The sensory experience of sipping a glass of wine goes beyond the taste of the wine. A wine’s appearance, the purity of color, whether light white wine or deep, inky red, tells you so much about the selection before you even bring it to your lips. Then, swirling the glass and seeing how the wine hangs on the sides, dripping slowly back into the glass, indicates the wine’s alcohol and viscosity. Its aroma tells a story that goes beyond the fruit itself. The aromas give insight into the winemaking, the use of oak, and the toast of that oak. It indicates where the wine comes from, how long it was aged or has been aging in the bottle, and, for those with a very keen nose, the vintage year of the wine. After giving each of these senses appropriate time to access the wine, you finally taste, and the flavors envelope the mouth. The wine cascades from the tip of your tongue to your back palate, giving different flavors and characteristics as it touches each part of your mouth. 

I had the opportunity to join a tasting the other day for some older vintages of Spanish wine from the Vina Monty Winery, a part of the historical Bodegas Montecillo in Rioja. The 2016 Vina Monty Garnacha hails from two vineyards within Rioja, one in the upper Rioja Alta and the other in the lower, more inland Rioja Oriental. Both vineyards are hand-harvested to protect the fruit’s character, enjoy an extended 25-day maceration on the skin, and barrel-aged for 26 months in partially new French oak, followed by bottle aging for 20 months.

I find Garnacha from Spain to have an earthy, robust profile compared to Grenache from France while also delivering the characteristic ripe red fruits, black tea, vanilla, and toasty warm spice. Though the wine has been aging in the bottle and before in the barrel, a freshness came through, with the color maintaining the vivid red of a classic Garnacha, showing only a hint of dried fruit, indicating it still has many years to go in the bottle. However, tasting it now proved delightful as the wine is well-rounded, elegant, and completely enjoyable. 

The 2016 Vina Monty Graciano is an unexpected surprise for red wine lovers. Graciano is seldomly bottled as a single variety wine as it is most typically included in a blend with Tempranillo for Rioja wines. On its own, it proves that it can easily carry the starring role. Also, from two vineyards within Rioja that are hand harvested and vinified separately. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in cement tanks before aging for 28 months in partially new French oak barrels. After barrel aging, the wine enjoys 18 months of bottle aging. The resulting wine has a deep garnet color and aromas of black fruit, star anise, toasted fennel seeds, and balsamic. The palate is rich and deep, showing layers of blackberry, black plum, black licorice, and toasted oak. The palate is broad and smooth, telling a story of place and the history of that place in the glass.