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MONTALCINO’S CONDITO

CONDITO IS A TRADITIONAL PEASANT SALAD FROM SOUTHERN TUSCANY BUT WE CAN TURN IT INTO A DELICIOUS HEALTHY STARTER

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini #turismodelvino

Condito di Montalcino della chef Doriana Marchi

Condito from Montalcino bychef Doriana Marchi

This was the “coffee break” for the farmers who went out at dawn in the summer to harvest, during the cooler hours. They returned home in the late morning to eat and then work in the stables and warehouses.

In addition to omelettes and cured meats, the housewives also would put on the table the Condito, a salad made with celery, cucumber, tomatoes, green peppers and spring onion. All coarsely chopped, seasoned with extra virgin olive oil, pepper and salt. The name Condito comes from the difference with the normal salad which was dressed with oil immediately before eating it. The Condito, on the other hand, was “seasoned” in advance so that a sort of infusion was formed with the liquids from the tomatoes and the oil. A sauce that allowed it to be eaten with bread or on toast.

The peasant bread made with sourdough, kneaded by hand and baked in a wood oven once a week, had a thick, dark crust which, as the days passed, became less hard. Today, finding really good bread is the most difficult task because, in most cases, after a few hours it becomes inedible.

9 November 2023

2023 EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL FROM FATTORIA DEL COLLE

SCARCE BUT GOOD AND SWEETER THAN PAST YEARS. THE 2023 EVO OLIVE OIL ARRIVES FROM THE ORGANIC GROVES AT FATTORIA DEL COLLE FOR DELICIOUS AND HEALTHY DISHES

Olio monocultivar Moraiolo e Correggiolo 2023

Moraiolo e Correggiolo monocultivar oil 2023

Evo oil will be scarce this year too. By now we have become accustomed to harvesting few olives but we continue to love the trees that characterize our landscape. Trequanda, where the Fattoria del Colle is located, has been included in the register of “Rural landscapes of historical interest” thanks to the olive groves that cover its hills and which, since the Renaissance, have given rise to the production of terracotta jars in the hamlet of Petroio

2 November 2023

JAMES SUCKLING 6 OF OUR WINES SCORE MORE THAN 90

27 October 2023

OFFER: WINES FOR IMPORTANT LUNCHES AND CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Passito da uve di Traminer Aromatico 2018 BIO an absolute preview and Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018 BIO , two high quality “family wines”, exclusively to add prestige to Christmas gifts and lunches

Passito da uve Traminer Aromatico IGT Toscana 2018

Offer: a bottle of Passito made from 2018 aromatic Traminer grapes in its blue case, 5 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino, 2 single shoppers and 2 small cards

1 bottle of Passito da uve di Traminer aromatico 2018 and 5 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018, at 274,00 € directly to your home

Passito is a signature wine produced with artisanal care in just 364 small 0.375 cl bottles. Each bottle is numbered by hand and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. It is destined to lovers of sweet wines and is presented in a small, elegant blue box

Jamessuckling.com has already rated the Passito 2018 with 93/100

“Dried apricot, sultanas and honeycomb followed by cardamom, dried orange peel and roasted almonds. Luscious, full-bodied and creamy on the palate with a solid backbone of acidity. Beautiful length and depth thanks to the excellent concentration. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

Brunello, with its velvety royalty, transforms a lunch into a memorable event and should be accompanied by important meat dishes or mature cheeses.

Together with the bottles you will find two shopping bags with the Donatella Cinelli Colombini logo and 2 Fattoria del Colle cards to accompany the bottles with your best wishes.

19 October 2023

FOLIAGE, AUTUMN HOLIDAYS IN THE TUSCAN COUNTRYSIDE

VIEWS, NEW OLIVE OIL, TRUFFLES, GREAT RED WINES… THE SLOWER RHYTHMS OF AUTUMN AND THE MILD TEMPERATURES INVITE YOU TO REGENERATE IN THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PART OF TUSCANY

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

Every season has something special. Something that makes it more attractive and fascinating than the others and makes it be chosen for a regenerating trip. In spring there are very long days suitable for art tourism while the countryside is covered with a green velvet of buds. In summer it is the desire to escape from the suffocating atmosphere of the cities that pushes travellers where they can enjoy the sun, nature and dinners under the stars, distant from traffic. In autumn there are the most beautiful views and the possibility of enjoying them slowly, on walking or cycling itineraries, at the right temperature. In autumn there are the most refined joys of the palate such as white truffles, extra virgin olive oil just arrived from the mill and the preview of the Brunello which will come out of the cellar on January 1st…

At Fattoria del Colle we offer you truffle weekends to savour these little pleasures.

12 October 2023

CHIANTI TUNA

This is a delicious appetizer or summer main course. Chianti Tuna is made from pork and does not contain fish. Very easy, but long, to prepare

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

tonno del Chianti Fattoria del Colle Toscana

Chianti Tuna Fattoria del Colle Toscana

In Tuscany many recipes have confusing names: the “mice” are stuffed courgette flowers, the “mock thrushes” are veal rolls, the Sienese Schiacciata is a very sophisticated dessert… Chianti tuna resembles the flavour of fish but actually contains pork and was actually born from the need to preserve meat in an era when there were no refrigerators so putting it “in oil” was a good way to prevent it from going bad.

It is thanks to the poet- butcher Dario Cecchini of Panzano that Chianti Tuna became famous , he brought it back from the ancient popular tradition.

