Bibi Graetz, Colore Rossa, Toscana 2020

Bright and lively on the palate, such beautifully expressed raspberry and red cherry fruit flavours alongside high-shining acidity that is so clean and precise. A supremely joyful expression with hints of caramelised strawberries and fresh mint. So sharp but so well defined with a clarity to the palate that is gorgeous. Really delivers a sophisticated, charming, characterful wine that is balanced, easy to enjoy with plenty of life. A more structured and perhaps harder to understand wine than Testamatta this year, but both have their own lovely personalities. This is so complete and abundant, muscular but controlled and full of complexity and detail - there's weight and density without heaviness. A sensational wine. Ageing 12 months in 500l French oak barrels.

The subtlety and perfumed nature of this wine is enchanting, offering flowers, orange peel and cherries. Wonderful ripe strawberries, too. Full-bodied, but not over the top, with tannins that are polished and run the length of the wine. It’s tight, but gives you every indication of a terrific wine. You want to drink it now, and you probably should do, because it’s so alluring. Yet it will age beautifully as well. Drink or hold.

A reliably brilliant Colore, full of life, generosity and pleasure. This is perfumed and nuanced, plenty of sage, liqourice root, white pepper, dried roses and campfire soot, against a pristine set of raspberry, damson and fresher redcurrant and greengage fruits. Concentration builds slowly through the palate to show slightly higher tannic grip that Testamatta - although one of the things I enjoy about the Graetz wines is that both Testamatta and Colore have their distinct characters, but it is never clear which one is the 'better' wine. Colore comes from the oldest vineyards of Sangiovese that stretch from 80 to 130 years old, harvested slowly and methodically by going up to eight times through the rows to ensure the right level of maturity before picking - obsessional winemaking that bears results in the glass.

Bibi Graetz tells me the 2020 Colore is his favorite vintage of Colore, and although I agree that this wine is stunning, I find the tannins a little more open and granular compared to the tightly etched 2021 vintage that I personally prefer. That wine, to me, shows more length and overall tension. You get hints of that here too, but the overall delivery is linked to rounder fruit flavors of cassis, red and black currants and spice. Sangiovese from the Olmo vineyard is introduced this year and blended with fruit from Lamole, from 70-year-old plants in Bagno a Ripoli and Vincigliata near Fiesole. In 2020, Colore emerged as the higher-priced wine compared to Testamatta.

The 2020 Colore is pleasantly unexpected and is a total feminine beauty. When I anticipate power, it delivers grace with a stunning bouquet of freshly cut roses, blood orange, wild strawberries and sweet smoke. It's deeply textural, yet not heavy, feeling like crushed velvet gently draped across the palate, leaving mineral-tinged blackberries and currants in its wake. This finishes on a note of elegance with fine-grained tannins without slowing its momentum as spice notes slowly fade. The Colore is all old-vine (70 years or older) Sangiovese from vineyards Lamole, Vincigliata, Olmo and Siena.