The 2018 Graciano Grano A Grano is nothing short of amazing, because I wonder how this variety that everybody says is very difficult to ripen can deliver a wine like this is a vintage like 2018. I think the answer is a lot of work in the vineyard, which is the secret of what Mendoza does. The wine is more elegant than ever, fine, fresh, balanced, nuanced and super tasty, vibrant and fresh, with 13.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.43. Brilliant... The finest Graciano in the world? It matured for 18 months in French oak barrels, now mostly 500-liter ones. 2,295 bottles were filled in March 2020.

Often my favorite of the whole portfolio, the 2017 Graciano Grano A Grano seems to keep the poise, and the late-ripening variety even seems to like the warmer year. The aromas are an intoxicating blend of cracked black pepper and violets, beautifully layered and nuanced. It has a fine thread, lively acidity and refined tannins, and even if the oak is still there, it should get absorbed in a short time. I find this to be as good as ever and a real triumph over the adverse conditions of the year. Bravo!

The cool 2016 vintage produced a 2016 Graciano Grano A Grano with a low pH and high acidity, but the grapes were perfectly ripe. This is a peppery and spicy Graciano, a grape that likes a warm year. It matured in new French oak barrels, and perhaps the number of 225-liter barrels was higher (they are using more and more 500-liter barrels), as it seems to have marked the wine a little. This wine has the hallmark of the best 2016 reds, expressive, aromatic and open, quite showy. The palate is medium to full-bodied, and the flavors are focused, with the crushed black peppercorns making a glorious comeback on the palate. This should develop nicely in bottle. Another superb Graciano. 2,235 bottles were filled in May 2018.

I had high expectations for the two new vintages of the Graciano, including the 2015 Graciano Grano A Grano, which is from a warm year when the varietal achieved good ripeness, something that doesn't happen every year. The hand-destemmed grapes fermented in a small vat, and the wine matured in 225- and 500-liter French oak barrels for 18 months. Graciano is a variety that likes heat, and it ripened well in the 2015 vintage, but the wine doesn't show heat. In fact, there is less difference between this 2015 and the 2016, at least not as much as I felt in other wines. It's a little more Mediterranean, with some aromatic herbs (rosemary) intermixed with the textbook black pepper aromas of the variety. The palate is medium to full-bodied. This is a little more powerful than the 2016 (or 2014), but it's still very balanced. 1,725 bottles were filled in May 2017.

I loved the Tempranillo, but the 2014 Graciano Grano A Grano was off the charts. They had to comb their different vineyards in the Sonsierra zone of Rioja in search of individual Graciano plants to produce this very special wine. The bunches were destemmed by hand. It's only 13% alcohol and has low pH (3.28) and high acidity (over six grams) and it comes through as elegant, perfumed, ethereal, velvety and pure, with electric freshness and pungent, long flavors. It makes you salivate and has a long, mineral, almost salty finish. I think this is going to age very nicely in bottle. This cuvée has been on fire lately. One of the most impressive, floral and elegant (yet powerful) Graciano varietals I can remember. I'm dying to taste the following vintages of this Graciano. The élevage was in a mixture of 225- and 500-liter new French oak barrels and it lasted 18 months. 1,715 bottles were filled in May 2016.