“L’Alberello” Rosso Toscana IGT 2022 (BIO) · 6 bottles in OWC

Grattamacco | Tuscany
Collemassari S.p.A. s.a. | Via Di Porta Pinciana 6 | IT 00187 Roma

09773322 · 4,5 l · 86,22 €/l · Price (DE) incl. VAT, excl. Shipping3 units available

In 2004, Grattamacco did something that nobody in Bolgheri thought necessary: converting two hectares of vineyards to the Alberello training system – the traditional, bushy training system that has been practised in Sicily and Sardinia for centuries, but which simply did not exist in Bolgheri. This was not a nostalgic look back, nor a romanticisation. It was a response to an increasingly pressing reality: heat and drought. The Alberello training system makes the vines more resilient. Their low, spreading growth shades the ground, reduces water evaporation and forces the roots to grow deeper. The vines were planted according to the so-called ‘settonce’ pattern – a hexagonal system in which each vine is exactly the same distance from all its surrounding neighbours. An arrangement that combines maximum space with minimal competition.

The result of this approach is that Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc ripen at exactly the same time – and are harvested together. Not as two separate components that are vinified separately and later blended, but as a single harvest that undergoes spontaneous fermentation together, with long maceration periods. This co-fermentation of the two Cabernet varieties yields aromatic notes – — balsamic, spicy, with a distinctive inner tension –that no separate ageing process could ever produce. One kilogram per vine. Hand-harvested in the third week of September. 18 months in barriques.

2022 was hot and dry until generous rainfall from mid-August through to the first ten days of September restored balance to the ripening process. The Alberello vines produced a better crop this summer than any Guyot-trained vineyard in the appellation. Deep, luminous ruby red. The bouquet is balsamic and spicy, with dark fruit, cassis, cedar wood and Mediterranean herbs. On the palate, it is full-bodied and structured, with well-integrated tannins and a long, elegant final with a balsamic aftertaste. Bolgheri – with a vision of a bygone era. SUPERIORE.DE