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My red lion (Leone Rosso) that has been roaring for 400 years

Leone Rosso Doc Orcia a wine that gives pleasure and tells the story of Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s heretic ancestors who built Fattoria del Colle

Leone-Rosso-2015-Fattoria-del-Colle

Leone-Rosso-2015-Fattoria-del-Colle

The rampant lion is engraved at the entrances at Fattoria del Colle , on the ceilings, and on the majolica blazons it is an evident presence and symbol of the long history of this place. It is the emblem of the Socini, or Soccini family, Donatella ancestors who built Fattoria del Colle in 1592. The Socini was a Sienese family of jurists and thinkers, that were rich and prestigious until, Lelio (1525-1562) and Fausto (1539-1604) Socino became important characters in the protestant reform and most of all very much opponents of the dogma of trinity. Still today their names are written in every book on philosophy, but by the church they were considered heretics and so they were forced to escape abroad and brought their family to ruin. In 1919 Donatella’s great-grandfather Livio Socini bought Fattoria del Colle back, quite by chance. Donatella got the estate fro her dad Fausto Cinelli in 1998 and has dedicated to the Socini family the wine she has produced there, “Leone Rosso” DOC Orcia.

THE  DOC ORCIA WINE REGION

Fattoria-del-Colle-villa-ceiling

Fattoria-del-Colle-villa-ceiling

The appellation ORCIA was born in the year 2000 in Southern Tuscany, in a vast hilly region that reaches as far as the Crete Senesi going towards Monte Amiata. An area that includes 12 villages, where once the spring frosts damaged the vines one year out of three, and consequently discouraging wine production. Since the beginning of climate changes these frosts have practically disappeared, the last one was in 1997, while the cool climate with practically cold summer nights helps the production of high quality grapes because the ripening is generally slow and regular while the acidic content of the grapes and of the wines is a particular characteristic of the DOC Orcia appellation and a guarantee of longevity.   Read more…

Toscana Lovers has opened in Cortona, Vi aspettiamo!

The third Toscana Lovers store opens in the most American of the small Tuscan cities of art: Cortona. Here we propose exclusive and refined handicraft

Toscana Lovers Cortona

Toscana Lovers Cortona

Cortona is the town in Under the Tuscan Sun written by Frances Mayes.  Cortona is of Etruscan and Renaissance origin, a city full of elegant shops and with a surrounding countryside full of villas and farm transformed into luxury homes for rich US millionaires.

Toscana Lovers Cortona is in front of the steps of the Palazzo Comunale and proposes the best Tuscan handicraft just like the two previous shops: one in Piazza Indipendenza in Siena, round the corner form the square where the Palio race is held and another in Bagno Vignoni only existent medieval spa. In Cortona too the products on sale come from the workshops of laboratories of real artists where modern creativity blends with traditional manual labour. An assortment created by Carlo Gardini

Toscana Lovers Cortona

Toscana Lovers Cortona

and his wife Donatella Cinelli Colombini through the years, visiting artisans who can interprets the modern trends. No souvenirs no old style objects, only fragments of the real Tuscany, exclusive objects, sometimes unique, to be used, to ware, or to be gifted.

For example the knives sold in Toscana Lovers Cortona are from Scarperia. Scarperia is one of the places with the oldest and most prestigious production of “cutting blades”; table knives with horn handles, but also knives for collectors that last for centuries, and like jewels, get passed from generation to generation, becoming always more valuable just like small masterpieces destined for the antique market. Read more…

Cenerentola’s gown of light

A wine story that resembles a fairy tale: Doc Orcia Cenerentola wears a gown of light, goes to the ball and becomes a princess. At Vinitaly (HALL 6 STAND D4)

Cenerentola-DOC-Orcia

Cenerentola-DOC-Orcia

Vinitaly 2018 sees the launching of a special edition of 50 pieces, Magnums “dressed” with a spectacular lamp in Tuscan style. 

