Thyge Benned Jensen walked away from a corporate career at Maersk Oil to chase low-intervention wines from one of Spain's most isolated regions, working old vines on the granite gorges above the Duero.
Backstory
Jensen, a former Danish executive, left his job at the oil company Maersk Oil and founded Bodega Frontio in 2016 in Fermoselle, in the province of Zamora. He set out to focus on small-production wines from local varieties in a remote, little-known corner of Castilla y León, a sharp turn from corporate life.
The Region
DO Arribes runs along the Duero river on the border with Portugal, where the water carves deep granite canyons that give the appellation its name. It is one of Spain's hidden treasures: a sparsely planted, hard-to-reach region whose steep terraces and gnarled old vines have largely escaped modernization. The granite and the river gorge create a near-Mediterranean microclimate in an otherwise harsh interior.
Vineyards & Farming
The vines range from 10 to 100 years old, planted on soils of gravel, quartz and granite. Jensen farms with organic techniques, using cover crops to support soil life and biodiversity across the scattered old parcels that define winegrowing here.
Winemaking
The wines are made with a minimal, hands-off approach: native-yeast fermentations, very little extraction and low sulphite additions. The result is light to medium-bodied wines with moderate alcohol, typically around 11 to 12 percent, a fresh and restrained reading of a grape often pushed toward power.
The Wines
The estate centers on Juan García, the signature red grape of Arribes, alongside Rufete, Bruñal, Tempranillo and Grenache. Whites come from Doña Blanca and Puesta en Cruz. The range, including bottlings such as Follaco, Arbusto, Deldoma and Una Más, captures the wild, granitic character of the border country and the personality of its old vines.
