Fernando may have recently become a Master of Wine but that doesn’t mean his studies are over. Each month he will be visiting top winemakers that he admires across the word to learn new techniques and practices to implement in Frontonio, part of his unending quest to make the best wines in our little corner of Aragón.

Fernando spent the first week of February in one of the wineries he most admires in Bordeaux, Château Pichon Baron with the aim of improving the ageing or êlevage of Frontonio’s wines.

He practised both the ancient art of racking using a candle and the cutting edge technique of cleaning barrels using ultra-violet light. He also found out how the famed château uses the latest technology to protect their bottles against falsification. In terms of tasting, he had the chance to carry out a vertical tasting of Pichon Baron from 2005 to 2015, and get involved in the blending of the latest vintage, tasting wines from the same parcel and vintage that had undergone malo-lactic fermentation and ageing in thirteen different barrels to see how barrels from different coopers affect the final flavour and aroma. He took notes on his favourite coopers (Paco will be tightening the purse strings already) to order some barrels for delivery to Aragón.

Another technique that he saw that he plans to experiment with in Bodegas Frontonio was out in the vineyards, where they use cover crops to return life to the soils of Bordeaux, damaged by years of over use of agro-chemicals.

While he was there, Fernando also got the chance to reminisce about one of the first jobs he ever did when he started Bodegas Frontonio and had no money for a labelling machine – sticking on labels by hand! So, if you are lucky enough to get your hands on a double magnum of Pichon Longueville Baron 2015, just think, the glue could have been applied by a MW!

Talking of MWs, Fernando popped in to say hello to second stage students at Château Pey La Tour. He expressed his admiration for the students and said he still feels like them as he remembers very clearly his studies just two years ago.

Although they worked him hard, Fernando said his week as a cellar rat in one of the world’s classic appellations was not all suffering, as he got to sleep in one of the towers of the château and take his morning jog among the vines. The rest of the Frontonio team certainly didn’t feel sorry for him!

Thanks go to Christian Seely, Jean-René Matignon, Alexandra Lebosse and the rest of the team at Château Pichon Baron, part of AXA Millesimes, for becoming part of Frontonio’s history and helping improve our wines.