Bibi GraetzColore Magnum 2018

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.

Compared to the Testamatta that proved more difficult during the blending phase, Bibi Graetzs 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.

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