Colore Rosso IGT 2008

Bibi Graetz launched his first vintage in 2000 from a 2-hectare family plot at Castello di Vincigliata — a property the Graetz family has held since 1960 — with no formal oenology training and a deliberate refusal to seek DOC or DOCG classification. Colore is

his most structured expression, drawn from south-facing parcels at Lamole, Vincigliata, Olmo, and Siena, where stony galestro (schist) and clay soils on high-altitude hillsides restrict yields and concentrate mineral character in vines aged 50 to 90-plus years.

The 2008 vintage predates Graetz's shift to 100% Sangiovese; the blend incorporates Sangiovese alongside Canaiolo and Colorino — the traditional Tuscan trio — fermented via spontaneous indigenous yeasts in open-top 225L French oak barriques with manual pigeage, minimal intervention, and no concentration techniques.

Aging proceeds in French oak barriques with negligible new wood — Graetz acquires roughly 1% new oak per year, with barrels in rotation dating to 2003, making this one of the most restrained oak regimes of any premium Tuscan producer. The deliberate IGT declassification, even for fruit sourced within Chianti Classico boundaries at Lamole and Montefili, is Graetz's explicit rejection of the appellation hierarchy.

At 15-plus years of age, the 2008 Colore sits in a compelling tertiary window: galestro-driven iron and dried herb complexity layered over dried cherry and tobacco, with the structural backbone to hold further.