2021 Mount Majura Graciano

WINEMAKER: Frank van de Loo
REGION: Canberra District, NSW
VARIETAL: Graciano
VITICULTURE: Sustainable

There is some similarity in climate between Canberra and leading Spanish wine regions, which led us to plant Tempranillo and then Graciano. Graciano is a minor variety in Spain, considered to be of very high quality and used in blends for its good acidity. In our vineyard it is fastidious with regards micronutrients, and needs a lot of crop thinning. It is very late ripening and a good example of the concept that the most distinctive wines are made on the margin of ripeness.

Mount Majura Vineyard lies near the top of the Majura Valley, just outside the city of Canberra. The valley floor, too frosty in Spring for vines, was a camping area and transit corridor for the original Ngunnawal people. To a vigneron, an east-facing slope with limestone speaks softly but urgently of a need to plant vines. So it was that the late Dr Edgar Riek, a pioneer of viticulture in the Canberra District, came to plant a vineyard together with the then owner of our site, Mrs Dinny Killen.