2021 · Pie Franco

Casa Castillo is a family-run winery in Jumilla, Murcia, founded in 1991 and now directed by the fourth generation of the Vicente Sánchez-Cerezo family. Its vineyards lie at 700 metres on the northern slopes of the Sierra de El Molar, in an arid, sunny climate with calcareous sandy soils and marine limestone gravel. Farming is organic and fully ecological, with dry-farmed, traditionally trained bush vines producing primarily indigenous Monastrell, alongside Garnacha and Syrah. Almond and olive trees are interspersed among the vines. In the cellar, grapes are double-selected, fermented with indigenous yeasts and some whole clusters, and aged first in used 500-litre barrels before 12 months in large foudres. The estate also produces Pie Franco from a single parcel planted in 1942.