Bodegas Frontonio La Cerqueta 2022
Bodegas Frontonio La Cerqueta 2022 – alternate view 2
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Bodegas Frontonio La Cerqueta 2022

Bodegas Frontonio
$75.00

Grape: Garnacha
Vintage: 2022
Type: Red

This single-vineyard red wine comes from a tiny one-hectare parcel of old garnacha bush vines in the Valdejalón region of Aragon. Winemaker Fernando Mora manages the site using low-intervention practices, allowing roots to search deep into poor, slate-heavy soils. The grapes are hand-harvested and fermented with whole clusters using indigenous wild yeasts in open neutral vats. Aged in neutral French oak barrels, this cuvée integrates its structural elements without wood flavor intervention.

It pours a translucent ruby color, opening with high-toned floral aromas, wild herbs, black cherries, and a hint of vermouth botanicals. A medium-bodied, energetic frame pairs fresh red currant flavors with a firm, stem-driven tannin structure. The slate geology provides a chalky grip that adds great texture to the fluid mouthfeel. A clean vein of alpine acidity runs through mid-palate, keeping the profile balanced and fresh. It concludes bone-dry, leaving a lasting mineral trace.

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.