| Producer | Bibi Graetz |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Tuscany |
| Varietal | Proprietary Red |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Size | 1.5L |
#40 TOP 100 WINES OF ITALY, 2022. The subtlety and perfumed nature of this wine is enchanting, offering flowers, orange peel and cherries. Wonderful ripe strawberries, too. Full-bodied, but not over the top, with tannins that are polished and run the length of the wine. It’s tight, but gives you every indication of a terrific wine. You want to drink it now, and you probably should do, because it’s so alluring. Yet it will age beautifully as well. Drink or hold.
Jane Anson
A reliably brilliant Colore, full of life, generosity and pleasure. This is perfumed and nuanced, plenty of sage, liqourice root, white pepper, dried roses and campfire soot, against a pristine set of raspberry, damson and fresher redcurrant and greengage fruits. Concentration builds slowly through the palate to show slightly higher tannic grip that Testamatta - although one of the things I enjoy about the Graetz wines is that both Testamatta and Colore have their distinct characters, but it is never clear which one is the 'better' wine. Colore comes from the oldest vineyards of Sangiovese that stretch from 80 to 130 years old, harvested slowly and methodically by going up to eight times through the rows to ensure the right level of maturity before picking - obsessional winemaking that bears results in the glass.
Bright and lively on the palate, such beautifully expressed raspberry and red cherry fruit flavours alongside high-shining acidity that is so clean and precise. A supremely joyful expression with hints of caramelised strawberries and fresh mint. So sharp but so well defined with a clarity to the palate that is gorgeous. Really delivers a sophisticated, charming, characterful wine that is balanced, easy to enjoy with plenty of life. A more structured and perhaps harder to understand wine than Testamatta this year, but both have their own lovely personalities. This is so complete and abundant, muscular but controlled and full of complexity and detail - there's weight and density without heaviness. A sensational wine. Ageing 12 months in 500l French oak barrels.
Bibi Graetz tells me the 2020 Colore is his favorite vintage of Colore, and although I agree that this wine is stunning, I find the tannins a little more open and granular compared to the tightly etched 2021 vintage that I personally prefer. That wine, to me, shows more length and overall tension. You get hints of that here too, but the overall delivery is linked to rounder fruit flavors of cassis, red and black currants and spice. Sangiovese from the Olmo vineyard is introduced this year and blended with fruit from Lamole, from 70-year-old plants in Bagno a Ripoli and Vincigliata near Fiesole. In 2020, Colore emerged as the higher-priced wine compared to Testamatta.
The 2020 Bibi Graetz Colore has beautiful, appetising aromas of savory wild herbs, wild-flowers and Mediterranean shrub with a light peppery note and on standing there is an aroma of strawberries warmed in the sun. The palate is round and soft, then mouth-wateringly fresh, then it finishes with savory, salty tannins. What I love is that the flavours are clearly delineated and remind me of Sangiovese and the Tuscan landscape with bitter cherry, light sea salt, iron tonic and wild herb notes. The flavors are quite fragile but persistent, the texture is fine and silky and there is a lot of savory, mineral tension in this wine.
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