2021 Bodegas Y Vinedos Ponce Manchuela [Was $65.00]

Juan Antonio Ponce returned to his family's Manchuela vineyards in 2005 with eleven barrels, a loan, and a conviction that central Spain's high-altitude plateau could produce world-class wine. The 2021 Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce Manchuela is a field blend from vines his great-grandfather planted, farmed without synthetic inputs and fermented with native yeasts in concrete. This vintage shows the precision that has made Manchuela one of the most talked-about regions in Spain, balancing wet chalk minerality with floral lift and a smoky, flinty backbone that defines the appellation's volcanic soils. Ponce spent his formative years at Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez before returning home at twenty-three, determined to vinify the fruit his father had always sold to the cooperative. Manchuela sits at high elevation between the Júcar and Cabriel rivers, where diurnal temperature swings preserve acidity in the Bobal and Moravia Agria grapes that anchor this blend. Ponce works old-vine parcels organically, picks by hand, and ferments whole-cluster in concrete to preserve the taut, mineral-driven character the limestone and clay soils impart. The wine sees minimal intervention and no new oak, allowing the site's rustic charm and the vintage's refined structure to speak without ornament. The 2021 vintage drinks with remarkable energy for a wine from central Spain—wet stone and dried herbs on the nose, red fruit and bitter orange peel on the palate, a thread of smoke and flint running through the finish. It pairs naturally with grilled lamb chops, roasted root vegetables, or aged Manchego, and it benefits from a half-hour in a decanter to let the herbal and mineral notes unfold. This is a wine that rewards attention but doesn't demand ceremony; open it on a Wednesday with steak and potatoes or save it for a weekend paella. The 2021 Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce Manchuela is available for pickup at our Lincoln Park shop at 1128 W Armitage Ave, local Chicago delivery, or nationwide shipping.