Winemaker Notes
#23 Jeb Dunnuck Top 100 of 2025
The nose is a combo of dark fruits and chocolate with notes of plum and black currants, elegant and full with a fresh balsamic finish given by the Sangiovese.
Grattamacco's Bolgheri Rosso pairs perfectly with typical, hardy Tuscan dishes and is excellent throughout the meal for its freshness and its versatile character.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Looking to the upcoming release, the 2022 Grattamacco pours a more youthful red/purple hue and opens to a more blue-fruited nature at this early stage, with sweetly perfumed aromas of blackberry, violet candies, pressed sage, and fresh earth. The palate is gorgeous and full, with velvety tannins, a youthful plushness of fruit, and its characteristic savory elements highlighting the wine with a long, balanced finish. It’s a very even wine but does show the stress of a hot year with late rains. It feels like the duck on water – graceful and peaceful above water, while underneath it has the structure to go the distance. It’s reminiscent of the 2012, although it seems to have more cushion. Drink 2027-2050.
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James Suckling
This is really classy, with refined tannins that run the length of the wine, providing great poise and balance. It's medium-bodied with focused and precise redcurrants and raspberries, together with cedar and light spice. Very long and beautiful. From organically grown grapes.
Disenchanted with Italian winemaking laws in the 1970s, a few rebellious Tuscan winemakers decided to get creative. Instead of following tradition, to bottle Sangiovese by itself, they started blending it with international varieties, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah in differing proportions and with amazing success. However, some Tuscan Blends don’t even include Sangiovese. Somm Secret—The suffix –aia in Italian modifies a word in much the same way –y acts in English. For example, a place with many stones (sassi) becomes Sassicaia. While not all Super Tuscan producer names end in –aia, they all share a certain coy nomenclature.
An outstanding wine region made famous by Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, who planted Cabernet Sauvignon vines for his own consumption in 1940s on his San Guido estate, and called the resulting wine, Sassicaia. Today the region’s Tuscan reds are based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which can be made as single varietal wines or blends. The local Sangiovese can make up no more than 50% of the blends. Today Sassicaia has its own DOC designation within the Bogheri DOC appellation.