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Bibi Graetz
Based just outside Florence, Bibi Graetz is something of a maverick in the Tuscan wine scene. Working with old vineyards of indigenous grapes around Chianti, he produces intense wines classified as IGT Toscana; not fitting neatly in either the Super Tuscan or Chianti camp.
In the vineyard
In the vineyard
Over the years, Bibi Graetz became obsessed with old vines and particularly those planted on cooler sites – the north-facing vineyards, and those at the top of the hills where there is more variation in temperature, and thinner top soil that brings more acidity and elegance to the wines, as well as all-important energy.
He avoids green-harvesting, instead removing extra bunches just three weeks before harvest in order to keep the vine healthy throughout the growing season. To focus the vine’s energy on ripening the fruit, rather than shoot growth, he also doesn’t cut the vine shoots – as is practised by various other producers, including Domaine Leroy in Burgundy.
Colore comes from three vineyards, each with very distinct personality traits. The Lamole vineyard is situated at 620 metres above sea-level and has vines aged 80 years and older, producing small clusters of tiny berries. The Vincigliata vineyard was the original plot used for Colore, at 300 metres’ altitude with soils dominated by clay and the galestro rocks typical of the Chianti Classico region. The Sienna vineyard with more fertile soils, high in siliceous stone, brings power and structure to the wine.
In the winery
In the winery
The grapes are harvested in several passes (as many as eight), to pick each bunch when it reaches the perfect level of ripeness.
The wine is fermented in open-top barriques, filled gradually with fruit from each plot so that from one vineyard of Sangiovese, for example, Bibi Graetz can obtain multiple expressions of that site. This gives him a broader palette to work with when it comes to blending the wines, giving them greater complexity and layers.
He also believes that the open-top small barrels allow lots of oxygen exchange, helping maximise and fix the colour of the wines. There’s no temperature control, preferring instead to vinify in smaller lots to naturally control the temperature of the ferment.
These days he only uses 2-3% new oak as he believes any more than this gives the wine too much body. Initially it was all small barriques, but now he uses a mix of smaller and larger barrels. He avoids additions to the wines, with minimal sulphites.
