2022 Soffocone di Vincigliata
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Tasting notes
The 2022 Soffocone di Vincigliata is dusty and floral in character, mixing rose petals with scant black cherry and clove. It’s silken in feel, with cool-toned acidity and a liquid floral concentration that coats the senses. The 2022 leaves hints of baking spice and dried strawberries while tapering off gently tannic and long.
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Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
Eric Guido, Vinous
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I have not tasted this Bibi Graetz wine since the 2014 vintage. Featuring his artwork on the front label (created when Bibi was a 23-year-old art student), the 2022 Soffocone di Vincigliata is all Sangiovese, mostly from his family's historic plots, both warm parcels and cooler parcels, near Fiesole in Vincigliata. This wine has made big improvements over the years. Showing a dark hue and extra concentration for the grape, it delivers blackberry, lead pencil and powdery tannins on the finish. It ages in oak for 18 months in Bibi's crazy hotel-turned-winery facility, but only 0.5% of the oak is new. The rest of the barrels are 20 years old or more. Bibi seeks oxygen exchange, and he vinifies his parcels separately. I asked him about coopers, but he says he is less interested in brands and uses a mix of barrels from all over.
About the producer
Based just outside Florence, Bibi Graetz is something of a maverick in the Tuscan wine scene. Working with old vineyards of indigenous grapes around Chianti, he produces intense wines classified as IGT Toscana; not fitting neatly in either the Super Tuscan or Chianti camp.