Monica Larner,
The Wine Advocate

Every once and a while a wine producer emerges who is in tune with what drinkers want and can connect with them intimately through their wines. Raised by a family of artists and an art graduate himself, Bibi is a natural rebel. With no formal training, he has taken a love for indigenous grape varieties and traditional methods to heart and managed to create some of Italy’s most captivating wines in the process.

Based in a Medieval castle overlooking Florence and surrounded by vineyards, Bibi focuses on using the old vines and terroir to his advantage. He stays close to local traditions using open-top barriques, manual punch-down and old wine barrels to help to transform his grapes into wines full of vibrancy and elegance.

His flagship wines, Testamatta and Colore, have become popular with connoisseurs and collectors alike and garnered endless praise from critics and consumers globally.

“Testamatta” translates to Crazy Head and is the best word to describe Bibi Graetz: a positive, creative and passionate person. Testamatta wine expresses the purity, minerality and transparency of Sangiovese from old vineyards on the top of the hills characterized by soils rich of stones.

Colore is Bibi Graetz’s Grand Vin, from very old vineyards of Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Colorino. Poor soils mixed with sand and stone create the perfect terroir for a wine that tells a lot about Tuscany and its ancient taste.

James Suckling