Testamatta: the Spirit of Tuscany
'Finely textured, with a nuanced perfume that fills the glass and takes you to the intense underbrush of Tuscany. Succulent and yet savoury, this has a lilting freshness that is overlaid with ripe berry fruits, sage and white pepper spice, and clear minerality in terms of its scraping texture that makes your mouth water on the finish. Feels light and sculpted and yet has an intensity that skewers you to the spot. This is a great wine, with scope and imagination that doesn't want to let you go. Genuinely stands out among the wines of this tasting, and these are a fine array of wines. As with Colore, Bibi Graetz selects only old vines, the youngest 50 years old from five different vineyard sites across Tuscany, all farmed organically. Fermentations in open 225l barrels with natural yeasts and manual punch downs. Drink 2024-2045.' - 100 points, Jane Anson, Decanter.com, August 2020
Utterly fascinated by his elderly vines, Bibi Graetz has grabbed life and Tuscany in the manner of Vinnie Jones and unconstrained by rules is making some fantastic wines. He's the first generation of his family to be born in Italy and his Tuscan birth and upbringing, together with his first calling as an artist have allowed him to see Tuscany's ancient wine heritage with fresh and iconoclastic eyes. When his parents - also artists - bought an estate around the millennium, they got 10 hectares of ancient Sangiovese vines and Bibi immediately started his new career as a wine gardener; with great success. Now he takes his gardening approach to other plots of old vines around the region, cosseting and cajoling them into giving him wonderful fruit from which to make only wines which express the quintessence of Tuscany - perhaps better than anyone else.
All the vines are indigenous - nothing French here - and everything must be at lease 50 years old to avoid the dreadful 'new' clones introduced in the seventies. There's no new oak and barrels only retire in their 17th year. The gardening is precise and tailored to each vine and Bibi happily admits revisiting 'final' blends two or three months later if he's not happy with them. The results are phenomenal: authentic, soulful and are without category - you might call them Hyper-Tuscans. /CW
Offered subject to confirmation; for shipment Spring 2021
