This 96+ Point, $21.99 Red is the Biggest Steal of 2025!
Winemaker Juan Antonio Ponce is doing incredibly exciting things, yet almost nobody knows about him. His wines are delicious and complex, yet they are basically unknown to the wine world. As a result, they are absurdly underpriced!
Today we have his 2023 Bodegas Ponce "P.F.". Crafted from the obscure Bobal grape, this profoundly delicious wine has earned a MASSIVE 96+ Point rating from Wine Advocate. It is the kind of wine that just about everyone will love and, at $21.99, it is an absolute, total and utter steal.
If that's not enough, we also have this wine's big brother! Earning a monstrous 98-Point score from Wine Advocate, the 2022 Bodegas Ponce "Ponce" is the prodigious "Grand Cru" from Juan Antonio. With only 600 cases produced, it's even more rare than the P.F. bottling!
Read on for the details on these fantastically soft, textured, and complex blockbusters, then slam down on the Big Green Button while supplies last.
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2023 Bodegas Ponce "P.F."
Manchuela, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
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How is this wine only $21.99?! Juan’s “P.F.” ("Pie Franco” or ungrafted) red comes from organically farmed Bobal vines up to 90 years in age. Raised in large, neutral casks, this ruby purple colored wine boasts deep, spicy flavors and incredibly dense savory notes from the first pour. After minutes, and remarkably for up to five days after opening, the wine becomes even more exotic, more intense, more of everything!
Pure, silky tones of raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and black raspberries are alive, rich, and sultry. Savory herbs, black pepper, and olive are here too. So many layers! Tannins are soft, beautifully balancing the 13% ABV. With just a few sips, you’ll become a Ponce evangelist. Is there another wine that gives so much style and character for such a small price?
“The ungrafted Bobal 2023 P.F. has complexity, elegance and power together with drinkability. It was produced with grapes from 90-year-old vines on sandy soils and fermented with full clusters and indigenous yeasts in 4,500-liter oak vats, where the wine matured for 10 months. This balanced and precise vintage has contained ripeness and alcohol (13%), a pH of 3.6 and 5.7 grams of acidity. This is a wine Ponce has to be very careful with because it can have too much power, the clusters are small and can give concentration and clout. They want to keep the balance, freshness and drinkability throughout its life. The wine is phenomenal and has great precision, plus there's seriousness and complexity, and it's balsamic; you feel the landscape, the Mediterranean herbs, thyme, rosemary and lavender; and it's spicy and has the energy and power with the silkiness of the sandy soils. It has big bones and complexity and is characterful and original. Very harmonious. A steal. 15,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2024. Drink Date: 2024 - 2034.”
- 96+ Points, Wine Advocate (1/9/2025)
If you love Pinot Noirs from Bergstrom or Patricia Green, this is for you. How about wines from the Southern or Northern Rhône, serious Cru Beaujolais, or the great reds of Raul Perez? Honestly, this delightful and delicious red is an absolute must for every wine lover!
Vin Chicago Price: 21.99
2022 Bodegas Ponce "Ponce"
Manchuela, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
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At 23 years of age, Juan Antonio Ponce returned to his home region of Manchuela to launch Bodegas Ponce. It was 2005, and Ponce had been working for the great Telmo Rodriguez when he began farming small plots of vines inherited by his father, some of which had been worked by his great-grandfather.
“His wines are among the best values in Spain.”
- Wine Advocate, January 2025
Located 90 minutes by car due west of Valencia, Juan believed Manchuela and its native Bobal grape had excellent potential if farmed and vinified with knowledge and passion. Turns out he was right.
With texture, flavor complexity, and structure similar to a Grand Cru Burgundy, this is Juan’s top bottling. Aged for an extra year, it shows a darker tone than the “P.F.”, with an incredibly impactful mouthfeel. This is a wine to enjoy and contemplate with your wine-loving friends. Here’s the 98-Point review from Wine Advocate...
“The eponymous red 2022 Ponce was produced with 80% Bobal from granite soils and 20% Moravia Agria from limestone and clay. It fermented with 100% full clusters in open-top 4,500-liter oak vats and finished fermenting and aging in a single 7,000-liter oak vat for 11 months. It has 13% alcohol and a pH of 3.6 with 5.7 grams of acidity. This has something in common with the La Estrecha from this same vintage, with a more ethereal profile, both with changes in the élevage toward larger volumes that give the wines more relaxed, less tight personalities. Complete, balanced and harmonious from very early on, this is a great vintage for this wine. 7,000 bottles were filled in September 2023. Drink Date: 2024 - 2032.”
- 98 Points, Wine Advocate (1/18/2024)
Median online retail is $80. Our price for this 600 case production superstar beats all three listings. Something VERY special here, and it will go fast!
Vin Chicago Price: 56.99
