Wine of the week
Alan Nance takes a trip to a field of dreams
Psicodélico 2022 (Bodegas Frontonio)
Alpartir, Aragón (no DO)
Field blend of local varieties, both white and red
ABV: 12.5%
€44.75 from Decántalo (for the 2021 vintage)
So, wine lover, what's your take on wine clubs? I've dabbled in a few over the years, and have almost always jumped ship after a while, either bored or downright disappointed with the selection. But there are a couple of exceptions, one of which is the Garage Wine Club created by Fernando Mora MW of Bodegas Frontonio. What you get for signing up is a box of six wines every three months, usually consisting of a couple of guest wines from what might be called 'friends of the family', with the remainder from the Frontonio winery itself, two of which will be examples of their higher-end wines.
Which brings me to my wine of the week, the Psicodélico 2022. The name is well chosen, as the wine does indeed take you on a trip, enveloping you in a complex, constantly changing pattern of aromas and flavours as you work your way through the bottle. It is so complex and nuanced, in fact, that it's hard to tease apart the different elements, and therein lies much of its charm, a charm that is further reinforced by the mystery of what's in it.
All it says on the label is that this is a field blend of local varieties, but it doesn't take much digging to discover that the Psicodélico is the product of as many as eight, around 70% of which are white (primarily Macabeo), the rest red (including Garnacha, Cribatinaja and Provechón), all planted together on a stony plot at around 700 m in the mountains close to the village of Alpartir, south-west of Zaragoza.
In his notes that accompanied the Garage Wine Club box, Fernando Mora explains that there are two stories about why co-planted parcels of this kind were typical in the region during the first half of the twentieth century. One is that it was to accompany the low-yield Garnacha with other more productive varieties, the other that it was a way of softening the otherwise potent wine that resulted from the traditionally late harvest. Whatever the case, this field blend planting in the past has paved the way for a beautiful wine in the present.
Whole clusters of the different varieties were fermented together in concrete vats for 40+ days, followed by 12 months in neutral 300 L and 500 L oak barrels. The result is a potion the colour of pomegranates that offers up a crunchy palate of strawberries infused with scrubland herbs and a hint of bay leaf, underscored by very fine tannins.
With its white body and red soul, this is an entrancing wine that can lift you out of lethargy, irrespective of whether any psychedelic tunes are playing in the background.