Podere Grattamacco Bolgheri Superiore 2018
-
Spirits
Wine & -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The olfactory impact is of considerable aromatic intensity: it expands with notes of small, fully ripe red fruits, accompanied by clear balsamic and Mediterranean hints. In progression, typical mineral notes develop. The gustatory impact is austere, of remarkable freshness and of large volume. It develops in a balanced fusion between the broad minerality and the fine and enveloping tannins. Everything is found in the long final persistence that foreshadows a long life ahead.
Goes well with game, as e.g. local preparations of wild boar, roast, braised and stewed red meats, and medium aged cheese.
Blend: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 15% Sangiovese
Professional Ratings
-
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.
-
James Suckling
With a nose 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.
-
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.
-
Wine Spectator
A mix of coffee and black olive flavors shade the core of black currant and black cherry in this dense, linear red, which is focused and long, with a mouthwatering finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sangiovese. Best from 2024 through 2040.
Other Vintages
2020-
Parker
Robert -
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine - Decanter
- Decanter
-
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James
- Decanter
-
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James
-
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine
-
Parker
Robert -
Spirits
Wine & -
Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James
-
Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert
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 not only the first winery in Bolgheri to use Sangiovese because of its high altitude despite its proximity to the coast, but also the first to plant Vermentino. Grattamacco wines are known for both their power, elegance and complexity that evolves with time.
Disenchanted with Italian winemaking laws in the 1970s, a few rebellious Tuscan winemakers decided to get creative. Instead of following tradition, to bottle Sangiovese by itself, they started blending it with international varieties, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah in differing proportions and with amazing success. However, some Tuscan Blends don’t even include Sangiovese. Somm Secret—The suffix –aia in Italian modifies a word in much the same way –y acts in English. For example, a place with many stones (sassi) becomes Sassicaia. While not all Super Tuscan producer names end in –aia, they all share a certain coy nomenclature.
An outstanding wine region made famous by Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, who planted Cabernet Sauvignon vines for his own consumption in 1940s on his San Guido estate, and called the resulting wine, Sassicaia. Today the region’s Tuscan reds are based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which can be made as single varietal wines or blends. The local Sangiovese can make up no more than 50% of the blends. Today Sassicaia has its own DOC designation within the Bogheri DOC appellation.