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Bibi Graetz Colore 20 Anniversario Toscana 2019  - First Bottle

Reviews

99 James Suckling -
This is so perfumed and seductive, with blackberries, cherries, dried flowers and perfume. It’s full-bodied and tight with very fine tannins. Really structured and long. Superb tannin texture. So fine, yet so powerful. This is an incredible combination of fruit and structure. Old-vine magic. Drink after 2026.
98 Falstaff -
Dark ruby garnet, violet reflections, subtle lightening of the edges. Red berry nuances with a smoky-spicy background, a hint of liquorice, delicate cedar wood. Firm, balanced, elegant, structure rich in finesse, mouth-watering finish, great length, builds up more and more towards the end, salty-mineral aftertaste, a multi-faceted Sangiovese that shows what the variety is capable of in the best possible case.
98 Decanter -
The ‘dream’ in Italian, this is from very old, high-altitude vineyards on stony soils mixed with sand and stone. This is one of the wines of the tasting, a real showstopper that captures your interest and holds it all the way. Red cherries and strawberries dominate the nose with softly-spiced liquorice touches. But it’s the texture that’s so captivating, gripping straight away and holding you there, but in a soft and gentle way. Bright acidity comes in keeping things fresh and welcoming while the structure and length give a lovely roundness. A real success. Grapes for Colore are sourced from three vineyards, with each harvested up to eight times. After the first selection in the vineyards, a second selection occurs at the winery before destemming where grapes are softly pressed and placed in open-top barriques, keeping each plot and parcel separate from the others. The fermentation is conducted naturally by indigenous yeasts without temperature control lasting up to two weeks, with one extra week of maceration on the skins. After the fermentation the wine is moved into new barriques, where the malolactic fermentation happens. Each parcel is aged separately for almost 20 months before the final blend is decided.
96 Wine Advocate -
Dressed for a party, the Bibi Graetz 2019 Colore celebrates the estate's 20th anniversary with a special commemorative (2000-2019) bottle. This vintage of Colore is 100% Sangiovese (the small part of Colorino in the blend we saw last year has been removed) because Bibi thought the Sangiovese elegant enough to stand alone. Fruit comes from three vineyard sites with 70-, 80- and 90-year-old vines, respectively. The wine offers big intensity and beautifully lifted aromas and more textural support than we saw in the slightly thinner 2018 vintage. The bouquet reveals balsam herb, cassis, pressed rose, garden mint and crushed stone. Fruit from the southern-most site, Poggio Matto in Casciano del Murlo (in the province of Siena), was blended in at a greater percentage to help build the structure and momentum of this cellar-worthy wine.

Technical Details

  • BlendSangiovese
  • WinemakerBibi Graetz
  • CountryItaly
  • RegionTuscany
  • AppellationTuscany
  • VineyardLamole, Vincigliata and Siena
  • Aging/Cooperage20 months
  • Alcohol14%

Bibi Graetz Colore 20 Anniversario Toscana 2019

Sangiovese Blends  |  Italy
JS99, DC98, FS98, WA96

28% off retail!
Hurry! Only 1 Left!

Bibi Graetz is the hottest producer in Tuscany, with his “Testamatta” bottling turning the Tuscan wine biz upside down soon after the first release in the early 2000s. Now, enter “Colore” – his flagship wine taken from the very best barrels and his oldest, highest elevation vines. This 100% sangiovese is a must for any serious Italian wine collector!

The 2019 vintage marks the 20th anniversary of Bibi Graetz winery. What a couple of decades! Countless 95-100 point scores and a reputation that went almost immediately to rising star and is now approaching all-time legendary status. His impact on Italian wine has been staggering, and we’re just thrilled to have stumbled upon these wines some years back. His winery sits on the hill of Fiesole, overlooking the verdant, rolling foothills of Florence in the heart of Tuscany. From the very beginning, his goal was to acquire some of the oldest vineyards in Tuscany, with a focus on the ancient, local varietals, Sangiovese being chief amongst those, but also including Canaiolo and Colorino.

“Colore” is the highest expression of his dream, from very old vineyards of Sangiovese that are 70, 80, or even 90 years old. Fruit from three separate vineyards – Lamole, Vincigliata, and Siena – is the basis of this blend, though only the best barrels make the final bottling. Set on porous soils of sand mixed with stone, these high-altitude vines are hand-harvested, with up to eight passes through each vineyard, pulling only those clusters that are perfectly ripe. The fruit is sorted again at the winery before undergoing spontaneous fermentations in old, open-top barriques. The grapes are punched down by hand 6-8 times each day during fermentation before transferring to new barriques where they’ll finish secondary fermentation as they age for the next 20 months.

The 2019 vintage was a remarkable one for the region, and Bibi had this to say about the conditions, “Monumental, there is no better word to describe this vintage. Roundness in every single aspect of the wine: elegance, freshness and great acidity that gives very fine layers, surprisingly detectable on the nose and at the first sip. Colore 2019 celebrates my 20th anniversary as a winemaker. It has been a great journey since 2000, full of satisfactions and now with this vintage I finally close the circle. My wines at the beginning were looking for structure and concentration, in 2009 I realized that “elegance” should have been the main drive. In 2019 I did it!”

Can’t disagree in the slightest. This effort is powerful, taut, and exceptionally structured – elegance is interwoven throughout, but make no mistake, this is ample, layered, and even intimidating in its youthful exuberance. This is a wine to be treasured, and any patience shown will be rewarded threefold over the years to come. Classic cherries, berries, and red currants, with tinges of blood orange, spearmint oil, toasted fennel seed, savory balsam herbs, and camphor. This is serious stuff that will only get even better as time marches on. We only have 3 cases left at the best price in the country…do what you must and grab a few of these for your collection! While they last!

About the Producer

A Super Tuscan made with 100% Sangiovese from old vines, this wine is the result of the combination of tradition and creativity, elevating the idea of Tuscan Sangiovese and bringing the word "Supertuscan" to the next level. From a medieval castle, Castello di Vincigliata, acquired by his parents over 60 years ago, winemaker Bibi Graetz crafts his wines on a hillside overlooking the great city of Florence. Beginning initially with only a small, 5-acre vineyard on this hillside in Fiesole, in little under two decades, Bibi has become one of Italy's most ingenious winemakers adding "cult winemaker" in addition to "talented abstract artist" to his dossier.