Bodegas Ponce Manchuela La Xara Garnacha 2024

As rustic as the obscure Manchuela wine region has a reputation, Juan Antonio's wine is refined and elegant. He's no ordinary winemaker, after all. He graduated as an oenologist at a young age, then gained experience as the right-hand man of renowned Spanish winemaker Telmo Rodiguez. He also immersed himself in biodynamics and the vin nature movement.

Juan Antonio's undisputed specialty is the unruly Bobal grape, but he also makes superb wines from other local grapes, such as Albilla, Moravia Agria, and Garnacha. He does this naturally: Juan Antonio harvests by hand, ferments using native yeasts, uses low doses of sulfites, and neither filters nor clarifies his wines.



This superb La Xara is a pure Garnacha. The grapes come from a ten-hectare, forty-year-old vineyard. The vines are planted on soils of clay, limestone, and granite and are not irrigated. Juan Antonio harvests the grapes relatively early, allowing him to create an elegant Garnacha style, with juicy fruit and crisp acidity.

Once harvested and fermented, the wine is aged for seven months in French oak barrels. This results in a remarkable, richly nuanced red wine with an unmistakably Mediterranean, yet almost un-Spanishly refined character. La Xara is delicate, minerally, and terroir-typical, with pure, juicy fruit and notes of pepper and bay leaf. A unique wine, well worth discovering!

An elegant, slightly spicy red wine to enjoy on its own or pair with pasta salad, veal rolls with garlic and sage, or young, hard cheeses.

A light ruby-red wine with a pure and refined aroma of red cherry, wild strawberry, bay leaf, and mint. The palate is light and refined, with ripe red fruit, an invigorating freshness, and fine, polished tannins. The finish lingers beautifully with nuances of pepper and toast.

Drink now and keep for 5 to 6 years after harvest.