Clos Lojen Bobal 2022, Bodegas Ponce, Manchuela

Sweet, ripe nose with warm, plummy dark cherry and blackberry fruit, and a hint of baked cherry pie. The palate is ripe and sweet but with a pronounced savoury, structured edge. Dense, mouth-filling and spicy with some drying tannins.

Clos Lojen is selected from six small parcels of the local variety Bobal: Abuleo, Señorita, Cerro, Lujan, Embudo y Almendros. The traditional bush vines are between 30-50 years old and the soils are mainly chalky clay. Vines are grown at 800 metres above sea level, producing fresh, balanced juice from slow maturing grapes with fantastic acidity

Viticulture is Biodynamic. No soil enrichment or irrigation is used. Ground cover crops are grown and the soil is rarely ploughed; both of these measures keep the soil structure intact.

The manual harvest takes place in small 20kg baskets. The grapes are then chilled for 24 hours until they reach 8°C. Only whole bunches are used and grapes are foot-trodden before fermenting in small wooden vats ranging from 1,500 to 4,000kg. Aging takes place in 5th to 8th use French oak barrels of various capacities, including large 1,500-litre foudres and 300-litre barrels for 7 months. The wines are bottled unfiltered.