Winemaker Notes
This wine has dark savory fruit with notes of bay, thyme and leather. Firmer structured and chalky on the palate. In typical Bodegas Ponce fashion, La Casilla manages to express the inherent power and structure of Bobal and it's native Manchuela, but goes so with the sort of grace and style that re-calls Cru Beaujolais
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2021 was a cooler year, and the 2021 La Casilla, produced with Bobal from 40- to 60-year old vines at 800 meters in altitude, shows moderate ripeness and 13% alcohol, nice balance and a polished palate but with grip, after the wine spent some 15 months in bottle. It has an explosive nose, clean and expressive, with a somewhat Northern Rhône profile with an herbal twist, as well as depth and balance and very fine, chalky tannins.
Bobal is enjoying a mini renaissance in Spain today as high-elevation vineyards in its homeland of Utiel-Requena produce dense and velvety wines dominated by dark berry and cocoa characteristics. However, its function as Spain’s second most planted red grape variety was once only for bulk wine and concentrate. Since it is drought-resistant, it does well grown as unirrigated bush vines and acts as a fine voice of terroir. Somm Secret—Bobal also shows great potential for rosé and sparkling wines because of its high levels of acidity and anthocyanins.
The Moors gave it the name, ‘Manxa,’ which fittingly means ‘parched earth.’ La Mancha, the largest Spanish wine producing region in all of Spain, is one of its hottest and driest. Sturdy and drought-resistant white varieietes like Airen, Viura and Verdejo thrive in this environment.