Bodegas Frontonio Microcosmico Macabeo 2024

Bodegas Frontonio Microcosmico Macabeo 2024

Bodegas Frontonio
$23.00

Grape: Macabeo
Vintage: 2024
Type: White

Sourced from dry-farmed bush vines on high-altitude limestone terraces in Valdejalón, this white wine highlights a traditional look at the macabeo grape. Winemaker Fernando Mora utilizes a gentle whole-bunch press followed by a native yeast fermentation in underground concrete vats and old foudres. It rests undisturbed on its fine fermentation lees for several months, avoiding new oak barrel contact. This zero-makeup process focuses on capturing the natural texture and mineral components driven by the region's extreme diurnal temperature shifts.

It pours a pale straw color with green highlights, opening with clean aromas of green apple, lemon blossom, and mountain herbs. A racy vein of natural acidity cuts right through the slightly waxy texture, keeping the mouthfeel lively. The lees contact provides a structural cushion that softens the lean framework avoiding heavy weight. It finishes long, dry, and saline, leaving a persistent trail of citrus peel.

Winery

Bodegas Frontonio is the Aragón project of Fernando Mora MW and Mario López, based around Alpartir and its surrounding mountain vineyards. Garnacha and Macabeo are central to a range built around old bush vines and the differences between individual sites. The vineyards lie at elevations ranging from roughly 460 to more than 1,000 meters, with a mixture of soils that includes limestone-rich clay and slate. Farming follows organic and biodynamic principles, with vineyard tasks and harvesting carried out by hand.

In the cellar, fermentation vessels include concrete, clay jars and wood, selected according to the wine rather than a single house recipe. Historic seventeenth-century caves provide a setting for slow aging, and gravity helps move the wines gently. The range moves from village expressions such as the Microcósmico bottlings toward more specific vineyards and historic parcels. That progression makes Frontonio a useful introduction to Aragón’s mountain wine culture, showing the freshness and detail that can come from Garnacha and Macabeo when the vineyard remains the focus.