2021 Casa Castillo Pie Franco Monastrell

Led by José María Vicente, Casa Castillo are at the forefront of new wave Spanish producers unleashing the potential of their sites, and raising the bar for what's possible with the local specialty Monastrell (Mourvèdre). Jumilla is a brutal landscape, with baking hot days and cold nights, leading to many wines that are rich, jammy, and often overdone. Casa Castillo is the antithesis of this approach, their wines are refined and detailed, elegant even, and clearly leagues ahead of anything else produced in the region. José María is constantly aiming to do things the best way rather than the easiest, which is rewarding handsomely for the team with Casa Castillo now considered among the top handful of Spanish producers.

Pie Franco is a bottling from an old ungrafted Monastrell vineyard planted in 1942 by Jose's grandfather a year after he bought the property, and is now considered the benchmark for Monastrell in Spain.

Other Reviews....
The 2021 Pie Franco is from ungrafted old-vine Monastrell planted on sandy soils. It feels incredibly balanced, elegant and harmonious, a little closed, subtle rather than showy. It's slightly riper, like most of the 2021s, reaching 15% alcohol, very Mediterranean, classical with fruit a tad darker than the one in Las Gravas and with a rounder palate but keeping the poise and balance. It matured in oak foudre for a longer time, as they found this to be a more powerful wine that required a longer élevage in oak. Another stunning Pie Franco. 8,297 numbered bottles. It was bottled in June 2023. Drink 2024-2036.
99 points
Luis Gutiérrez - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate