Colore Rosso Igt 2010

Bibi Graetz launched his first vintage in 2000 with no formal oenology training, assembling what became the largest collection of old-vine Sangiovese parcels in Tuscany — all bottled as Toscana IGT, a deliberate refusal of the DOC/DOCG hierarchy that governs his neighbours.

Colore 2010 draws from south-facing hillside plots at Lamole, Vincigliata, Olmo, and Siena province, where vines aged 50–90+ years push roots through stony galestro schist over clay. That shallow, fast-draining schist forces chronic water stress, concentrating phenolics and preserving the lifted acidity that defines this cuvée.

The 2010 vintage blend follows the pre-2020 formula: approximately 80% Sangiovese with Canaiolo and Colorino, co-fermented via spontaneous indigenous-yeast fermentation in open-top 225L barriques with manual pigeage. Aging proceeded in French oak barriques —

Graetz acquires just ~1% new oak per year, with the oldest barrels in the cellar dating to 2003, making his regime among the most neutral of any premium Tuscan producer.

The special feature here is the blend itself: from 2020 onward Colore became 100% Sangiovese, so the 2010 is one of the last expressions of the three-variety architecture that originally defined the wine's chromatic depth. At 14 years from harvest, the galestro minerality and Colorino-derived pigment have integrated into a structured, tertiary-leaning wine with a drinking window extending well into the late 2020s.