Ponce 2024

The top of the range in red is the 2024 Ponce, this year a blend of 70% Bobal and 30% Moravia Agria, which is higher than ever because Moravia suffered less from the frost than Bobal (they're from the same vineyard), and in the warmish 2024, it ripened thoroughly (it's not an easy grape). It fermented with 100% full clusters and indigenous yeasts in 4,500-liter oak vats and matured in a 5,000-liter oak vat for eight months. It has some iron-like notes and is a little earthier, with fine rusticity, but with seriousness, and even if it sounds like a contradiction, it has elegance, developing notes of violets and getting rid of the iron notes with time in the glass. It's balanced, juicy and vibrant, long and fresh, with a very serious mid-palate, the two varieties complementing each other nicely. They harvested early here too. For Juan António Ponce, this is the finest year for this wine that he has produced since 2018. 6,800 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2025.

Stemmy but precise, complex and minerally on the nose, with an herbal character rendering freshness to its wild-cherry fruit. Also, a touch of white pepper and grilled citrus reminiscent of baked grapefruit. The tannins are tight, sinewy and savory, showing the bony austerity that you’d expect from this mix of bobal and moravia agria. Tannic, chewy, tensioned and mealy. A little closed now. Better after 2026. (Zekun Shuai)