2024 Ponce La Estrecha Bobal

Tucked away in Manchuela, roughly two and a half hours south of Madrid, Juan Antonio Ponce is quietly producing some the best value Spanish wines. After honing his craft under Telmo Rodriguez and spending a formative stint in Beaujolais, Juan Antonio returned to his family's 80-year-old vineyards in Iniesta to prove that the often-maligned Bobal grape could be a vehicle for world-class elegance rather than just rustic bulk wine. By farming 70 hectares of high-altitude, dry-grown vines with incredibly low density, he maintains a meagre average yield of just 2 tonnes per hectare, resulting in a modest annual production of 170,000 bottles that prioritise concentration and freshness. His signature move is a 100% whole-cluster fermentation for all his reds, a technique that, combined with the region's nutrient-rich soils and 800m+ elevation, produces wines that are remarkably fragrant, poised, and powerful.

Other Reviews...
The 2024 La Estrecha comes from a plot that tends to deliver finesse, a floral character and complexity. It shows freshness and approachability, but it can also age. It fermented with full clusters in 4,500-liter oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in a 5,000-liter oak vat until right before the next harvest. It's an old Bobal vineyard on granite soils that has some 10% other varieties. It comes in at 12.2% alcohol (12.5% on the label), a pH of 3.5 and 5.7 grams of acidity. It started a little shy but with nuance and detail and then becomes insinuating and serious. This is always one of my favorite wines here, irrespective of the price. Here, the varietal blend and possibly the soils make it very elegant, complex and complete, with very fine chalky tannins and less grippy than those from the Pino. This could very well be the highlight from the 2024 vintage. 5,200 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2025. Drink 2026-2036.
98 points
Luis Gutiérrez - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Wild fruit, sour raspberries with flowers, chalky mineral and grapefruit give this a refreshing herbal lift. It’s a delicate and elegant bobal, with firm, chalky tannins and a pure, tensioned finish, long, juicy and pristine. A unique expression of bobal that’s more stony and ethereal than fleshy and structured. From organically grown grapes. Delicious now, but can hold.
94 points
Zekun Shuai - JamesSuckling.com

Old bush vines spaced at quite the distance, planted on very sandy, ferrous looking soils. Rugged country.
Brooding, dark fruited, so sloshy and come hither in its jolly, jubey, inky way. Some sour elements too, a touch of dark vermouth character complete with botanical lift, white pepper, aniseed. Such a joyful and lush red, not heavy, just lots of character and an ease of drinking. Pleasure zones hit. Drink 2026-2030.
94 points
Mike Bennie - The Wine Front