Warehouse
Deadline
October 22, 2026
Judging
Date
November 11, 2026
Winners
Announcement
November 26, 2026
Gratena Nero
Vintage 2019
87 Points
Gratena is a winery on the hills of Arezzo, Tuscany. It was purchased by my grandfather in 1968, he loved Tuscany and was attracted by a long road of cypress trees, a typical Tuscan road. Consisting of 180 hectares of which 152 hectares of Mediterranean forest, 18 hectares of vineyards and of these 14 certified Chianti and 4 certified Typical Geographical Indication. It also has 10 hectares of olive trees for a total of 1600 also certified PGI. The company has been completely organic since 1994, one of the first in Italy. It bottles and certifies everything organic, wine and olive oil. Total production can vary but is around 50/80,000 bottles per year. It also has 4 apartments for agritourism activities. Since 2000, Gratena has begun to internationalize and currently exports to many countries around the world. The main exporting countries are the United States, Canada and the UK. Before the main market was Sweden It differs from many other companies because from the beginning it decided to produce only native wines without imported vines. Sangiovese and Gratena Nero, a vine recently rediscovered and definitively certified by the Tuscany Region in 2017 of which we are the sole owners and producers. In 2018 it was certified that Gratena Nero is synonymous with Incrocio Terzi 1, a vine of small quantities planted around the Bergamo hills, in fact the last owner of Gratena was from Bergamo. Incrocio Terzi 1, therefore Gratena Nero, is a mix of Cabernet Franc and Barbera, this has been certified. The company has decided to concentrate all its efforts on Sangiovese and Gratena Nero to identify and impose its terroir and its brand. Small company but like many small companies, it carries out work based on an international background already present before and on brand enhancement programs which provide for its distribution and sale throughout the world only in the Ho.Re.Ca and specialized large-scale retail trade sector where required. All processing is natural, manual harvesting, spontaneous fermentation without yeasts and sulphites, fertilization with manure or with rain alone if abundant. Just a little sulphites before bottling allow our wines to last a long time. Nature helps us, not always, to keep our Terroir in balance.