Bibi Graetz releases three new Balocchi di Colore wines

In a surprise addition to the annual ‘Beyond Bordeaux March Releases’ campaign, Bibi Graetz recently revealed that three new limited-production wines would join the growing list of entries to be sold via the La Place.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the Balocchi di Colore trio

The three wines, presented as a trilogy of sorts, pay homage to the estate’s icon wine Colore, revealing the DNA of the historic blend by bottling three barrels of each of the three varieties that have gone into the selection for Colore since its inception in 2000 – Sangiovese, Colorino and Canaiolo.

Inspired by new world bin numbers, the wines are instead ‘toys’ – Balocchi di Colore means ‘the toys of Colore’ in Italian and showcases not only Bibi’s playful and innovative side, but also a commitment to his Tuscan heritage.

‘It’s a project that’s really giving me the freedom to do something different,’ Bibi said during an exclusive first taste at the Wine Paris trade fair in February.

After building the brands of his two flagship wines; Testamatta and Colore, he wanted to ‘play with wine, using treasures in his cellar’ while providing an insight into the heart of Tuscany.

Drawing on two decades of experience cultivating vines on the hillsides above Florence and in the Chianti Classico region, and having always kept parcels separate during vinification and ageing, often keeping a few barrels aside of special plots to see how they mature over the years, Bibi chose three specific parcels from which to highlight his unique approach and sense of place.

Adopting a near fanatic sense of precision and care both in the vineyards and cellars – and for the first time in 2020 introducing a sorting table at his newly acquired winery Villa Aurora in Fiesole, Bibi said he ‘could make 50 different single-vineyard wines’ if he wanted to but chose the terroirs he has most affinity for and to best represent the constituent parts of Colore:

Balocchi di Colore No 1 2020 is a 100% Sangiovese from a two hectare plot in the family’s original vineyard in Vincigliata and from which Bibi first started to make his flagship wines; Testamatta and Colore in 2000. As the first parcel planted by Bibi’s father, the vines chosen for No 1 are a selection of the oldest in the plot, up to 50 years old, grown at 250m in altitude on clay loam soils with galestro. The colourful label was designed by Bibi’s first daughter Margherita.

‘When you play with a single parcel you really get the identity of Sangiovese that refers to Tuscany in every way and this does that’, said Bibi.

Balocchi di Colore No 3 2020 is a 100% Colorino from a 0.5ha parcel also from the original vineyard in Vincigliata. This was the third parcel planted by Bibi’s father in the 1970s , and done so as a way to use local grapes to bring power and structure to their Chianti wines, instead of those from Sicily as mandated by the Italian government at the time. No 3 shows the muscles and strong character within the Colore blend. The label was designed by Bibi’s third daughter Ingrid.

Balocchi di Colore No 8 2020 is a 100% Canaiolo from a 2ha plot inside a 12ha leased vineyard from 2020. It has since become the most recently acquired vineyard plot, along with an adjoining 90 additional hectares in Olmo. No 8 comes from vines between 25 and 50 years old on sandy-clay loam soils full of galestro at 450m in altitude. The label was designed by Bibi’s eight-year-old son Ludovico.

‘In the old Chianti recipe, Canaiolo is what was giving the immediacy to the wines,’ said Bibi. ‘They were done for immediate consumption and to be drinkable from the first moment with a focus on fruitiness and freshness.’

A total of 900, three-bottle cases will be sold via La Place from March 2nd.

See tasting notes and scores for the three Balocchi di Colore wines

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