Winemaker Notes
The 2014 Podere Grattamacco Bolgheri Superiore is a bright ruby red color. The nose is filled with intense aromas of small red fruits with balsamic and Mediterranean scrub hints. The palate is characterized by an austere flavor, of notable freshness and of ample volume with a balance between minerality and an enveloping tannic texture and persistent finish.
Ideal with game and game, with local wild boar preparations, with braised red meat stews and medium-aged hard cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Here is another one of those vintage-defying wines to emerge from a very challenging growing season with lots of rain and below average temperatures. The 2014 Bolgheri Superiore Grattamacco benefits from extreme fruit selection and careful management in the winery. This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sangiovese from one of the most celebrated estates on the Tuscan Coast. The bouquet is full and generous. It peels back with thick intensity revealing luscious tones of blackberry fruit with spice, leather and tobacco. There is structural firmness here but the tannins are well integrated within the fleshiness of the wine.
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Wine & Spirits
This showcases the best aspects of 2014’s wet, challenging growing season. Flavors of just-ripe plum and black currant quiver with nervy acidity, the tension heightened by notes of menthol and fresh pine-forest scents. The fine, compact tannins begin to unwind after several hours in the glass, allowing notes of leafy tobacco and freshly cracked black peppercorn to emerge. The wine feels firm and fresh rather than lush, with a drive and energy that suggest it will continue to improve over several years.
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James Suckling
Pretty ripeness of fruit with a hint of fresh herbs. Medium body and fine tannins. Delicious. Made from a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and sangiovese.
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Wine Spectator
This is bright, offering ripe cherry, currant, spice and tobacco flavors. Firm yet mouthwatering, with fine equilibrium and a long, toast- and spice-tinged finish. Very refreshing. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sangiovese. Best from 2019 through 2025.
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.