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Casa Castillo Pie Franco Jumilla 2014  - First Bottle

Reviews

94 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate -
2014 was a really tough harvest, and many vineyards never fully ripened in Jumilla. Casa Castillo managed to produce 4,650 bottles from their eight hectares of ungrafted (pie franco) Monastrell vineyards and release a very good 2014 Pie Franco. As all the wines here, it fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in well-seasoned oak barrels for some 18 months. This is always a subtle and elegant Monastrell, without the rusticity the grape can sometimes show, with a perfumed nose of violets and rose petals, bright red cherries and plenty of Mediterranean herbs and spices and something akin to tea leaves. The palate is also extremely elegant, silky and delicate, with very good freshness and acidity. This is a real triumph over the conditions of the vintage and shows how a great vineyard behaves brilliantly in warm, cool, wet or dry vintages and delivers very reliable wines. I tasted the wine before and just after bottling and it didn't seem to suffer by the operation, which is quite remarkable. I followed the bottle for a few days and I uncorked some past vintages for comparisons and I have no doubt. This is an exceptional effort for the vintage.

Technical Details

  • BlendMonastrell
  • CountrySpain
  • RegionMurcia
  • AppellationJumilla
  • Alcohol15%

Casa Castillo Pie Franco Jumilla 2014

Other Reds  |  Spain
WA94

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About the Producer

Well-trodden paths like Highway 29 in Napa, RN74 in Burgundy or the Mosel River in Germany are obvious vinous routes that have been signposted and gentrified over decades but not Jumilla. Parched, bleak and seemingly barren under the heat of midsummer there are only the faintest hints of civilization, usually in the form of an isolated sign, a decaying old farm house or the random fellow traveler rushing to get out of the sun. Jumilla is about roughing it, about getting to know farmers and their families and if you’re lucky being invited into their homes to share a meal. It’s a place worth getting lost in. If you’ve played your cards right, the person inviting you to Jumilla is José Maria Vicente. José Maria is a third generation owner and operator of Casa Castillo a farm that began as a rosemary plantation but one that has evolved into the preeminent estate in the DO of Jumilla. While the smell of rosemary still lingers in the air, the pale, rocky soils surrounding his house and cellar are now planted with vines and almond orchards. When José Maria’s grandfather purchased Casa Castillo in 1941 there was already a winery, cellar and some scattered vineyards on the property dating to the 1870s, established by French refugees fleeing the plight of phylloxera in their native land. In 1985 José and his father began to replant the vineyards and expand them with the goal of making wine on the property. In 1991 they bottled their first commercial vintage.