My name is Donatella Cinelli Colombini and I welcome you to Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino and Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda, in a land of great Tuscan red wines.
My ancestors were already owners of these estates at the end of the 16rh century and today they are open to the public for tours and stays where one can enjoy experiences in the most beautiful countryside in the world.
Casato Prime Donne, the first Italian winery staffed entirely by women has reached International success thanks to the quality of its Brunello. Fattoria del Colle is a treasure chest of memoirs where visitors can experience the history of the Tuscan countryside in the midst of uncontaminated and organically cultivated nature.
In 1998 Donatella Cinelli Colombini left her family’s estate to start her own made up of Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino and Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda. Together with the vineyards, and the farmhouses in need of repair Donatella received some Brunello wine, and so she needed a cellar master to rack, age and bottle it. She called the Enology school in Siena, asking for a good student to hire as her cellar master. They answered that they had none; cellar masters had to be booked, years in advance. When Donatella asked the same question, specifying however that she wanted a female cellar master, the answer changed. There were many women available, as no winery would employ them. Realizing the great gap in opportunities destined for women and those for men, although with the same convinced Donatella Cinelli Colombini to create a project finalized in reducing this discrimination and demonstrating that the production of fine wines does not depend on muscles but on the passion and the talent that both genders have in equal measure.
This episode gave life to the Progetto Prime Donne that is made up of 4 components: Casato Prime Donne winery, Brunello di Montalcino Prime Donne, Casato Prime Donne Award and Prime Donne Trail –Ilda Bartoloni Hall
336 hectares on the hills facing Montalcino and its Brunello, Chianti Classico and the area of Nobile di Montepulciano.
A crossroads of great red wines. A land that gives birth to white truffles and an extraordinary extra virgin olive oil, inherited by Donatella Cinelli Colombini in 1998. Currently at Fattoria del Colle we grow 160 hectares of cereal crops, 6 hectares of olive groves and 17 hectares of vineyards with Sangiovese, Merlot, and Traminer varieties as well as Foglia Tonda an old autochthonous vine abandoned for more than a century, that we have re-launched. The Colle’s altitude at 204 m above sea level and the great difference in temperature between day and night due to the vicinity of the “Crete Senesi” determine the particular wealth of aromas in the wines of this area that are intense, complex and extremely fine.
Today Fattoria del Colle has become a wine destination, the first winery to have permanent activities, every day 5 different experiences, two guided tours, a vertical tasting of Brunello, a tasting lunch and a brief cookery lesson.
