Bibi Graetz Colore Vertical Case 20th Anniversary (2003, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019)

On the occasion of their 20th anniversary, cult winery Bibi Graetz from Tuscany is launching two special boxes containing different vintages Colore and Testamatta respectively. They made a total of 300 boxes from Colore Anniversario, of which Grandcruwijnen received 10. All boxes are numbered and contain a booklet with the description per year

This vertical box contains 6 bottles of the Bib Graetz Colore with the vintages: 2003, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. These vintages have been specially selected by Bib Graetz because, according to him, these are the most remarkable, unique vintages, making this a unique vertical composition.

2003: 92 Decanter
2008: 99 Suckling
2015: 98 Suckling, 97 Parker
2016: 97 Suckling, 96+ Parker
2018: 99 Suckling, 97 Parker
2019: 99 Suckling, 98 Anson

Bibi Graetz started making wines twenty years ago in Tuscany, where the authenticity of the region comes first. No international grape varieties here, but Sangiovese in all its glory and also the traditional grape varieties such as Colorino and Canaiolo. The wines of Bibi Graetz are very special examples of Sangiovese and ultimate embodiments of terroir and the unique characteristics of a vintage. The wines have already achieved many very high scores in the wine press. In these special boxes, 6 different vintages Colore and Testamatta are bundled, which show the difference between harvest years on the one hand, and the development of Bibi Graetz on the other.

The Colore is the flagship and top model Bibi Graetz and is in fact a single vineyard wine as more than 90% of the grapes come from old vines (these are majestic plants of 80 to 135 years old) at a high altitude in the Lamole where Bibi five hectares farms. The Colore is a wine with structure and backbone with intense red berries, red cherry, ferruginous earth, crushed flowers and some of the fragrant herbs. What an intense aroma of cherries and raspberries which, with time in the glass, change into flowers, roses and orange peel. This is really full bodied and powerful with layers of ripe tannins with wonderful length and intensity.

The Colore is a wine made with traditional Tuscan grapes sourced from some of the oldest and rarest vineyards in the region. The Sangiovese represent the structure and strength of the wine and the Colorino grape gives velvety tannins. Only the best few barrels of the entire production become Colore. The grapes used for Colore come mainly from the Lamole vineyard (90%), with a little from Vincigliata located in Siena. Each vineyard has been harvested up to 8 times and the grapes are all harvested by hand at the correct ripeness point. After the first selection in the vineyard, a second selection takes place at the winery for de-stemming. The berries at this stage were gently pressed and placed in open-topped barriques, with great care being taken to keep each plot separate. The fermentation is carried out by native natural yeasts (i.e. the yeasts on the grape) with 6 to 8 manual puchdowns per day, without temperature control for 2 weeks with 1 additional week of maceration on the skins. After fermentation, the wine is moved to new barriques, where the malolactic fermentation takes place. The wine matures for 3 years before it becomes available.