience working with Telmo Rodriguez. He works biodynamically in the vineyard, and in the winery takes a natural approach, using low levels of sulfur dioxide. He works with virtually no mechanization.
The winemaking process begins with hand harvest. The bunches of grapes are then chilled to 8 °C and fermented whole-bunch, with the stems, in a type of fermentation known as ‘remango’, which was once popular in Rioja. The bunches are foot-trodden in small wooden vats of 1500–4000 kg capacity. After foot treading for a few days, the must is transferred to barrels for the remainder of the alcoholic fermentation, and the malolactic fermentation. Thus the extraction is extremely gentle and relatively short, and the must ferments with the gross lees in the barrel.
The wines are typically bottled after 7 months in barrel, with no filtration or fining. UK agent is Indigo Wine (www.indigowine.com)
THE WINES
Ponce Selección Albilla 2022 Manchuela, Spain
This comes from two small vineyards, one with granite soils the other with river stones and sand. Fermented and matured in a mix of foudres and barrels. Stony and linear with bright citrus fruit, some pithy notes and a vivid, fine lemony edge. Really pure. 93/100
Ponce Depaula 2022 Manchuela, Spain
This is Monastrell from a single vineyard with limestone soils, matured in a large vat. Very fresh and pure showing red fruits and a bit of grip. Really expressive and fine with great balance. 93/100
Ponce Buena Pinta 2022 Manchuela, Spain
This is a varietal Moravia Agria. Prephylloxera vineyard with sandy soils, carbonic maceration in 5000 litre foudres. Smoky, mineral nose leads to a palate that is bright and expressive with high acidity. Fine grained with nice grip to the red fruits. 94/100
Ponce Pino 2022 Manchuela, Spain
Bobal from calcareous soils. Ageworthy. Supple with lively red fruits and some redcurrant brightness. The palate is fine with good structure and fine spicy notes, as well as a good acid line. 94/100
Ponce La Estrecha 2022 Manchuela, Spain
This is mainly Bobal – it’s a single vineyard where everything is co-fermented in 5000 litre foudres. So expressive and bright with stony mineral notes and lovely supple red cherry and redcurrant fruit. Fruity, fine and balanced. 94/100
Ponce 2022 Manchuela, Spain
A blend of 80% Bobal with 20% Moravia Agria from a single vineyard with river stone, sand and clay soils. Very fresh and expressive with redcurrant, red cherry and plum fruit, as well as some spice and dried herbs, and a twist of mint. Fine chalky, grainy structure and nice balance. 94/100
Older notes:
Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce Clos Lojen Bobal 2020 Manchuela, Spain
13% alcohol. This is from six parcels of old vine Bobal at 800 m altitude. It has a gorgeous aromatic nose with sweet cherries and strawberries, as well as ginger, pepper and some dried herbs. The palate is spicy and vivid with some brightness, but also a sweet, silky texture to the cherry and berry fruit. It’s smashable, but there’s plenty to hold your interest here. Fresh and digestible, with lovely supple fruit. Very ‘new Spain’ in style. 91/100
Ponce La Xara Garnacha 2021 Manchuela, Spain
12.5% alcohol. Whole bunch. Juan Antonio says he prefers Grenache that is fresh, elegant and with low alcohol. This has some green hints, and is supple and elegant with fresh, fine red fruits. Silky, elegant, light and expressive. 94/100
Ponce Depaula 2020 Manchuela, Spain
Whole bunch from a vineyard (3.2 ha) in Jumilla. Fine and textural with lovely spice and pepper notes as well as some dried herbs. Fine and textural on the palate with lovely spicy detail, and real focus. So fine, with a peppery finish. 94/100
Ponce Ponce 2019 Manchuela, Spain
80% Bobal with the balance other local varieties, co-fermented. Very elegant with supple wet stone detail over the red fruits. Fine grained structure with some dried herb detail. Quite lovely. 94/100
Even older notes:
Bodegas Ponce Buena Pinta 2010 Manchuela, Spain
From the wonderful Bodegas Ponce, this is a deliciously light and natural expression of Garnacha, blended with local grape Moravia Agria. It has lovely fresh aromatics with bright cherry fruit and some meaty savouriness. There’s a nice peppery, grippy structure, too. Amazingly fresh and drinkable, yet with some seriousness and a bit of structure too. Just my sort of wine: the sort of thing I’m always in the mood for. 91/100
Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce ‘Clos Lojen’ 2009 DO Manchuela, Spain
13.5% alcohol. Sweet, ripe nose with warm, plummy dark cherry and blackberry fruit, and a hint of baked cherry pie. The palate is ripe and sweet but with a pronounced savoury, structured edge. Dense, mouthfilling and spicy with some drying tannins. Attractive and youthfull, but also nicely savoury. 91/100
Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce ‘La Casilla Estrecha’ 2009 DO Manchuela, Spain
14.5% alcohol. ‘Estrecha’ means narrow, and refers to the spacing of the vines. They are planted on calcareous clay, and are around 75 years old. The wine is concentrated and dense with a tight, sweet blackberry and blackcurrant fruit nose with some savoury, mineral notes. The palate is sweetly fruited and has firm spicy structure as well as fresh mineral notes. It’s a dense wine with nice tension between the sweet fruit and firmly tannic structure. 92/100
Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce ‘Pino’ 2009 DO Manchuela, Spain
14% alcohol. From mineral-rich sools, in a slightly cooler vineyard with 30 year old vines. Deep coloured with a youthful, purplish tinge, it has a fresh, sweet, dark cherry and blackberry fruit nose and some spicy notes. The palate is lively and fresh with lovely acidity and bright, dark cherry and plum notes. Spicy and grippy on the finish, this is an expressive wine with nice precision. 93/100
