John Smith Vineyard Graciano

Super happy Nicole opened her new tasting room in Aptos, highly recommend visiting.

Very tasty! Like a lighter version of Monastrell/Mourvedre. Good red for warmer weather. Looking forward to seeing more Graciano in the marketplace after the recent discovery of stock mislabeling (Morrastrell vs Monastrell). Hope genetic testing is underway to unravel the Monastrell/Graciano lineage mystery.

Thanks @Kristie Tacey for the sample! My first encounter with single varietal Graciano I think. Pepper steak, iron, rose petal on the nose. Allspice. Plush tannins and a little rounder and warmer than I was expecting. Cool wine.