James Melendez Tastes Aridus Graciano 2022
Written by James Melendez
2022 Graciano (90 points)
Tasting notes: A deliciously bold and rich red wine, disrupted with a warm acidity, and spice The aroma of this wine is heavy with plum, blueberry, sage, tobacco, and oak. The taste expands from the aroma with plum, blueberries, black cherry, sage, dark tobacco, oak, pepper, and dark chocolate in the aftertaste. This wine is very bold, and hilights the plum and spice right away. These are the 2 main aspects that the wine revolves around. To help add to the boldness of the fruit, the dark tobacco evolves around the plum and blueberry, also helping to add a bit of savoryness. There is an underlying acidity, not a crisp and sharp acidity, but a warmer and slow to build one. Because of the boldness and acidity, this actually reminds me a little bit of an old world French style syrah. In the aftertaste, all of the flavors hang around for a good amount of time while dark chocolate appears lending itself to a little bitterness that appears as well. This is a great wine to go along with rich or meaty meals, something to go along with the richness of the wine itself.
James has more video reviews of Aridus wines here