Artisans of Barossa ‘Small Batch’ Graciano 2018

This is a wine that says a heap about a new generation of winemaking in the Barossa that is expanding its palette of varieties beyond the traditional shiraz, grenache and mataro crew. Clearly vines that thrive in warm and dry conditions are favoured, graciano out of such Spanish landscapes featured here from a 10-year-old vineyard tended by Simon and Kendy Cowham. If you didn’t already know it, Simon is one half of the Sons of Eden team with winemaker Corey Ryan, who also is part of the Artisans of Barossa collective behind this wine.

To the wine itself: whilst the fruit notes suggest the fleshiness of blueberry, perhaps sour cherry as well, this really is more about a pot of fascinating secondary elements; there’s a sense of charcoal, smoky meats, cardamom, choc-coated licorice, even some mint. It’s a layer upon layer kind of wine; concentrated yet even with a note of its varietally typical acidity still leaving a soft, rich and kind of huggable wine.

Get wines from the Artisans here.