Frontio Puesta en Chus 2024

Bodega Frontio sits in Fermoselle, in the remote Arribes region of Castilla y León near the Portuguese border, where former Copenhagen broker Thyge Benned Jensen, known locally as Chus, farms a few hectares of old vines. The Arribes is a rugged granite landscape of steep terraces along the Duero gorge, with poor stony soils and a continental climate of hot days and cold nights that holds acidity in the fruit. This orange wine is fermented on its skins, extracting tannin, phenolics and deep colour from the skins, then aged for ten months in oak barrels. That long barrel ageing exposes the wine to a slow trickle of oxygen through the wood, which builds a nutty, savoury complexity and rounds the skin tannins. Natural and organic, made with minimal intervention. The colour is a deep golden amber with a slight haze that points to its unfiltered making. The nose shows dried apricot, orange marmalade and beeswax with a nutty, herbal depth, and the palate is dry, structured and textured with a long savoury finish. Serve at 13 to 14 degrees. Good with roast pork and hard cheeses.