Jamessuckling.com | JS 97
Published: Mar 13, 2023

Very attractive combination of dried fruit and spices with black cherries and plums. Aromas of flowers and sandalwood, too. Full-bodied and very refined, yet intense, with plush, velvety tannins that are wonderfully integrated and intertwined with the fruit. Ripe center palate. Tight at the end, suggesting the need for some serious bottle age. Very structured. Try after 2025.

The Wine Advocate | RP 94
Published: Aug 24, 2021

A pure expression of Sangiovese, the Bibi Graetz 2019 Testamatta is a wine in constant evolution. Bibi has added 17 more hectares of vineyard to the program, with 12 hectares in Fiesole (north of Florence) and 5 hectares in San Donato in Colle (south of Florence) with 70-year-old vines. The base of the wine sees fruit from old vines planted in the 1950s in the cool-climate Lamole subzone of Chianti Classico. These new terroirs bring a lot more aromatic nuance and complexity to the wine with perfumed blue flower, candied orange peel, wet earth and plumy black fruit. White Alberese soils add a strong chalky mineral signature to the finish of this elegantly streamlined and linear Tuscan red.
Drink Date 2022 - 2042

Winemaker

The 'Crazy-head' "Testamatta crazy-head in Italian - is the best word to describe Bibi Graetz: a positive, creative and passionate person. Testamatta wine expresses the purity, minerality and transparency of Sangiovese from old vines on the top of the hills characterized by soils rich of stones. A Supertuscan made with 100% Sangiovese, result of the combination of tradition and creativity.

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
Sangiovese 100% The elegance of Sangiovese variety is always the main character of Testamatta wine. This vintage shows how Sangiovese can be fresh, fruity on one hand, elegant, long and persistent on the other. 2018 is rich of blackberries and blueberries, earthy hints, light mineral undertone. It has a pronounced intensity accompanied by silky and important tannins that give to the wine a long aftertaste. This Testamatta is persistent and rich of finesse, one of the greatest I have ever made. Bibi Graetz Vintage 2018: the growing season Balance and harmony are the best words to describe 2018 vintage in Tuscany. The seasons were mild and stable, this led to a full vegetative development with light advance and to a superb vintage in terms of quality of the berries. The summer had been great characterized by excellent sun exposure during day and refreshing nights. We started the harvest at the end of September and concluded it during the mid of October. Vinification and Ageing Testamatta grapes are selected and sourced from the best 5 vineyards of the winery: Vincigliata, Londa, Lamole, Montefili and Siena. Each vineyard, divided in parcels, is harvested up to 8 times, making sure all the grapes are picked at the perfect ripening point. The 5 old-age vineyards, (up to 80 yrs old) are located in different areas of Tuscany: Lamole & Montefili in the heart of Chianti Classico at 600 and 400 meters altitude, Vincigliata nearby Firenze at 280 meters altitude, Londa at north of Firenze, towards the Rufina valley and Siena in the south of Tuscany at 250 meters altitude. The hand-picked grapes, selected in the vineyards firstly and later for the second time at the winery, are destemmed and then soft pressed. The fermentations are conducted by natural and indigenous yeasts, in open top barriques (225L) without any temperature control and ?bleedings? neither, with 6 manual punch-down per day. After 7-10 days of maceration, the different parcels are moved into old barriques for 22 months.