Chianti wine: 3.600 grape-growers, 15.000 hectares of vineyards, more than 100 million bottles and after years of being forgotten, finally the rebirth

Fattoria_del_Colle_vineyards panorama_november 2012

In 24 months the export figure have gone from 40 to 70%, while the requests have picked up so much that the Consorzio del Chianti has considered anticipating the release of the new vintage in January rather than in March a sit was previously. The rebirth of the main Tuscan denomination has certainly benefitted from the positive atmosphere created by the events abroad organized by the Consorzio with Giovanni Busi as president. A true novelty for the Chianti wine, which is now organizing a road show of enormous proportions: China Japan and then the USA, Russia, Switzerland … Important steps along a path that still seems lengthy; in supermarkets in China sales start at 1,70€ per bottle while the cost on tap goes from 70 to 90 € per hectolitre. In the end, even if the bottles produced are more than 100 million, the total business is of only around 300 million Euro.

Read the article below!

The last Sunday in October, so this year on the 28th, Montalcino always relives the era of when it was a rich medieval centre with dames, knights and archers

Montalcino-Festival of the Thush-historic-cortège

The Sagra del tordo (Festival of the Thrush) is for the inhabitants of Montalcino a festivity to be spent with the family. The 4 Quartieri (quarters) into which the village is divided – Borghetto, Pianello, Ruga and Travaglio- are active all year round with dinners, event for the elderly and children, exhibitions, trips and other activities for the members.

With two fixed dates, in October and in August, they recall the grandeur of the past: an historic procession through the village streets the Trescone folk dance with the dress ware of old-time farmers and the archery contest. There will also be food stalls where the housewives will be serving wonderful dishes such as Pinci (large spaghetti made with fresh pasta) which are handmade, Donzelline (fried bread dough) scottiglia di cinghiale (wild boar in a stew), roasted meet on a turnspit, Pan coi Santi and other delicacies. The quality of these dishes prepared at home is so high that it definitely is worth the trip, also because to accompany the food there are bottles of Brunello wine and Rosso di Montalcino.

So do come, you will have a wonderful time!

Events between Crete Senesi and Val d’ Orcia by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

In addition to the 95 points for the Brunello Riserva 2006 and being on top of the Highly Recommended list, the “Wine Spectator” also highlights and rewards the Brunello wine and the Brunello Prime Donne 2007

Brunello_Riserva_PrimeDonne_DonatellaCinelliColombini

When Donatella Cinelli Colombini opened the “Wine Spectator” dated 30th September she found that her Brunello Riserva 2006 is the top of the “Spectator selections”. This is her dream come true. Every manufacturer hopes to see her wine in that magical place at least once in her career and Donatella has now achieved it.

But there was also other good news, a few pages later she found that her Brunello 2007 Prime Donne had been awarded 92 points and that her Brunello 2007 had received 90 points. What a wonderful result! The descriptions of these two wines were written by Bruce Sanderson, director of the “Tasting department” of this prestigious American magazine.

Here is what he wrote:

92 Brunello di Montalcino Prime Donne 2007. A powerful version characterized by flavours of cherries, plums and tobacco with a hint of juniper and mint. Dense tannins are interrupted in the final tastes of this wine by the sweetness of the fruit mixed together with a subtle spicy edge. This wine will be at its best between 2014 and 2027

90 Brunello di Montalcino 2007. Strong and muscular, this harmonious red gives us flavours of cherries, plums, tobacco and spices, with receding tannins and finally finishing with a freshness. This wine will be at its best between 2014 and 2027.

The article continues with more positive evaluations for the Rosso di Montalcino 2009 and 2010 both of which were judged worthy of 89/100 and both are amongst the top seven of their denomination. The description of the 2010, written by Bruce Sanderson, even starts to rival the comments for the Brunello.

Montalcino-Brunello-CasatoPrimeDonne-

Here it is: This big, rich red wine has notes of cherry, plum and hints of the earth. Dense and tannic, well balanced on a large scale. Its taste ends up being dry and satisfying. This wine will be at its best between 2013 and 2018.

