The nose of the 2019 Colección Parcelas de Graciano is quite spectacular, with notes of smoked cured meat and black peppercorns. The palate is lively, balanced and fresh, with a spark of acidity that lifts the wine and gives it length. It has 14% alcohol, but it comes through very harmoniously. 1,653 bottles were filled in June 2021 after 17 months in used barrels.

I found pungent dark aromas of peat and shoe polish in the 2017 Colección Parcelas de Graciano, with a faint animal character, earthier and more rustic than usual. The palate reveals very abundant dusty tannins that gave it a powdery texture and a very dry, a little harsh finish. This is often my least favorite of the varietal bottlings... 2,221 bottles were filled in July 2019.

As with the rest of the range, the 2015 Colección Parcelas de Graciano was fermented in small oak vats and matured in new 225-liter oak barrels for 17 months. There are plenty of dark aromas, hints of licorice, smoke, cured meat and a peppery Rh?ne-ish character that reminded me of the Garnacha but in a darker shade. It's powerful and concentrated with some dusty tannins that give it some rusticity. 1,809 bottles were filled in June 2017.

Much as the Garnacha didn't achieve the level of the 2012s, the Coleccion Vivanco 2009 Parcelas de Graciano was a small disappointment in this context. It is much older and perhaps from an era when the new oak was used less sparingly than today and has marked aromas form the wood, plenty of roasted sesame seeds, charred oak and even hints of malt whisky. The palate also reveals the effect of the oak with plenty of grainy, dusty tannins and an astringent finish that is not adequately compensated by the grape's acidity. Will time in bottle polish the edges? 1,570 bottles produced.

Last in the varietal collection is the 2008 Coleccion Vivanco Parcelas de Graciano, which had had the benefit of some extra bottle age, which is usually needed by this austere grape. The wine had aged for 18 months in oak barrel before bottling, but the wood seems perfectly integrated with the wine. The nose is quite showy, mixing notes of flowers and ripe black fruit with those of hung game, peat and forest floor. The tannins are sweet and round, making the wine extremely approachable. A (relatively) flashy Graciano. Drink 2014-2019. Vivanco is a well-known name in the wine trade in Rioja, as Pedro Vivanco was in that business and he grew the family firm in the 1970s. Pedro, together with his sons, Rafael and Santiago, built an impressive new winery in Briones, Rioja Alta, and an even more impressive wine museum in 2004. Without knowing them all, I’d venture to say it’s probably the best in its class in the whole world, and has to be seen to be believed. Pedro is an avid collector of wine-related objects including art, and he had the disposable income to build a very large collection. Rafael studied oenology in France and is in charge of winemaking. Under his guidance their wines have seen steady progress. They own an impressive 400 hectares of vineyards, mostly around Briones and Haro averaging 20 years of age, but some plots are as old as 80 years or more. All four varietal wines from the top-of-the-range Coleccion are very true to their varieties and make an interesting and didactic exercise tasting them together. Imported by Opici Wines, Glen Rock, NJ; tel. (201) 689-1200