Wine of the Week
Reto 2019
Bodegas Ponce
DO Manchuela
Albilla de Manchuela
ABV 13%
€14 at Bodeboca
Bodegas Ponce have become synonymous with producing really fresh wines that seem more Atlantic than Mediterranean at times. Why is that surprising? Well, a look at the geography of the DO would indicate that this has long been a land better suited to the production of lusty reds. Manchuela straddles the provincial border of Cuenca and Albacete in some of the most arid parts of Castilla-La Mancha. Rainfall is low and the summer sun is baking. What they do have however is altitude and it’s those big shifts in diurnal temperatures that allows for a high degree of freshness and elegance in Ponce’s range. While the red varieties, Bobal and Monastrell, are the bodega’s cash cows it’s a little known white variety that features in this edition of Wine of the Week.
The brothers Ponce chose the name Reto for a reason. Reto in Spanish means “a challenge”. As they explained to me the decision to bring this wine to the market was not an easy one. The region’s white variety Albilla (not be confused with Albillo Real or Mayor) was traditionally overlooked and often grubbed up. As an early ripening white it meant that it had to be harvested before many of the region’s wine cooperatives were ready for business.
As the brothers explain “In 2010 we took the decision to bottle the first vintage. We didn’t own the vineyard and nobody had ever bottled Albilla before. It was also our first attempt at making a white wine.” A real journey into the unknown then. Whether it was a case of beginner’s luck or not the first vintage struck a chord with critics. Parker’s Luis Gutierrez gave it 92 points describing it as “individualistic and compelling”.
The profile of the wine may have changed over the intervening years, personally I think it’s more austere than in the past and a touch more saline, but the sharpness and freshness remains, marking this out as a really vibrant white. And it continues to excite Parker. The most recent 2021 vintage garnered 95 points and had both the winemaker and the critic claiming that it was the best vintage they’d produced. This maybe thanks to the addition of new grapes from a planting in a different village which ripens around two weeks later.
A change of name is on the cards too. The 2022 vintage will be known simply as Ponce. Is the challenge over? Not according to the brothers but maybe now they can at least bask not only in the Manchuela sun but in the reflective glory of a job well done.