Grattamacco Bolgheri Superiore 2018

This wine continues to get mentioned amongst the Super Tuscan elite, Ornellaia and Sassacaia – and in a lot of the instances, people are preferring the wines of the “little guy”, Grattamacco. Their 2018 Bolgheri Superiore is the big brother of the wine that first Nicholas Wines by storm, and became our all-time Super Tuscan best seller. This is armed with two 96-point reviews from both Wine & Spirits and Parker’s Wine Advocate. The latter called the wine, “finely nuanced” as well as “quite elegant and crisp.”

Original price was: $135.00.Current price is: $89.00.

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96 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Coming on the heels of the scorching hot 2017, this vintage started off with lots of rain in April and May that required preventative measures against fungal disease. Splendid heat and sunshine marked the summer months, but the freshness you taste in this wine is a beautiful characteristic of this cooler growing season. The 2018 Bolgheri Superiore Grattamacco reveals a finely nuanced bouquet with dark fruit, tobacco, smoke and earthy garrigue or underbrush. The wine leans toward full-bodied, but it also feels quite elegant and crisp on the streamlined finish. Best after 2023.

96 Points, Wine & Spirits
This wine is packed with pure flavors of blackcurrant and raspberry buoyed by brisk acidity. A blend of cabernet sauvignon with 20 percent merlot and 15 percent sangiovese, Grattamacco aged in French oak barriques, about one-third new, where the lightly chewy tannins developed, giving shape to the bold, primary frut tones. The wine takes on notes of graphite and fresh tobacco, while lively spices energize the fruit, drawing out the flavors on a long, exuberant finish.

96 Points, James Suckling
With a nose that is more lifted and driven by Sangiovese, the 2018 Grattamacco is fresh with menthol, pine, and red cherry. The structure lends more to the medium-bodied side, with a linear feel, but the wine is fantastic for its elegance and transparency. It reveals a cooling wet stone minerality and texture, with vibrant energy and fine tannins, and it is savory with dried herbs on the finish.

Founded in 1977, and acquired by the Tipa Bertarelli Family in 2002, Grattamacco was one of first the two wineries in Bolgheri. A region typically known for Cabernet and Merlot, Grattamacco sets itself apart from surrounding wineries with its winemaking practices using 15% Sangiovese to impart quality and elegance in its wines. Grattamacco was the first winery in Bolgheri to use Sangiovese because of its high altitude despite its proximity to the coast.

This move may have seemed risky at the time, but the results are impossible to argue. The wines of Grattamacco are now mentioned in the same sentence as Ornellaia and Sassacaia – and a lot of the things I read, people prefer Grattamacco’s wines (at least in their youth). They are extraordinary examples of what the SuperTuscan category can bring.

In the 2018 vintage, the Superiore was a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 15% Sangiovese. Unsurprisingly, this beautiful wine is accompanied by two separate 96-point scores from two major publications, just to give you a sense of what you’re working with. It’s an aromatic and powerful blend with with notes of small, fully ripe red fruits, accompanied Mediterranean spices and minerality. It displays a remarkable freshness – and is refined and well balanced with fine and enveloping tannins. All of this indicates that this beauty has a long life ahead.

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