The Wine Show Tuscany Special: Part 3

After all our hard work, it's finally time to sit down and taste the pinnacle of Igrepi's achievements. I think you need to get some wine in the glasses. So what are we going to have first? Keaton, are you going to go and take us through this? This is what it's all built up for. So Keaton, we're going to have, this is the Greppi Kaia, isn't it? Yeah, so we're going to have the Greppi Kaia 15 and Greppi Kaia 2016. At last. The vineyard has ambitions to take on some of the region's great names with this wine. It's called Greppi Kaia, and we're going to be tasting it in what we wine people call a vertical. That just means comparing the same wine from multiple years. We're starting with the 2015 and the 2016. 2015, I believe, is when Bulgari was actually noted for being one of the best wines, producing one of the best wines in the world. And so it's become famous as a vintage. 15? Yes. I'm putting it in my nose. Come on, everybody, dive in, dive in. I mean, the best year for 30 years or something. It was just, many wines were very well-acclaimed from 2015 and 2016, so. So this is the pinnacle of what we've been working towards. This is a super, super Tuscan. So this is going to be the Greppi Kaia blend before E. Greppi was transformed under its new ownership, was actually quite different from the new blend. So the 2015 and the 2016 are actually going to have a majority Merlot. So you can get that more in the palate, it's a bit softer, and you have that in the aromatics as well. That's very nice. I'm trying to think of the sort of, I like to always think of the texture words first, plush. Is that a good word? Plush, yeah, absolutely. Which is your favourite, Dom? I've mixed up which ones, I'm not quite sure which is which. So 15 is the left, so that's 15 now, and then it's 16 on the right. Yes, it's slightly more, yes. And you're being observed here, Sophia and Lucy are both watching, they're going to judge you furiously. Yeah, really, well, you're. I know which is my fave. Which, do you have a favourite, Sophia? 15. You're 15, why? I don't know the taste. It is very soft and supple and surrounding. What about you, Lucy? I'm the same, 15, I think. I think the 16, I tend to think, is slightly more peppery, maybe, than the 15. I wouldn't send either of them back, let's say. No, absolutely not, I'm quite happy. They're the same proportion of cab and mellow. Yes. Yeah, they're exactly the same. Yeah. It's the 15, it's just got another year of glory on it, isn't it, it's just slightly softer. See, I'm the problem here, I really love the 16. I think the 15 is more immediately giving. The 15 is ready to kind of show on the nose, it's already opened up, it's very forward in terms of the aromatics, whereas the 16 kind of needs time and it draws you in slowly. I would actually agree with you, I'm for the 16. So it would seem that the 2015 was the winner there, even though Keaton and I preferred the 2016. Onwards to the wine from the new regime, in a new bottle designed by marketing director Marco Filippeschi, the Greppi Chia 2017 and 2018. Can we try these, we move on? Absolutely. I want to go and see what the next sort of generation's, because now they look different, because it's got different sort of bottle and it's the lakes. Kudos to Marco. That's you. Yeah, yeah, I thought to remove the label because it was too similar to our base wine, Greppi Cante. So I thought to remove the label and screen printing directly on the glass, the two lakes and the name of the wine. The map wrapper is a? The map is a tribute to the local people. There is all the podere, all the houses, all the streets names in the map and obviously our lakes and our logo where we are. I like whenever anything's very local, Marco pipes up and says, well I decided to go and make this very local. You always pop up, you're absolutely fighting the corner, aren't you? For the Italians, rather than the Welsh and the Americans over here. Yeah, I have to keep the flag into the ground because I represent the Italy in this strange, but very beautiful company and I'm so proud to work with a Welsh, an American, an Albanian and an Irish owner. It's like a terrible joke. You're like a Welshman, an American and an Italian. We need two guys here, one Welshman, one American. I have no idea what the punchline is, but I'm going to work on that for a while now. Right, here we go. So you've tasted them both, Tom? I haven't tasted them yet, no. Go on, just kick on. So there's this big shift, isn't there, in the blend? So you go from Merlot, actually now we get into the world of Cabernet Sauvignon in a serious, meaty way. Yes, absolutely. There's a synergy between Ygrepi and California. I think it's much more intense and I love it actually. So what's the change again? So we almost inverted the blend. Right. So it was a majority Merlot before. How much? And now we're 60%. And now we're working towards 50 to 55% between these two vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines just have this, yeah, this opulence, this ageability and this richness to them that I think is evident from changing from the 16 to the 17. You really get a sense of that. Are you able to just enjoy wine or do you always think of it through a rather scientific lens? You have to enjoy wine. You have to. You have to turn that off. I'm going to ask you the most stupid question of all time. Oh, good. Have you enjoyed it? I've loved it. It's been rather amazing to be in an area in this beautiful part of Italy that manages to combine a sort of pioneer spirit with a, it would be with these young, you know, that young maker, young winemaker, Keaton's making these incredible wines in this area that sort of has so much history because it's Italy, but has so recent a history that it's able to be innovative and pioneering. And it's, I've loved it. I think the wines are incredible. Which one did you, I've bought the 2018. Yeah, I prefer the later ones. I prefer the 17 and 18s. I just prefer that more Cabernet. Listen to you. I prefer the 17s and 18s. Yes, I prefer mine. I like them all, do you know what I mean? But the Cabernet, I think it's delicious. The transformation. And also, I think the Franc. I love Cabernet Franc. I think it's, I love that, but I don't know what it gives it. What does it give it? There is a freshness and a lift that you get from Cabernet Franc. And I think our palates have changed. Actually, in the time I've been in the wine trade, people used to like big soupy monsters. And now we like a freshness and it's picked up. I've loved it. Thank you very much. And thank you to. You didn't thank me very much. I get to come as well. Have a marvelous time. I know, but I get your vast encyclopedic knowledge. You know why you're here? Dom. Why? It was James who said, take Dom. He hasn't been on a trip. Here's to James. You should take something. I will, I'll pretend to take him. We will drink this one, obviously, between the two of us. I only live an hour from him now, so I'll take him a bottle. Take him a bottle. 18. Have a bit more. What a good guy. Cheers. Here's to Agrippi and all who sail in her.