Tart black raspberry, fresh spring flowers, young strawberry. Wild huckleberry, tree bark, almost-ripe dark cherry. Irresistibly juicy and delicious bursts of boysenberry, cranberry, and rhubarb lead a charmingly lively and expressive display bounding with heaps of youthful energy and crunch. Wafts of carnations, peonies, and rose buds playfully radiate waves of pretty floral perfume balanced out by hints of bramble and a range of intriguing stemmy tones. A faint note of cinnamon gently reveals tasteful carbonic treatment as impressions of sandy soils and limestone minerality expose gorgeous underlying earthiness. Impressively bright, vibrant, and fruity on the palate while maintaining outstanding complexity and depth; exhibiting a serious yet unpretentious presentation that is thoroughly unconventional yet extremely delicious. Surprisingly light in body yet packed with elevated tannin and mouth-watering acidity. This 2019 Bella Vista Vineyard Carbonic Graciano by Piazza Family Wines is a brilliantly well executed and unique red from Santa Barbara's Ballard Canyon.

Native to the Spanish region of Rioja where it is often only used as a minor blending component, Graciano is a high quality yet finicky dark-skinned wine grape that is surging in popularity in California largely as the result of a happy accident where it was planted in a number of vineyards due to it being mistakenly mis-identified as Mourvèdre. This bottling, crafted by Piazza Family Wines using Graciano sourced from their estate Bella Vista Vineyard in Ballard Canyon, proves that sometimes a mistake can turn into something great. This wine generously booms with an outgoing and expressive fruit profile bursting with dark and red berry fruits accented by aromatic floral notes, pleasant brambly tones, delicate spice, and pretty earthiness. It is tart, fresh, and wonderfully high energy, and somehow manages to maintain characterful complexity alongside wonderful approachability. Delicious.