P.F 2014

"PF stands for 'pie franco', which in Spanish means ungrafted—the characteristic of the Bobal vines used to produce Ponce's 2014 P F, but also a common characteristic across many vineyards in Manchuela. As in all old vineyards, there is a small percentage of other grapes planted together in the vineyard: Pintilla, Moravia Agria, Garnacha, Mari Sancho, Rojal... and they were all picked and fermented together. These extremely old vines are planted at low density, which is the secret to being balanced in a very warm vintage like 2014. Again, it was whole cluster fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in used 600-liter oak barrels, where the end of fermentation and malolactic were carried out, followed by ten months élevage. 2014 is a warmer vintage and the wine shows it, it has the core of rosemary and thyme, balsamic and Mediterranean, with notes of soil but also beautiful aromas of violets and black fruit. Nicely textured, with chalky tannins and incredible freshness for such a vintage. It is quite expressive and long, and makes you salivate. I think this is a real triumph over the conditions of the vintage. For comparison, Ponce uncorked a 2010, from a cooler vintage (in an era when they were aiming for riper fruit, too), and it showed a profile that made me think of a Châteauneuf-du-Pape—very tasty. 11,000 bottles were filled in June 2015."