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Colore, Bibi Graetz 2018

RegionItaly
Subregion Italy > Tuscany
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietySangiovese

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Label

Tasting Notes

What intense aromas of cherries and raspberries! Then it turns to flowers and orange peel. Roses, too. This is really full and powerful with layers of ripe tannins. It’s super fine-tannined, but shows wonderful length and intensity. A great expression of Lamole in Chianti Classico with ancient vines. Some older than 100 years. Best ever? Superb. Try after 2024 and onwards.

99
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, July 2020

Compared to the Testamatta that proved more difficult during the blending phase, Bibi Graetz's 2018 Colore came together without a hitch, as he tells it. With this vintage, the Colore (with 9,000 bottles produced) has almost become a single-vineyard wine, since up to 90% of its fruit comes from old vines (these are majestic plants from 80 to 135 years old) in the high-altitude Lamole area where Bibi farms five hectares. The addition of Colorino to this Sangiovese-based wine has been reduced to a mere 5% in this vintage: "Just like a touch of lipstick," Bibi says. The Colorino grape adds noticeable lift and buoyancy in this vintage. Next to the Testamatta, you get more structure and backbone here, with deep and penetrating red berry fruit, ruby cherry, crushed aspirin, ferrous earth, crushed flowers and some of the fragrant steeping herbs used in Fernet-Branca. My only hesitation is that the wine takes long to yield on the bouquet, and I coaxed two bottles of Colore over two days before writing this note. As a result, I recommend pushing the drinking window forward by a few extra years to give the wine time to flesh out and open fully.

97
Monica Larner, RobertParker.com, August 2020

As with Testamatta, there is a deliciously savoury edge to the spiced raspberry and plum fruits. A beautiful wine combining high acidity and sculpting freshness with concentrated liquorice and feathered tannic hold. A juicy, subtly-layered finish has grip and persistency. Both Bibi Graetz wines stop you in your tracks. Grapes selected from three different vineyards, each one harvested up to eight times to ensure picking only at full ripeness, with vines at least 70 years old. Drinking Window 2025 - 2046.

97
Jane Anson, Decanter.com, August 2020
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.