CENERENTOLA’S STORY BECOMES A WINE

Once upon a time there was a nice young girl called Cenerentola (Cinderella). The prince invites her sisters to the party, but she stays at home until a fairy visits her bringing her a wonderful gown….Once upon a time there was a wine appellation called DOC Orcia. She had two sisters, older and more famous than her, Brunello and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano that are on the left and the right. She too would like to go to balls, where her sisters’ bottles go, and so the fairy, represented by Donatella Cinelli Colombini, dresses our DOC Orcia Cenerentola with a gown made of light and sends her to the party. This really does seem like a fairy tale with a happy ending. The special edition of 50 pieces, Magnums dressed with a spectacular lamp in Tuscan style will be protagonist at Vinitaly 2018 at Hall 6 Stand D4 under Donatella Cinelli Colombini

THE TRUE STORY OF CENERENTOLA DOC ORCIA

Lamp-Cenerentola

Lamp-Cenerentola

The young and feisty Doc Orcia was born on February 14th 2000. In the area of Trequanda (SI) where the Fattoria del Colle was  built in 1592 by the ancestors of Donatella Cinelli Colombini, the present owner.

Donatella believes in this appellation, so much so that she is the president of this Consortium. She also believes in autochthonous varieties with the features of their old identity that give a unique stamp to wines from a specific territory. This is why she recovered the old Sienese variety Foglia Tonda with its distinctive features, abandoned  for almost a century, and experimented on the best ways of cultivating it, containing  its natural tendency to produce too many clusters.  A long study, with a few setbacks and many trials with the help of Professor Cesare Intrieri of the University of Bologna and with the fervent support of Valérie Lavigne at of the University of Bordeaux. Read more…

The quercia Italia at Fattoria del Colle

The monumental tree at Fattoria del Colle is called quercia Italia and is about 160 years old. Its trunk and its branches frame a breathtaking panorama

Quercia Italia Fattoria del colle vineyards in autumn

Quercia Italia Fattoria del colle vineyards in autumn

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

It was born around 1860 when Tuscany voted the plebiscite for the annexation to the Kingdom of Italy. This is why it is called Quercia Italia. The Tuscans voted on March 11th and 12th 1860, with 366.571 favourable votes, about 96% of the voting population. To be noted that becoming part of Italy meant that women lost their right to vote, whereas whilst part of the Grand duchy they could since 1849. Our oak tree consequently remembers an important moment of local history. It is in front of Villa Archi in one of the spots where the panorama is unforgettable. A glimpse of something that seems to come out of a 14th century fresco. Fattoria-del-Colle-Trequanda-300x225This view stretches from Monte Amiata on the right to Siena on the opposite side and in the middle the soft hills of the Crete Senesi and of the Val d’Orcia. No factories, no overpasses, everything seems miraculously intact, only that at sunset the electric lights come on!

The quercia Italia has an enormous trunk. At 130 cm from the ground its circumference is of 4, 20 meters and a little above its heavy branches begin. However it is so well proportioned that it does not reveal its grandiosity straight away. Its canopy is also large but not very large maybe because the very sandy soil has beneath it a Layer of compact clay that stops the roots to go very deep. For this reason in the hot and very dry summer in 2017 lots of oak trees in the woods surrounding Fattoria del Colle became yellow as if they were about to die. Read more…

Excellent ratings for Brunello from Robert Parker – Wine Advocate

Wine Advocate ratings Brunello13

Brunello Prime Donne 2013 – 95,  Brunello Riserva 2012 – 93, Brunello 2013 – 92, Brunello 2012 Io sono Donatella 91 from Monica Larner – Robert Parker-Wine Advocate

Ratings Wine Advocate 18By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Casato Prime Donne

Monica I love you!

It is easy for a wine producer to love a wine critic who appreciates their wine. But it is even easier to love a wine critic who appreciates the wine and sees mirrored in it the producer’s personality. For this reason I really adore Monica Larner the Italian reviewer for Robert Parker Jr- Wine Advocate .When she wrote <<….because of her steadfast dedication to all things Tuscan and wine-related, she is one of the figures I admire most in today’s world of vino italiano>>  I nearly fainted.

Monica-Larner-and-Robert-Parker

Monica-Larner-and-Robert-Parker

Monica was born into a family connected to wine and cinema. Her father Steven Larner, of whom she writes with great love, has been director of photography for very successful films and TV productions, while her brother is wine maker in the family estate in the Ballard Canyon, in Santa Barbara, California and has passed the last few months living the nightmare of the California wildfires.

Monica has had on-hand experience regarding grape growing, including the pruning process. She has in other words a past as a pure journalist with collaborations with La Repubblica, International Herald Tribune and Corriere della Sera, but at the same time a real “grape grower”. In 2003 she began working for Wine Enthusiast and judging Italian wines and getting famous for her great nose able to discover emerging wines from regions such as Etna. Read more…

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