Tempranillo|Graciano

Tempranillo and Graciano are well suited to the hot dry North of the Barossa Valley, where the Epsilon winery is located. Each vineyard batch is handpicked into half tonne bins and then destemmed into open fermenters, the wine is held cold on skins for a few days before the natural yeasts commence fermentation. A long cool ferment follows over seven to ten days before pressing into tanks to settle before transferring to seasoned barriques. Malolactic follows in barrel, where the wines are left on the lees for the extent of maturation.

Graciano is used in blends with Tempranillo in it's native Spain.  It was once grown widely in Rioja in northern Spain, but soon became redundant because of its low yields. It is prized for the spiciness, acidity and tannin that it gives as the mirror component in blends.       It is a richly coloured and perfumed black grape.   The wine produces great characters, albeit quiet tannic and is notably acidic in its youth.

Tempranillo is the premium red wine grape variety in the Rioja regoin of Spain.   The wine has good fruit characteristics, good colour along with low acid and low tannins.   This makes a wine that is easy drinking and matches very well to a wide range of foods.