About 2000 antique bottles of Brunello, Cenerentola Doc Orcia and IGT “Il Drago e le 8 Colombe” enrich the cellar at Fattoria del Colle

Fattoria del Colle – room for Il Drago e le 8 Colombe

Year after year we put aside 100 bottles of our most important wines before completely finishing the vintage. A tradition which has created a small treasure in wine. Contrary to the Tuscan tradition I do not keep Vin Santo, because I do not like sweet wines and so I do not feel the need of keeping them in a sort of “historic archive”. Maybe it’s wrong but my heart beats faster for great reds.

The bottles of Brunello since 1993 are kept in the hermitage at Fattoria del Colle, a square room with vaulted ceiling which is found under the historic cellar. It resembles a bank caveau and is shut with a gate and padlock. The Casato Prime Donne award celebration bottles are kept in a small cell which was once used as a stable for the donkey.

Clara Melchiorre Photography

Here is the story of a fashion reporter who is set to conquest of the world: Clara Melchiorre only 19 years old and incredibly talented

She is Pugliese from, Bari, she is 19 years old and has been living in Milan for a few months, she is currently attending the IED, the best photography school in Italy. She began her photography career by taking photos of her cousin who was dressing up in her mother’s clothes, she managed to have these first shots published in ‘Sette’ in the publication Corriere della Sera, on ‘Vogue’s’ website and in ‘Velvet’.

But for Clara, a student at the Classical High School in Bari, this was not enough. She persuaded her architect father and then totally convinced her mother (who is a therapist for autistic children), that she should not go on to study a conventional course at university but instead follow her vocation as a photographer. Bibiana and Massimiliano Melchiorre were unhappy about their separation from their daughter but they let her leave for Milan, and the obvious talents of their daughter have blown away any possible doubts as to the wisdom of this decision.

In answer to the question “who drinks the wine the men or the women?” 90% replied “men” in Japan 42% of the respondents answered “women”.

London - Violante and Donatella with 2 customers at Harrods

This was one of the many great surprises we found in the survey that Vinexpo (2009) the largest wine fair in the world, provided in order to illustrate profiles of our current wine consumers across the world. The results identified 3 types of wine consumer: the ‘epicurean’, the ‘modern’ and the individual who is ‘free of complexes’.

The wine consumer classified as the ‘The Epicurean’ drinks at least one glass of wine a week without feeling embarrassed. She considers wine as being a qualifying component of her lifestyle and she improves her knowledge of the wine and the quality of her consumption with the passing years.

The Italian economic crisis forces wine producers to export. Here are the average prices of our wines abroad compared to those of the cleverest of the all: the new Zealanders.

In Italy the main sales of wine come through department stores: 571 million litres old in 2011 and 62% of the habitual total acquisition. In the supermarkets business tied to 0,75 lt. bottles is the main business and it has increate by 4,5% compared to a contemporary contraction of bottle sizes which are more economic.
It seem that retail sales are moving in on wine stores while the decrease in amount spent on food by the consumer is beginning to have an effect also on cheaper wines.
The average price of wine in a carton is 1,14€. This is a small sum, practically like mineral water. Wine in a 0,75 lt. bottle increases to 4,28€ but we are still a long way of the amounts that make it remunerative to cultivate vineyards, which is where about ¼ of the price paid by the consumer goes.

They have modified the importance of aromas, the bottle aesthetics, the styles of shops and they have created a boom in bubbles

Le Donne del vino in action

Young women are a sector of wine consumers in growth and they have begun a sort of revolution forcing producers and sellers to look upon them with respect and with some preoccupation because among their many good aspects there is one defect which is quite worrying: they are unfaithful.

Let’s take a closer look at the new protagonist of the wine market, the female consumers. The prevalence of habitual drinkers in Italy is male, 58% against the 41% of female consumers.
Among the occasional consumers there is equilibrium among the genders.
As if to say: women drink less frequently but maybe in a more careful way as they use wine as a socializing instrument and even as a means of emancipation.
More and more often women choose the wine at the restaurant and taste it before the waiter goes ahead to serve it. Female consumers have stopped being embarrassed, and among the gentlemen, there are even those who find them sexy.