Kongsgaard by day, Ferdinand by night! Quite the title for winemaker Evan Frazier, who first cut his teeth on winemaking in the 2006 harvest in the Roussillon. So enamoured by his experience with arms up to the elbows in fermentations, the old vines and steep schist slopes, Evan made the move to Napa to continue an apprenticeship in winemaking.

Fast forward several years, and Evan is now working as assistant winemaker for the mighty Kongsgaard dynasty as well as producing wine under his own label, Ferdinand. Although it was France where he first worked, it was in the Cathar and Catalan country just outside the Pyrenees with a strong Spanish influence. When beginning his own project, he looked to Spain and their cultivars for inspiration, choosing to produce an Albarino and Tempranillo.

Evan’s wines walk a tightrope between their Spanish heritage and Californian interpretation, with the utmost respect to the fruit and the vineyard. His winemaking is simple and low intervention, never inoculating, adding acid, enzymes or sugar, with judicious use of oak and minimal sulphur.

Kongsgaard by day, Ferdinand by night! Quite the title for winemaker Evan Frazier, who first cut his teeth on winemaking in the 2006 harvest in the Roussillon. So enamoured by his experience with arms up to the elbows in fermentations, the old vines and steep schist slopes, Evan made the...