Winemaker Notes
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 and light mineral undertone. It has a pronounced intensity accompanied by silky and important tannins that make the wine long and persistent. This Testamatta is persistent and rich of finesse, one of the greatest they have ever made.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Finely textured, with a nuanced perfume that fills the glass and takes you to the intense underbrush of Tuscany. Succulent and yet savory, 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.
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James Suckling
Very subtle aromas of cherries, bark, black truffles and flowers. Hints of crushed stones. It’s full-bodied, yet very tight and solid with a very tight, minerally structure. Very long and intense. Racy and bright at the end. Powerful, orange-peel and citrus-fruit undertones. Salty and minerally. This needs time to develop in the bottle. Extremely structured. A wine not to touch until after 2023.
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Wine Enthusiast
With a few swirls of the glass, this releases alluring scents of fragrant blue flowers, wild berries, pipe tobacco and menthol. Made from the grapes of old vines of Sangiovese sourced from five top estate vineyards, the vibrant, elegant palate features juicy raspberry, Morello cherry, licorice and toasted nuts alongside taut, fine-grained tannins. It’s still young and primary, with bright acidity. It needs a few more years to fully develop and will still offer years of pleasure. Drink 2023–2030.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Bibi Graetz 2018 Testamatta is a wine that was affected by outside factors. For one, it was in barrel during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and Bibi says he spent six months fussing over this production. Secondly, this vintage directly followed 2017, which saw heat stress in the vineyards, with some of that hardship spilling over to this wine. It shows good fruit with chalky tannins, but you don't get the same depth or detail as in other vintages.
Legendary in Italy for its Renaissance art and striking landscape, Tuscany is also home to many of the country’s best red wines. Sangiovese reigns supreme here, as either the single varietal, or a dominant player, in almost all of Tuscany’s best.
A remarkable Chianti, named for its region of origin, will have a bright acidity, supple tannins and plenty of cherry fruit character. From the hills and valleys surrounding the medieval village of Montalcino, come the distinguished and age-worthy wines based on Brunello (Sangiovese). Earning global acclaim since the 1970s, the Tuscan Blends are composed solely of international grape varieties or a mix of international and Sangiovese. The wine called Vine Nobile di Montepulciano, composed of Prognolo Gentile (Sangiovese) and is recognized both for finesse and power.