Vallobera Graciano DOCa. Rioja Familia San Pedro Bodegas Vallobera, 2017

Intense spicy aromas with white pepper, meat and a slight whiff of calfskin over red fruits and fresh green herbs. This is a medium-bodied wine with sour berry-fruit flavours, cranberries, redcurrants and rhubarb. Graciano grapes were cultivated at 600 metres, picked and left to macerate for three days at low temperature. The fermentation was followed by malolactic in barrel and 18 months maturation in new French toasted oak barrels. Graciano is a relatively rare variety but was more widely planted in the 19th century, pre-phylloxera, and is currently witnessing something of a renaissance. This is a great example.