Bodegas Frontonio, Garnacha Blend "Telescópico" Valdejalón IGP, Spain 2022

A blend of Garnacha Fina, Garnacha Peluda (a downy, heat-tolerant biotype also found in Cataluña), and Mazuela (Carignan).

Sourced from a variety of 50-plus year-old parcels at 500-600m on slate and clay-limestone. Fermented spontaneously in cement with five weeks of maceration. Racked to used 2500L foudres and 500L barrels for 13 month of elevage.

Bodegas Frontonio is the personal project of young gun Fernando Mora MW, hailing from the Valdejalón appellation (technically an IGP, not a DO) of Aragón. These scintillating wines are some of the very best being made today east of Rioja and west of Conca, and they’re already garnering effusive praise from both Luis Gutiérrez and Jancis Robinson.

Best of all, prices are very fair for the high quality—and the quality begins in the vineyard: Mora and his team own fifty hectares of beautiful old bushvines in rocky clay-limestone selected for high altitude and north-facing exposition to emphasize freshness. And although this is Garnacha country (Aragón, in fact, is thought to be the birthplace of Garnacha), the whites are every bit as fascinating and delicious as the red.