2021 Grattamacco, Bolgheri Superiore, Tuscany, Italy

2021 Grattamacco, Bolgheri Superiore, Tuscany, Italy

Product: 20218034678
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Prices start from £320.00 per case Buying options
2021 Grattamacco, Bolgheri Superiore, Tuscany, Italy

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
Case format
Availability
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1 x 300cl double magnum
Berry Bros. & Rudd BB&R 5 cases £320.00
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En Primeur Limited availability
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Description

65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 15% Sangiovese.

The 2021 Grattamacco is sure to be one for the history books. The wine is absolutely outstanding. The nose abounds with concentrated dark berry fruit, cassis and liquorice, accented by vibrant spice and floral tones. The wine is so long on the palate, developing from deep, sweet blackcurrant and black cherry to an ethereal, perfumed finish. Structurally dense with an excitingly nervous energy, but texturally the wine is pure silk. Really very special and if other vintages are anything to go off, this will age brilliantly. 

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Charlie Leech, Buying Assistant, Berry Bros. & Rudd

If, like me, you have been keeping a close eye on this estate, then you are in for a treat here – as the 2021 Grattamacco is a sensation and arguably their greatest to date. Aerating the wine brings out its enticing perfume of wild strawberries, subtle spices and dried lavender, while it hints at something far more serious on the palate.

Packed with structure, the 2021 is bound by a focused energy interlaced with long, silky tannins. Fresh forest berries and a touch of graphite bounce off the tongue; it’s perfectly poised with great intensity yet is remarkably drinkable. It might be impressive at this early stage, but a long life is ahead. I’d love to taste it in 10 years and recommend enjoying it anytime from 2028 - 2046.

Chris Lamb, Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd

wine at a glance

Delivery and quality guarantee

Critics reviews

Jancis Robinson MW18/20

The usual blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 15% Sangiovese. The current vintage, released May 2024, was initially challenging. After a winter with normal rainfall, budbreak arrived rather early; the first part of spring brought no rain. The night of 8 April experienced an abrupt drop in temperatures and a freeze on the Bolgheri plain, but with minimal damage to the Grattamacco vineyards. Rains from mid April through mid May established continuously wet conditions during that period, but summer was dry and fairly hot. To keep the clusters shaded during the hot days, leaf-pulling was not performed, and during July emergency irrigation was applied in all the Grattamacco vineyards, with the exception of Casa Vecchia. Harvest started early, on 25 August. Two harvesting passes were often required in order to pick grapes at peak ripeness. Fine weather in the first half of September and rains on the 19th brought the remaining grapes to a finely balanced ripeness. Harvest concluded on 28 September. Pressing-off of the new wine proceeded rapidly, following maceration on the skins lasting two weeks at most. The exceptions were the last-harvested lots of Cabernet Sauvignon, which macerated longer, with the additional application of two Piemontesinas, the last pressed on 24 November. Crop levels for the year were average. Aged 18 months in small oak barrels. Bottled in August 2023.

Mid to dark crimson. Very complete and with a little less obvious tannin than the 2016. Already very approachable and well balanced with a chalky texture on the end. Really charming with a little light inkiness. Long, and fresher than 2016.

Drink 2024 - 2040

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (June 2024)

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About this WINE

Grattamacco

Grattamacco

Grattamacco Estate is perched atop a hill facing the Tyrrhenian Sea between Castagneto Carducci and Bolgheri along the Maremma coast in Tuscany. Founded in 1977, Grattamacco was one of the first along with Sassicaia, to start producing wines in this region. Of the 80ha estate, 29ha are dedicated to vines. The 10ha of vineyards dedicated to making Grattamacco are located on steep slopes 100 metres above sea level.

The vineyards are protected from the strong winds by a natural valley and organic farming techniques are practiced. The vines have an average age of 20 years and only the best grapes from each vineyard are used to make this wine. 2017 Grattamacco is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 15% Sangiovese.

The harvest is done by hand, vinification of the Sangiovese grapes take place in open wooden vats and stainless steel for the other two varieties. Manual punch downs are carried out to facilitate a gentle extraction of the tannins. The wine is then aged in French oak barriques for 18 months and a further 12 months in bottle.

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Bolgheri

Bolgheri

Bolgheri is a new DOC in the coastal Maremma region which first rose to prominence during the 1970s with the emergence of the so-called Super Tuscan wines like Ornellaia and Sassicaia. These new ventures had rocked the DOC establishment by using high proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon, opting out of the DOC system and relabeling their wines as simply Vino da Tavola (table wine). 

Having won universal acclaim and exchanging hands for unprecedented prices (higher even than Tuscany's finest examples), the authorities relented and awarded Bolgheri its own DOC. The actions of the Super Tuscans inspired a generation in Italy, even if some of the wines here have lost a little of their lustre since.

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Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon

The most famous red wine grape in the world and one of the most widely planted.

It is adaptable to a wide range of soils, although it performs particularly well on well-drained, low-fertile soils. It has small, dusty, black-blue berries with thick skins that produce deeply coloured, full-bodied wines with notable tannins. Its spiritual home is the Médoc and Graves regions of Bordeaux where it thrives on the well-drained gravel-rich soils producing tannic wines with piercing blackcurrant fruits that develop complex cedarwood and cigar box nuances when fully mature.

The grape is widely planted in California where Cabernet Sauvignon based wines are distinguished by their rich mixture of cassis, mint, eucalyptus and vanilla oak. It is planted across Australia and with particular success in Coonawarra where it is suited to the famed Terra Rossa soil. In Italy barrique aged Cabernet Sauvignon is a key component in Super Tuscans such as Tignanello and Sassicaia, either on its own or as part of a blend with Sangiovese.

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When is a wine ready to drink?

We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.

Not ready

These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.

Ready - youthful

These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.

Ready - at best

These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.

Ready - mature

These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.