Jumilla Pie Franco Casa Castillo 2023 (750ML)

99 Points, Luis Gutiérrez, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "The 2023 Pie Franco is serious, austere and shy, but it has a sense of harmony and refinement that makes it very attractive and a little mysterious. It has a very elegant and balanced palate with very fine tannins; you don't notice that the grapes had a slightly faster ripening, and the tannins show a level of refinement similar to a slower-ripening year. It might be the cushion effect of the old ungrafted vines that make it quite homogeneous and consistent from vintage to vintage. There's no trace of ripeness or excess here despite the south-facing exposition and the sandy soils, and the wine is very elegant and fine. The grapes are picked halfway through the harvest, so they already have the experience of the first half of the grapes from the property. It fermented with 25% to 30% full clusters and aged in foudre for 18 months, but the idea is to age this wine (and Las Gravas) for at least two years in foudre, in the style of the Riserva wines from Piamonte. It has good ripeness and 14.5% alcohol and terrific balance. 7,100 individually numbered bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2025." 02/26