Friday, January 18, 2013

GRA 2.

It happens sometimes that Vinomaker will go down to the cellar, to fetch a bottle of wine for dinner, only to reappear with a bottle of something that neither of us can remember buying.  Or being given.  Or stealing.  Or having acquired in some other way.  Not a clue.  Last night's dinner wine was one such bottle.
The Traza, 2006, Graciano has a very informative label, so I'm not totally in the dark as to this wine's origin.  For instance, I know the name of the winemaker, David Sampedro.  I know it's 100% made from the Graciano grape and it's from the La Rioja region in Spain.  And that's just the front label: the back label is chock-a-block with info like, for example, this wine has seen "no oak".
In my Wines of the World class, I learned that the Graciano grape, of unknown origin (here we go again), only accounts for 1-2% of the total grape acreage in Rioja, where it usually blended with Tempranillo and Carignane.  Interestingly, Graciano has a slightly unusual growth cycle with a late bud break, so late ripening, and it's leaves turn red and drop off late in the season - which would have me thinking, virus!
Initially, the wine tasted a little metallic, but showed splendidly with food; nice colour extraction; nice tannin structure; nice fruity aroma; could have done with a bit more acid.  On the whole, rather enjoyable.  I'm left wondering if there is another bottle of this particular wine downstairs that I also don't know about.

6 comments:

New Hampshire Wineman said...

V=girl! "Or stealing.";-/
This post is so well done; humor, pedagogic, and well written with a bit of intrigue, that I'm quite confident that you have a book in you waiting to come out. "Vinsanity, Musings of a Transplanted Vinogirl"

Thud said...

NHW does have a point there.

Vinogirl said...

NHW: A book? I can barely string three words together, but thank you. (I do like your title though - "Transplanted" - nice.)

Thud: Would you buy a copy?

Thomas said...

I've told Vinogirl before that she should do a book, and she could include photographs.

This was a nice tasting note post.

Vinogirl said...

Tomasso: I'll leave the book writing to you!

Thud said...

False modesty...church for you on sunday!