Graziano Pinot Noir 2010

The Graziano Family has a long line of winemakers and grape growers dating back to the early 1900’s. Gregory Graziano’s grandfather, Vincenzo Graziano, and his wife Angela, immigrated to America and eventually found their way to Mendocino County where they started growing grapes and making wine. They first planted vineyards in Mendocino County in 1918.In the late 1920’s Vincenzo had to depend on selling grapes to home winemakers on the east coast and bootlegging wine to support his family. In the 1940’s after Prohibition and the Depression, Vincenzo, along with other local grape growers, formed the Mendocino Vineyards Winery, which eventually was sold and merged into the historically significant Cresta Blanca Winery in the town of Ukiah. Like his family before him Greg Graziano, Vincenzo’s grandson, now carries on the family winemaking tradition that his grandfather set the foundation for and that his father Joseph later handed down to Gregory. To this day he is still carrying on the family tradition…as is his oldest daughter, Alexandra Graziano, a UC Davis graduate of Viticulture and Enology. She is currently involved in all aspects of winemaking and is the 4th generation, from Piedmonte of Italy to Mendocino County. Greg’s father, Joseph Graziano, later followed in his father’s footsteps and worked in the family vineyard operation.