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By Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

THE ADVANCE OF WHITE WINES AND EXCESS PRODUCTION

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE CHANGE IN WINE CONSUMPTION FROM RED TO WHITE AND THE NEED TO RECONVERT WHICH ESPECIALLY CONCERNS TUSCANY, THE LAND OF SANGIOVESE

San_Gimignano e vigne di vernaccia

The ISMEA 2024 wine sheet is an excellent observation point and helps us frame the Italian situation in the global scenario. On the planet, wine consumption fell from 246 million hectolitres in 2018 to 232 in 2022 while production, net of the 2018 big harvest and the 2023 slide, remained almost stable at 252 million hectolitres. What has changed is the colour: in the last 5 years the production of white wines has gone from 55% to 57.7% of the total. So the excess production is red in colour and this explains the massive clearing of vineyards in the less reputed areas of Bordeaux and the rumours of similar measures also in Spain.

One wonders whether these interventions will be enough to save the fall in prices, given the continuous increase in production in the areas without European regulations and production costs. I’m thinking of Chile, Argentina or China.

16 May 2024

Brunello 2018 according to canadian tasters

DAVID LAWRASON, JOHN SZABO MS, MICHAEL GODEL, SARA D’AMATO, MEGHA JANDHYALA, S.J.D. AND JANET DOROZYNSKI, DIPWSET, PHD, JASON SOLANKI TASTE BRUNELLO 2018

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

Wine Align is a rating agency like Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s. These evaluate the banks while Wine Align judges the wines.

Obviously the experts are highly competent and completely independent: David Lawrason, John Szabo MS, Michael Godel, Sara d’Amato, Megha Jandhyala, S.J.D. and Janet Dorozynski, DipWSET, PhD who are the new entries in the group joined by Jason Solanki. Next to the profile of each taster there are the numbers of wines passed or failed which, roughly speaking, are a third of the total. So sending your bottles to Wine Align is a risk because criticism is very frequent but, when the opinion is positive, it has a tonic effect on the Canadian market and specifically in Ontario where Wine Align is based.

In this case I propose the 5 tasting results published on my Brunello di Montalcino 2018. All the critics gave similar scores, three of them 94/100 and two 93/100. The descriptions, however, are different and denote a certain difficulty in framing an “old style” harvest played more on elegance than on power. A vintage which, in my opinion, will be very long-lived but which many find extremely satisfying even now.

9 May 2024

DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI PRESENTS CANTINE APERTE

MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES AT CASATO PRIME DONNE AND FATTORIA DEL COLLE IN TUSCANY FOR THE 2024 EDITION OF CANTINE APERTE DEDICATED TO GREAT WINES AND DOP TUSCAN BREAD

Donatella Cinelli Colombini celebrates Cantine Aperte on 25-26 May 2024 by offering wine lovers who come to her wineries two different and memorable experiences. Itinerant tastings inside and outside the cellars interspersed with stories, tastings of great Brunello and Orcia Doc wines paired with traditional food.

CANTINE APERTE 2024 AT CASATO PRIME DONNE IN MONTALCINO

Here the DOP Tuscan bread made with regional wheat, sourdough and strictly without salt, is accompanied by very tasty Cinta Senese salami (medieval breed of pigs), aged pecorino cheese, extra virgin olive oil from Moraiolo, vegetables grown by the farmers, “Dante’s soup” made with the ingredients that were there in the year 1300 when the great poet passed through this area on his way to Rome.

2 May 2024

BRUNELLO RISERVA 2013 TASTED BY ERIC GUIDO VINOUS

23 April 2024

ONLY FOR THE CLUB: ORGANIC BRUNELLO 2018 “LATE VINTAGE RELEASE”

The proposal includes 6 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino 2018 late vintage release, each numbered and wrapped to be received directly at your home at a cost of €297.00

DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI PRESENTS YOU WITH A SMALL SERIES OF BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2018 FROM CASATO PRIME DONNE OF GREAT QUALITY AND WITH AGING POTENTIAL

In 2018 a small quantity of grapes and then of wine was jealously kept separate from the rest in 4 5-7hl French oak tonneaus and finally also in a 15hl barrel, until it was bottled on its own.

The refinement in the bottle made the superior quality to the rest of the 2018 “vintage” Brunello even more evident.

This is why Donatella Cinelli Colombini and her daughter Violante have decided to emphasize the exceptional nature of this Super Brunello, born as an “experiment” and that has become a small jewel of only 3000 bottles for enthusiasts looking for exclusivity to drink

HOW DO YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE FROM THE BRUNELLO 2018 VINTAGE?

To distinguish it on the label, a golden stripe has been inserted on the base. These bottles will be numbered, wrapped one by one and marketed mainly in wooden crates. The price increase is minimal and only serves to highlight the difference.

