By Bibi Graetz
2019 'Testamatta' Toscana Rosso

Wine Description
'Testamatta' - 'crazy head' in Italian - is the best word to describe Bibi Graetz: a positive, creative, and passionate person. Testamatta wine expresses Sangiovese's purity, minerality, and transparency from old vines on the top of the hills, characterized by soils rich in stones. A Supertuscan made with 100% Sangiovese, a result of the combination of tradition and creativity.

Vintage Notes
The season has been very stable, with the right amount of heat and rain. The cold and dry winter and the average quantity of spring rain prevented the proliferation of illnesses. The lowering of the minimum temperature in the pre-harvest period supported the growth of the plants, leading to a slow and complete maturation and an incredible aromatic expression. The smoothness of the climate provided grapes of outstanding quality. The harvest started on September 21st and ended on October 8th.

Vineyard Notes
Testamatta grapes are selected and sourced from the best five winery vineyards: Vincigliata, Londa, Lamole, Montefili, and Siena. Each vineyard - divided into parcels - is harvested up to eight times, ensuring all grapes are picked at the perfect ripening point. The five old-age vineyards (up to 80 years old) are located in different areas of Tuscany: Lamole and Montefili in the heart of Chianti Classico at 600 and 400 meters altitude, Vincigliata nearby Firenze at 280 meters altitude, Londa at the north of Firenze towards the Rufina Valley, and Siena, in the south of Tuscany at 250 meters altitude.

Vinification and Aging
The hand-picked grapes, selected in the vineyards first - and later for a second time at the winery - are destemmed and then softly pressed. The fermentations are conducted by natural and indigenous yeasts in open-top barriques (225L) for the smaller parcels of the vineyards and in barrels or stainless steel for the larger ones without any temperature-control or 'bleedings,' with six manual punch-downs and pump-overs per day. After seven to ten days of maceration, the parcels are moved into old barriques and barrels for 20 months.

Tasting Notes
Elegance - this is the word that describes Testamatta 2019. The 20th Anniversary of Testamatta is a real milestone, the peak of quality that has been sought after in Sangiovese since the first vintage in 2000. Testamatta 2019 is perfectly balanced, with deep layers exhibiting incredible complexity.
[Information provided by Folio Fine Wine Partners]

BIBI GRAETZ TOSCANA TESTAMATTA 2019
Monday, March 13, 2023
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
Vintage: 2019
Score: 97
Very attractive combination of dried fruit and spices with black cherries and plums. Aromas of flowers and sandalwood, too. Full-bodied and very refined, yet intense, with plush, velvety tannins that are wonderfully integrated and intertwined with the fruit. Ripe center palate. Tight at the end, suggesting the need for some serious bottle age. Very structured. Try after 2025.

BIBI GRAETZ Toscana Rosso 'Testamatta' 2019
Rating: 96
Drink: 2024-2044
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
Appellation: Toscana IGT
Editor: J. D'Angelo
Issue: March, 2022
Importer: Folio Fine Wine
The 2019 vintage marks the 20th Anniversary for Bibi Greatz, and the Testamatta is thing of beauty. This is a wonderful expression of 100% Sangiovese [...]. As far as the wine itself, it possesses a remarkable elegant character with wonderful aromas of raspberries and blackberries along with spices, leather, orange zest, juniper berries, floral, eucalyptus and minerals all taking shape in the glass. The palate is just as impressive, with its medium to full-bodied texture, beautiful fine tannins and wonderful overall balance and finesse, leading into the long, lingering finish. This is a simply gorgeous showing for Testamatta and while it shows flashes of brilliance now, the best is certainly yet to come for this outstanding Rosso.

Bibi Graetz, Testamatta, Toscana, Tuscany, Italy, 2019
Tasted by: Stephen Brook (at London, 07 Mar 2022)
Part of Bibi Graetz Testamatta: 2000-2019 vertical
Points: 95
Drinking Window: 2023 - 2036
Producer: Bibi Graetz
Vintage: 2019
Wine Type: Still
Colour: Red 
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
Appellation: Toscana
Sweetness: Dry
Closure: Cork
Alcohol: 14.00%
Body: Full
Oak: Oaked
Grapes: 100% Sangiovese
Yet another fine year, however some wines in 2019 - although not Testamatta - lacked a little concentration. Relatively light in colour, it's at the other end of the density scale to the wines of the early 2000s. There are piquant raspberry and redcurrant aromas and both the nose and palate show admirable delicacy and restraint. Very elegant and pure, its fine acidity gives excellent length and ageing potential.

Bibi Graetz, Testamatta, Toscana, Tuscany, Italy, 2019
Producer: Bibi Graetz
Wine name: Testamatta
Vintage: 2019
Sub-region: Toscana
Region: Tuscany
Country: Italy
Award: Silver
Score: 94
Color: Red
Style: Still - Dry (below 5 g/L residual sugar)
Closure: Natural Cork
Alcohol level: 14.0%
Grape composition: 100% Sangiovese
Tasting notes: Smooth and sophisticated with polished tannin and a lovely seam of pure aromatics - sour cherry, subtle tobacco, and straw.

2019 Bibi Graetz Testamatta
Producer: Bibi Graetz
From: Italy, Tuscany, Toscana
Color: Red
Type: Table
Sweetness: Dry
Variety: Sangiovese
Rating: 94
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
Issue Date: 24th Aug 2021
Source: August 2021 Week 4, The Wine Advocate
Drink Date: 2022 - 2042
A pure expression of Sangiovese, the Bibi Graetz 2019 Testamatta is a wine in constant evolution. [...] new terroirs bring a lot more aromatic nuance and complexity to the wine with perfumed blue flower, candied orange peel, wet earth and plumy black fruit. White Alberese soils add a strong chalky mineral signature to the finish of this elegantly streamlined and linear Tuscan red.

Bibi Graetz 2019 Testamatta Sangiovese (Toscana)
Rating: 92
Designation: Testamatta
Variety: Sangiovese
Appellation: Toscana, Tuscany, Italy
Winery: Bibi Graetz
Alcohol: 14%
Category: Red
Importer: Folio Fine Wine Partners
Date Published: 5/1/2022
Reviewed by: Kerin O'Keefe
Delicate aromas of red berry, sunbaked earth and dark spice shape the nose along with a whiff of Mediterranean scrub. Bright and elegantly structured, the linear palate features juicy Marasca cherry, crushed raspberry and baking spice framed in polished tannins. Drink through 2029.

Bibi Graetz Toscana Testamatta 2019
Score: 90
Wine Type and Color: Red Still
Magazine Issue: Sep 30, 2022
Primary Grape: Sangiovese
Region: Italy / Toscana
Reviewed By: Bruce Sanderson
A sleek, well-delineated red, delivering cherry and raspberry flavors on an elegant frame. Fresh, and builds nicely on the mineral- and floral-laced finish. Drink now through 2028.

Bibi Graetz, Testamatta 2019 IGT Toscana
Producer: Bibi Graetz
Cuvee: Testamatta
Appellation: IGT Toscana
Region: Toscana
Country: Italy
Colour: Red
Score: 17.5/20
When to drink: 2023 - 2044
Published on: 30 Aug 2022
Date tasted: 11 Jun 2022
Reviewer: Richard Hemming MW
Remarkable pale-garnet colour. Delicate black-cherry aroma following on to a more leathery and slaty palate with ample complexity and persistence. That mineral element is really charming - it reminds me of the granitic touch of northern Rhone, and there is similarly bright acidity too. (RH)