100% Sangiovese
"The 2018 Testamatta shows elegant Sangiovese purity and transparency, starting with delicate wild berry and blueberry tones and finishing long with pretty accents of crushed limestone and a touch of campfire ash. In the glass, the wine is radiant and vivid with a luminous ruby or garnet color. Oak use is reduced to a bare minimum, with barrels that are up to their 16th year of use. "The older they are, the better," Bibi explains. As the wine opens in the glass, it presents pretty lilac and violet. This wine represents a blend of fruit from various sites (all with old vines that are farmed organically) across the region of Tuscany. The northern-most sites close to Florence tend to add the floral notes that are so characteristic of this cool vintage (which saw a bit more rain than average and extra work in the vineyards to kept these vines healthy). I visited the vineyards with Bibi in 2018 and remember how beautiful the grapes appeared on the vines. Much of the fruit used here comes from the Vigna del Cancello in Casciano del Murlo, which is midway between Siena and Montalcino. These southern sites give the wine its backbone and tannins. Bibi Graetz tells me that he struggled to create the blend for this 60,000-bottle release. He decided on a final blend, only to change his mind and re-blend two and a half months later. His second stab was specifically aimed at capturing finesse and softening the wine's tannic imprint. Indeed, the wine ultimately offers more in length (with fresh fruit flavors and bright acidity) than it does in power or mid-palate. The finish is silky, long and very fine." - Robert Parkers Wine Advocate
"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." - Decanter
"I loved this when first tasting it in bottle, and it is totally living up to my expectations. The clarity of flavour and the sense of energy ensures it just springs out of the glass, ready to please and without the slightest hint of a dip through the mid palate. Sangiovese signature comes across in raspberry, red cherry, rose petals, tobacco, freshly cured leather, great persistency through the palate, showing balance and finesse. The tannins are fine and silky but not afraid to ask for engagement and time from those of us lucky enough to be tasting it. Fermented with natural yeasts, aged in oak casks and neutral barrels for 20 months." - Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux
Bibi Graetz
Bibi Graetz, dessen Familie aus Norwegen stammt, hat sein künstlerisches Talent vom Vater geerbt und ist dazu noch ein begnadeter Winzer. Seine Bilder sind kraftvoll und ziehen den Betrachter in seinen Bann.
Erst war er nur Künstller, dann erwachte seine Liebe zum Wein. Einen Eindruck seiner künstlerischen Ambitionen bekommt man von den Etiketten seiner Weine. Lebendig, frisch und ausdrucksstark berühren sie den Betrachter. Das er als Winzer ebenso zu begeistern vermag beweisen seine Weine seit vielen Jahren, auch sie sind lebendig, frisch, ausdrucksstark und berühren die Seele. Das Weingut Testamatta liegt oberhalb von Florenz, und damit nicht einmal in einer der traditionsreichen Weinbauregionen des Chianti. Auf mit Sand vermischten Mergel-Lehmböden baut Bibi Graetz autochtone Rebsorten an und vergärt mit wilden Hefen. Der Ausbau erfolgt in gebrauchten Barriques. Die Weißweine dagegen kommen aus der Maremma und wachsen auf den Inseln Elba, der weiße Testamatta auf uralten, wiederbelebten Weinterrassen auf Giglio. Asonica, die Rebsorte dafür, wächst sonst nur noch auf Sizilien, uns vom Biodynnamiker Azienda COS gut bekannt. Fragt man nach dem Geheimnis seiner genialen Weine, so lautet die Antwort wohl: Zeit – Zeit zu reifen und um ihr Potenzial zu entfalten. Testamatta, heißt zu deutsch »Tollkopf«. Welch’ charmante Bezeichnung für dieses toskanische Juwel. Man darf sich ruhig fragen, ob wohl ein gerütteltes Maß an Selbstironie bei der Namensfindung des Weingutes seinerzeit eine Rolle spielte.