The seasonal pattern this year resembles that of 1997, when wonderful Brunello wine was produced following a very hot summer and dry winter.

Vineyard-Sangiovese-Bonella Ciacci

Hopefully the same will occur in 2012 for the vineyards of the Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino and Fattoria del Colle in the Chianti and the Doc Orcia areas. The vines are in good health, but the incredible heat of June has already parched the arid land. After an autumn and winter of poor rains and heavy snowfall but at the same time a surprisingly dry period, we had poor spring rains and therefore there is not enough water stored in the soil. In comparison to the normal annual rainfall in the vineyards of this area, just in the past 12 months we have marked a reduction of more than half the normal rainfall. The vineyard soil is very dry and could force the wine producers to make a drastic reduction in the bunches of grapes during the green harvest, even if the short cold spring has already created a natural thinning in the bunches, just like in 1997.
For wines like Brunello and Chianti DOCGand also for DOC Orcia and Rosso di Montalcino irrigation is absolutely prohibited. It is allowed only in the vineyards on the farm and in fact the vineyard of the Croce, planted only last winter at the Casato Prime Donne di Montalcino, which has already been watered twice and will be watered again this week.

In the mature vineyards, we had a splendid setting, the load of the grapes is moderate with sparse bunches of small grapes. The trimming of the branches has been limited to the sprouts which were too long while the branches have been left with bunches of grapes well covered by leaves. The grapes are very healthy, the only phenomenon of some importance is a row of vines Ardita at

Brunello Sangiovese-Sara

the Casato Prime Donne which was struck by lightning and had its branches and leaves literally “burned out”. At the moment it is very hot during the day, the thermometer rises above 38 ° C and at night drops slightly below 30°.
For now all is well, the 10 tenant farmers are working with full commitment to produce extraordinary grapes and everything suggests that they will succeed.

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Marzia Morganti Tempestini tells us about Diam Bouchage where the innovative wine corks and other high-tech items were created as well as her visit to the Michelin star rated restaurant in Caceres which has a wine cellar containing 70,000 bottles.

Marzia Morganti and corks

Together with a group of journalists we were invited to the Diam Bouchage company, the huge world famous producer of high-tech corks. The visit to the cork factory in San Vicente in Alcantara in Spain was very interesting. It creates an almost surreal scene, after acres and acres of countryside and forests with the odd house dotted here and there, the Bouchage Diam factory suddenly appears in the distance, like a Cathedral in the middle of a desert. It is a stunning sight even before you enter it but it is the technology which is really impressive.

They have created a process, which has been developed over the last 10 years, which allows them to extract 140 molecules from the cork, including trichloroanisole, the infamous TCA that causes the smell of sawdust in wine. This leads to a new generation of wine corks which are entirely free of odours. Wine producers can breathe a sigh of relief, no longer will they have to replace bottles which have been tainted by the cork, but above all it will remove all the bad impressions which a corked bottle of wine leaves with customers and restaurant owners.

Currently they are producing over 1 billion corks a year but this is sure to increase. So all in all, a huge success!

Our visit had even more pleasant surprises in store: our visit to the small town of Caceres, set in the heart of Estramadura, which is a Unesco Heritage site. Here there is a Michelin starred restaurant called ‘Atrium’ which has a wine cellar which contains 70 thousand bottles of wine many of which are amongst the most prestigious in the world. The wine list is fantastic but the Italian wines do not have the lions share, indeed, there are only about seventy labels on the list.

Among the Tuscan wines listed there was the Sassicaia and three Brunello

Atrium Restaurant Chateau d'Yquem

from Col d’ Orcia, three Rosso di Montalcino – also Col d’ Orcia and some other bottles from Paradiso di Manfredi and Villa Poggio Salvi. The prices were not really affordable, the lists showed the price of 310 euros for the Col d’ Orcia 1989 double magnum, 1997 Vintage for 60 euros, and the Poggio al Vento 1995 reserve for 110 euros, the prices for the Rosso di Montalcino wines were more reasonable and ranged from 40 to 60 euros.

Brought to you by Marzia Morganti