BODEGAS MANZANOS | Castillo de Enériz | Graciano-Garnacha | Navarra | 2020
graciano | grenache

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Today we are going to review a wine blend from the Spain‘s famous Navarra region – Castillo de Enériz Graciano-Garnacha Navarra 2020 by Bodegas Manzanos. This wine is a blend between two local varieties: graciano and grenache (known locally as garnacha), where graciano forms the main body and structure of the wine, whereas grenache adds up-front richness, red fruit notes and rounds up the final blend. This particular wine is made from grapes that were sourced from the estate’s vineyards on the border between Rioja and Navarra, and it has been aged in french and american 300-liters oak barrels for 3 to 4 months, in order to add some spiciness and complexity to the blend and, at the same time, to preserve the purity of the varietal characteristics of the two regional grapes. That said and without further ado, let’s take a look at the wine tasting results.
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

//Visual
colour: medium to pale garnet color
clarity: hazy garnet hues at the rim

//Olfactory
intensity: rich & savory
fruit profile: red fruits
__red fruits: red currant | cranberry
fruit character: ripe & underripe

//Flavor
non fruit: vegetal | spice | savory | earthy
__vegetal: wormwood | dried leaves | red bell pepper
__spice: red pepper | rosemary
__savory: brown olive | iron | veal | barnyard
__earthy: brown soil | loam | clay | sweet potato | beetroot
primary layer: savory

//Palate
sweetness: dry
acidity: high
alcohol: medium+
tannin: medium
__grip: green
balance: fair
__dominant: acidity
body: supple & green | medium

//Taste
fruit profile: red fruits
fruit character: underripe
non fruit: savory
finish: medium-
aftertaste: bitter-crisp

//Scoring
BODEGAS MANZANOS | Castillo de Enériz | Graciano-Garnacha | Navarra | 2020
variety: graciano | grenache
country: Spain
region: Navarra
rating: 90.3

//Conclusion
maturity: youthful | can age for 2 more years
verdict: nice | quite good wine
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This is definitely a nice wine of Spain and, with a total of 90.3 points scored, this wine is right there, among the best wines we’ve rated so far. Check our complete database on the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines that we have tasted and reviewed or go to the about us page and find out more about our exquisite rating system.

Verdict: this is a quite nice and supple wine blend that has yet to reach the peak of its form – a wine that can age for another 2 years in the bottle. It tastes lean and bitter-crisp, mostly due to its elevated acidity, seedy-green tannins and a touch of alcoholic warmth on the mouthfeel. The wine also has a slightly seedy, bitter-crisp aftertaste, that coupled with its fruity-savory accent, makes it feel delicate and rustic. On the nose the wine delivers a very nuanced savory-earthy foreground, supported by ripe and underripe red fruits in the background and a layer of irony-meaty hints in between. Overall this is a wine that lacks harmony and complexity on the palate, as in its current state it feels slightly off the balance: a bit thin, a bit opulent and a bit wide, but a fair and a quite nice wine blend nonetheless. Cheers!

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