TN: Verdad Graciano '11...(short/boring)

WINE TALK
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Tried this last night w/ Alentejo-style pork spare ribs (latest Saveur magazine receipe):

  1. Verdad Graciano Ibarra-Young Vnyd/SantaYnezVlly (13%; www.VerdadWines.com) 2011: Dark/very dark color; strong black cherry/plummy earthy/mineral/rustic/loamy bit graphite/smokey interesting nose; quite acid rather hard/tannic/rough some plummy/licorice/black cherry quite earthy/loamy/rustic rather austere flavor; med.long hard/tannic/acid/austere some plummy/licorice/black cherry quite earthy/loamy finish; some interesting fruit therein but pretty rough/rustic/loamy/hard on the palate some like a tannic Bierzo; needs 3-8 yrs of age but hard to guess where it’ll wind up. $25.00

A wee BloodyPulpit:

  1. Verdad is, of course, the label for her Spanish varietals by Louisa Sawyer-Lindquist. Followed her from the very start, I did. Graciano is a minor grape in the Rioja that has been falling into disfavor.
    This wine was quite a departure from Louisa’s usual style. Her Tempranillo is quite a svelte/pretty/perfumed/well-made rendition of Temp. This one was much bigger than any red I’ve had from her. Will be interesting to see how this evolves. I think this is her first Graciano.
    Tom
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Graciano is a minor grape in the Rioja that has been falling into disfavor.

Tom - WAS falling into disfavor in Rioja. It’s had a bit of a resurgence over the past few years, in no small part because of Contino where Jesus has been a big booster of the grape. Increasingly others are doing varietal bottlings of it. I have a few in the cellar. It’s tricky but I think in some areas it might be a really interesting grape to try - parts of Australia for example.

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That’s what I heard as well, Greg. That there’s a mild resurgence of interest in the grape in Rioja.
I’ve not had any Spanish version (that I’m aware of), but I did have one from Bokisch in Lodi
that I liked quite a bit…rather Mondeuse in character. I was particularly struck by the hard/rustic character
in this Verdad…not Louisa’s typical style. But it seems like a grape w/ potential and that they should
be planting it all up & down the coast of Calif.
Tom