Casa Castillo Pie Franco Monastrell

Pie Franco comes from Casa Castillo's oldest vineyard, La Solana, which was planted in 1942 by the current owner's grandfather, José Sanchez Cerezo. Jose planted local clones of Monastrell along a sandy patch of the property at 670 metres altitude.

The vines are planted on their own roots without grafting, which would have made them resistant to the root-eating insect phylloxera. The soil however isn't entirely free of the pest so the vines fight to survive. Crops are extremely small, but the intensity of flavour's amazing. 

The grapes are fermented with indigenous yeasts in concrete before the wine is transferred to old oak casks. Pie Franco sets the benchmark for how refined Monastrell can be; it's a powerful, age-worthy wine, but has incredibly elegant fruit and delicately floral notes.