Great enthusiasm for Brunello who, in the workshop, was charged by restaurateurs, sommeliers and importers all wishing to taste and buy it

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Violante during the Brunello tasting in Moscow

My journey to Russia with Violante began last Sunday with a series of hiccups: an error in the visa with an hours delay in customs. Summer temperatures with winter clothes in our suitcases. A fraud of a taxi driver who tries to make us pay double for the journey from the airport to the hotel. Definitely we started off on the wrong foot!
Luckily the dinner with our distributor, in a refined Italian restaurant, is a real success. The city is spectacular, with respect to 8 years ago when I was last here, it seems another place. Well kept and well lit buildings and elegant restaurants, and many young people, in fact only young people. In fact along the roads no elderly citizens and no dogs.

An experience of aromas, great wines, and traditional food at Fattoria del Colle following Gloria and Violante on a sensorial trail

Shiseido - Féminité du bois - Fattoria del Colle -Gloria and Violante

Saturday May12th. A double birthday: 140 years of Shiseido and 40 years of the Profumeria Nella in Sinalunga, a myth for the women in southern Tuscany. The party, organized by Gloria, owner of the perfume shop and by Violante young export manager for Donatella Cinelli Colombini, is a mixture of transgression, sophistication and tradition.

The guests were taken along a multisensory itinerary which began in the park where they discovered the Féminité du bois, a perfume created by Serge Lutens for Shiseido. This is a first step towards the magic, with witches, fairies and pixies which seem to jump out of the bottles of perfume: violate, orange mixed with cedar, ginger and vanilla finishing with cinnamon and cloves. An experience which emphasizes the beauty of the park at Fattoria del Colle and which is matched with rosato IGT 2011 Rosa di tetto. It too begins with violet aromas which then develop in the mouth with intense and long tasting suggestions

First food tasting and then the sensorial trip continues in the 16th century

Fattoria del Colle-Billiard room –presentation of the Chergui fragrance – Cenerentola wine

villa at Fattoria del Colle where the second phase begins with another perfume: Chergui. The wine tasting becomes more complex even though the protagonist is Cenerentola Doc Orcia 2007 a sumptuous red which accompanies traditional dishes such as “ sedanini con sugo bugiardo” and “ il timballo di baccalà”.

Last phase of the multisensory itinerary is in the park in front of the old olive mill, where the scenography is ready for the cutting of the birthday cake and the presentation of the new perfume called L’Eau. Here lemon is the protagonist and is called upon to be in prime position on the composition for the table.

At the end, tired but happy, Gloria and Violante say goodbye to the guests and receive great compliments for having organized a great special evening getting all to discover the art of appreciating aromas and experiencing olfactory emotions
Seen for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

The snowfall blocked Donatella and Antonio Gnassi who per expected at the Wine Tourism Conference but gave Violante great feeling in the wellness centre

Wellness center Fattoria del Colle - snow effects - February 2012

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Never seen a such a snow fall. The road for Fattoria del Colle was completely covered with more than a meter of snow..
In one way it was something to be happy about for the good water supply for the soil after a very
We had here as a guest one of the major world experts in web marketing, Professor Antonio Gnassi from the Middlesex University in London consultant for very important companies and very large events .

A table dressed with handmade tuscan tissues and dishes

In the medieval heart of Siena “Toscana lovers” offers the best from Tuscan craftsmen,  traditional and trendy items, all exclusive and individually designed and produced

 
‘ Toscana lovers’ is situated just a few metres from the Piazza del Campo in the Noble Contrada of the Oca; it is not far away from the house where St Catherine was born in 1347. We are obviously in the medieval heart of Siena where the three oldest parts of the city intersect.

The building which currently houses the shop was originally a convent, then in later years, like everything in Fontebranda ward, it was used as a workshop and for commercial trade. It is here that Nello Bianchini started his leather shop in the beginning of the twentieth century.

From Nello the shop passed to his daughter Lelia and from her to her son Carlo Gardini who was born in the apartment above the shop.

Carlo married Donatella Cinelli Colombini, and together, in 2006, they created ‘Toscana lovers’ a shop which is dedicated to stocking the traditional and excellent crafts which are still being produced in Tuscany.

Under the guidance of their daughter Violante and Chiara Nesi ‘Toscana lovers’ has  become a popular place to visit for the most discerning tourists who visit the city. Each season the shop stocks a new selection of handmade products and items of outstanding creativity which have been produced in Tuscany, all of the items are exclusive, each item extremely diverse from each other.   For example items which are to be found in the shop range from the following – knives from Scarperia di Saladini, to the Copper animals by Gallo Rodino, the stunning Busatti fabrics, the dishes and trays of Ceramiche Virginia  and the embroidered sheets of Cotti Maryanne, the cloaks by Casentino and scarves by Neri Firenze, the throws from Cecchi & Cecchi , some soaps from Florentina and last, but not least of course, the wine produced in the wine cellars of the family -  from the Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino and the Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda.

From 23rd August until  3rd October in Harrods, the most famous department store in the world, where luxury goods from all commercial genres are to be found: fashion, accessories, latest designs and food, is promoting Tuscan wine from 30 leading  wine manufacturers and among them are several wines from Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Violante at Ellis of Richmond's

As this was a very important event, Donatella jumped on a plane and went to London. This is a very rare event as she normally leaves the task of travelling abroad to her daughter Violante and to Luca Mittica. But this time she went in person to represent her wines.There were two full days of meetings. The first with the importers Ellis of Richmond, who have been in the wine market since 1822.  This is a family business which is very successful as was demonstrated by their warehouse  which is stocked with a million bottles of wine, the vast majority of  which are premium quality wines.
The second day was spent in Harrods where she organized a wine tasting, this event was reserved for customers with high spending capacity. After two and a half hours 320 bottles of wine had been sold 30 of which were Donatella’s Brunello.
Twelve employees work in the wine department of this famous London store, they are all young and all highly competent. What is astonishing are their sales abilities.  They assist customers in selecting the wines and inform them, with an excellent level of knowledge about the history and the diverse production techniques of all the wineries such as Stellembosh, Burgundy or Mendoza in Argentina. They know everything about everyone. Anyone who thinks of England as a country with poor winemaking expertise needs to think again. These sales people need to be highly competent as they are selling wines to customers who themselves have a huge specialist knowledge of wines.  If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she wouldn’t have believed it! Donatella and Violante gave a wine tasting of the Brunello and Doc Orcia ‘Leone Rosso’ to these young salespeople from Harrods,  and  the questions that they posed ranged from the different types of soil, to  the various vines and the rootstocks which are used, in other words excellent questions which you would expect to receive from experienced wine salespeople who were eager to learn more.
One individual particularly stood out from the rest, Francesca Cioce, a Sicilian  who has lived in Britain for 12 years

Donatella and Violante at Harrods in London

 but  who still passionately loves her mother country Italy and Italian wines. Within Harrods she is a very strong supporter of all the Italian producers. She is cheerful, positive, tireless individual who is full of energy, an altogether lovely person. She loves living in London but dreams of returning to her true home, Sicily. She is, as Dante himself was before her, a strong supporter of the Banfi wines, Dante also enjoyed tasting this wonderful wine on British soil many years ago. The real splendour of the London streets will be even further enhanced next year when it will host the next Olympic games.