18 April 2024

GREEN WEEKEND WITH FORAGING AND BRUNELLO

MAY 3^rd to 5^th IN TUSCANY, AT THE FATTORIA DEL COLLE, FOR A WEEKEND WITH NATURE AND GREAT RED WINES: FORAGING IN THE FIELDS, WOODS AND GARDEN WITH OUTDOOR SNACK

vegetable garden with spontaneous herbs

When spring covers the Tuscan hills with a green blanket, walks have an extraordinary regenerating capacity. They call it landscape therapy and it is an antidote to the stress of our time.

This is especially true in places that keep their past intact, such as Fattoria del Colle, surrounded by the most beautiful countryside in the world, partly inscribed in the UNESCO heritage list precisely for its historicity and harmony: the Val d’Orcia and the Crete Senesi .

Added to this is the organic cultivation of the entire Colle farm (336 hectares) which allows you to walk, stop and collect herbs to eat in a preserved and respected nature. Last, but not least, the two cellars for the production of Premium wines intended for exclusive customers in 44 foreign markets: Brunello, Chianti Superiore, Orcia and Supertuscan. The visit to the production sites and the tasting, but also the pairing with delicious traditional dishes, in the Fattoria del Colle restaurant, complete a weekend dedicated to tradition and nature.

11 April 2024

SANCHIMENTO IGT TOSCANA BIANCO 2023

THE SANCHIMENTO WHITE WINE, A SMALL SERIES OF ONLY 1200 BOTTLES OF IGT SUPERTUSCAN BIO – ORGANIC THAT TAKES EXAMPLE FROM THE ORANGE TECHNIQUE.

The white wine “Sanchimento” from Fattoria del Colle is produced with grapes from the vineyard surrounding the Chapel of San Clemente (or Chimento as the Saint was called in the Middle Ages). It is a small plot of one hectare planted in 1989 with the Traminer variety at 404 meters above the sea, facing north, on a soil of marine sand and clay.

THE 2023 VINTAGE

2023 will be remembered for the rainfalls and the downy mildew that hit the red grape vineyards hard but spared the pink Traminer bunches. A poor harvest therefore, but with perfectly healthy grapes thanks to the assiduous care of the grape growers and also to the cool climate which gave the Sanchimento 2023 an extraordinary aromatic richness

4 April 2024

A SMALL SERIES OF 3000 NUMBERED BOTTLES OF BRUNELLO

29 March 2024

Donatella Cinelli Colombini

HAPPY EASTER

DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI TOGETHER WITH VIOLANTE, ENRICO, LORENZO AND THE EXTENDED GREAT FAMILY AT FATTORIA DEL COLLE AND CASATO PRIME DONNE SEND YOU THEIR BEST WISHES

Crucifixion- Giotto

This year I would like to combine my wishes for a happy Easter with a reflection on the importance of love.

We are living in a period of ferocious wars, the likes of which we have not seen for fifty years. There are people forced to emigrate because their lands no longer have water, but where these migrants arrive they are perceived as a threat and not welcomed as an opportunity. Feminicides in Italy occur at a rate of one every three days.

Don’t we know how to love anymore? Or do we underestimate the strength of <<The love that moves the sun and the other stars>> last verse of the Paradise and of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Yet by cultivating love, things could go much better and humanity could be much happier. It seems incredible, but giving love makes you happy, much more than receiving it.

I think this is the message of Easter, the one that Jesus sends by accepting to die on the cross to open the doors of Paradise for us: love more, love everyone, always love, even beyond death!

HAPPY EASTER

28 March 2024

OFFER: BRUNELLO RISERVA 2015 AND 2016, COMPARE THESE 2 VINTAGES

21 March 2024

WINE TOURISM IN SPRING

5 March 2024

THE CANADIAN MONOPOLY LCBO CELEBRATES WOMEN WITH BRUNELLO

THE CANADIAN MONOPOLY OF ONTARIO, THE VERY POWERFUL LCBO, CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY WITH DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI’S BRUNELLO

Brunello di Montalcino 2018 Donatella Cinelli Colombini

LCBO, a monopoly of the state of Ontario, is one of the most important buyers in the world, with very large stores in Toronto and other cities. In March 2024 it puts the spotlight on the women of wine, spirits and beer. Celebrating their talent and stories

THE CASATO PRIME DONNE WINERY IS A SYMBOL OF FOR WINE IN THE WINE WORLD

In the LCBO newspaper there is a photo of Donatella and Violante and the story of the first Italian winery, with an entirely female staff. The episode that marks the birth of Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino dates back to 1998, when her parents entrusted Donatella with two portions of the family properties, in which to give birth to her new project and, they gifted her a small quantity of Brunello in barrels, to allow her to start her own commercial network.

For her, this wine was very important and so to take care of it Donatella needed an oenologist, so she called the oenology school in Siena, asking for the name of a good student to hire. They tell her no, there is a lot of demand and wine technicians must be booked years in advance. But when she asks for a female cellar manager the answer is different, they have a whole list because good cellars don’t want female managers.

1 March 2024