Grattamacco

Grattamacco was the second winery in Bolgheri, after Sassicaia. Piermario Meletti Cavallari took on the farm in 1977 and made his first vintage in 1982. The Tipa family, who also own Poggio di Sotto in Montalcino, took over in 2002, and Luca Marrone has made the wine for more than 20 years.

The estate keeps Sangiovese in its Bolgheri Superiore, where most neighbors use Bordeaux grapes alone. The Superiore ferments by hand in small open wooden vats and ages in a cellar dug into the hill. Grattamacco planted Bolgheri's first Vermentino in 1986, and in 2004 it was the first in Bolgheri to plant head-trained alberello vines, which now give the wine called L'Alberello.

There are 34 hectares of vines on an 80-hectare estate, some above 200 meters, which is high for Bolgheri. The name points to the hard sandstone and limestone left over from smelting iron on this hill, and the poor soils suit vines better than most crops.