IOsonoDonatella Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2015

IOsonoDonatella Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2015

The Brunello that Donatella Cinelli Colombini gifted herself when she realized that her dream of creating a winery and a wine established in the wine world

 

Donatella Cinelli Colombini tells of how she climbed her mountain leaving the comfort of a family of established Brunello producers to create an estate of her own <<in 1998 my parents gave me two properties to renovate in Tuscany, but at the beginning there were no cellars and the vineyards were to be replanted. My small team asked me “if someone calls what must we say” and I replied “you say that we are Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s estates >> a starting point that took her far.

At that time she had many doubts because she remembered her grandfather Giovanni Colombini’s advice <<never give your name to a company because when it is sold it is like giving your identity away>>.

 

DONATELLA GRANDE DAME OF BRUNELLO BUT ALSO PASSIONATE AND VISIONARY

But Donatella wanted to make it and doubts turned into opportunities because already in 2010 she was able to harvest a great Brunello and six years later she was invited to present the Riserva version, at the most exclusive tasting in the world, the New York Wine Experience.

A dream come true and that had to be celebrated by transforming the recommendation of her grandfather into a proud statement “IOsonoDonatella” the “pasionaria”, the visionary one who focuses on women, the revolutionary one who opens the Italian cellars to tourists the Grand Dame of Brunello as Vinum has recently called her <<so this is the wine that talks about me>>.

A very small series is born with only her first name on the packaging that tells her past as an art historian and expert in medieval gold-smithing. On the glass bottle there is in fact a glitter shape that forms a ring with her gold logo in the centre as if it were a Gothic seal.
So far 4 vintages of Brunello IOsonoDonatella have been produced: 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015 because only the best harvests are used for  these small selections of 600 or 1.300 bottles intended for an audience of enthusiasts looking for rare and high quality wines.

 

BRUNELLO 2015 IOsonoDonatella TECHNICAL SHEET

TYPE: dry red.
PRODUCTION AREA: Tuscany, Montalcino, Casato Prime Donne
VINTAGE CHARACTERISTICS:very hydrated soil thanks to the rainy 2014 vintage and the rainy winter 2015. Spring precipitations disturbed flowering and reduced the number and size of clusters.  Very hot July cool August. Early budding, veraison according to the normal calendar at the end of July.
GRAPE VARIETY: 100% Sangiovese. The grapes come from the Ardita vineyard planted in 2002 with 5.500 vines trained with the spurred cordon method.
GRAPE HARVEST: The grapes were handpicked with careful choosing of the clusters in the vineyards and on the sorting table in the cellar. Healthy grapes, with very homogeneous ripening that allowed a very fast harvest. In 9 days all the Sangiovese from the estate’s vineyards reached the cellar.
VINIFICATION: In truncated cone shaped concrete vats open on top with plunger and temperature control. Indigenous yeasts chosen at Casato Prime Donne. The alcoholic fermentation was very slow with spontaneously low temperatures, and the maceration in contact with the skins lasted longer than usual too.
AGEING IN CASK: For two and a half years in 5-7 hectolitre French oak tonneau made in artisan workshops that split the oak following the natural line of wood. Before bottling, the wine stayed six months in a bare concrete egg.

 

DESCRIPTION OF BRUNELLO IOsonoDonatella

COLOR: bright ruby red, the richness of noble substances is evident from the very slow movement of the liquid in the glass.
BOUQUET: complex, fine, intense. The references to small ripe red fruits, even exotic, spices such as black pepper, and liquorice are evident. Suggestions reminiscent of tobacco and undergrowth.
TASTE: extraordinarily pleasant, it is harmonious, elegant vertical and silky thanks to very soft tannins. The good acid structure appears perfectly balanced by alcohol and fruit with an effect of pleasant tastiness that lasts for a long time in the mouth.
ANALYSIS: alcohol 14%vol, ac. Tot 5,0g/l, ac. Volatile0,70 g/l, dry extracts 33,2 g/l

 

HOW TO SERVE THE BRUNELLO IOsonoDonatella

FOOD PAIRING: important meat dishes and aged cheeses.

TABLE SERVICE: Room temperature (18 °C). Clear crystal goblets with wide cup. It is advisable to uncork an hour before serving, possibly oxygenating the wine in the decanter. When it has reached its twenty years of life, Brunello IOsonoDonatella will need to be opened earlier, decanted and served at a slightly higher temperature.

CELLARING: 30-40 years and more. Lay the bottles down, in the dark and cold. Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s winery replaces the corks, certifying the operation after 20 years from the year of bottling.