It is served cold on toasted bread (preferably Tuscan, without salt) with a salad of tomatoes and capers or with boiled and seasoned cannellini beans. In popular tradition it is also accompanied by pickles and red onion but I prefer homemade mayonnaise.

I know well that the cooking wine should be the same that that accompanies the dish but, in this case, I recommend drinking a well-structured rosé such as the IGT Rosa di Tetto from Fattoria del Colle.

4 October 2023

2023 HARVEST IN BRUNELLO AND ORCIA

VIOLANTE’S FIRST TIME ALONE TO MANAGE THE HARVEST WHILE I AM IN MALTA. STORY OF A GRAPE HARVEST THAT NO ONE WILL EVER FORGET

Vendemmia 2023 Violante Cinellicolombini con il selettore degli acini Pellenc

Vendemmia 2023 Violante Cinelli Colombini with sorting table with optical reader Pellenc

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

The most difficult harvest of our lives.
My husband Carlo in hospital in Malta after he fell down the stairs, in our home in Gozo, which took him first to the operating room and then to intensive care. Now he is recovering slowly: he talks, eats and moves his legs and arms but at the beginning it was really hard.
Violante, between one trip and another to Malta, managed the company and the harvest. For the first time alone managing the most important moment of the year and with a big innovation compared to the past: the optical reader for selecting the grapes.
The harvest was excellent in quality and very scarce in quantity. Half the amount of last year.

In addition to the downy mildew, we had 3 small hailstorms and then the assault of the ungulates. The roe deer jumped the fence of the Casato Prime Donne vineyards in Montalcino and the tourists left the gates at the Fattoria del Colle open, inviting the wild boars in for a snack.
2023 will be remembered as the year of downy mildew. An <<announced disaster >> say the German agronomists who had had the same experience before us and who asked to modify the organic regulations so as to have the tools to combat the fearful fungus. A request that Italy and France had opposed by making organic winemakers pay a high price. We hope that the next rainy year will find us more experienced and better equipped.

29 September 2023

OFFER: VERTICAL OF 3 TOP BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO RISERVA

21 September 2023

TRUFFLE WEEKEND IN TUSCANY 2023

NOVEMBER, MONTH OF WHITE TRUFFLES, NEW OIL AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VIEWS. COME TO THE FATTORIA DEL COLLE TO LIVE AN EXPERIENCE BETWEEN NATURE AND GREAT RED WINES

Tagliolini-tartufo-bianco-e-spumante-brut-rosè-fattoria-del-colle

Spumante Brut Rosè with tagliolini tartufo Donatella Cinelli Colombini

A choice between 3 weekends in Tuscany dedicated to white truffles in one of the most renowned areas of Italy, the Crete Senesi where the precious “trifola” has excellent characteristics and a sensual scent.

The proposal comes from Fattoria del Colle in the Orcia Doc wine region and from Casato Prime Donne in the Brunello area. These are the two cellars where Donatella Cinelli Colombini produces small quantities of super-awarded premium wines. In addition to the cellars, on the Fattoria del Colle estate there are also apartments, rooms, a restaurant, parks, a cooking school and an area for natural well-being (especially wine bath and room for couples’ massages…). A small, ancient and intact hamlet with villa and chapel, where tourists feel at home as if with their “Tuscan grandparents”

14 September 2023

DONATELLA TALKS ABOUT HER TWO WINERIES

Two wineries with a single Tuscan soul and the feminine dream of qualitative excellence. Casato Prime Donne winery in Montalcino and Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

Fattoria del Colle Trequanda

The Casato farm already belonged to my ancestors in 1592. Over the centuries they used it for hunting and for honeymoons. Today the property seems close to the town of Montalcino in a northerly direction, towards Siena, but at that time it appeared remote and in the middle of the woods suitable for solitary intimacy. More recently the Casato belonged to my grandmother Giuliana Tamanti Colombini, then to my mother Francesca and in the future, it will go to my daughter Violante. All women for a winery which is the first in Italy with an entirely female staff and has been renamed “Casato Prime Donne”.

CASATO PRIME DONNE IN MONTALCINO

In 1998, when my mother gave it to me, Casato was almost a ruin. In 25 years, it has changed into an estate capable of exporting to 44 countries around the world with around 17 hectares (out of a total area of 40) of organic Sangiovese vineyards cultivated with obsessive care. I am a traditionalist, a nature lover but also a non-conformist and rather rebellious. For this reason, in my first years alone, I looked for new and different solutions, then I returned to being the paladin of everything ancient and manual with roots proudly in the earth. My Brunellos stand out for their harmonious and certainly feminine elegance.

7 September 2023

CASATO PRIME DONNE AWARD POSTPONED

DUE TO THE SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITIONS OF CARLO GARDINI, DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI’S HUSBAND, IT HAS BEEN DECIDED TO POSTPONE THE CASATO PRIME DONNE AWARD

Francesca Colombini e Donatella Cinelli Colombini al Premio Casato Prime Donne 20216

Francesca Colombini e Donatella Cinelli Colombini al Premio Casato Prime Donne 2016

The 2023 edition of the Casato Prime Donne Award, scheduled for September 16^TH , was dedicated to Francesca Colombini Cinelli, whom I would like to remember here with you.

The initiative was born with the name Premio Barbi Colombini thanks to my mother, in 1981, to bring the interest of the press on Montalcino and Brunello, but also to create new contacts, in the belief that the relationship with great cultural personalities would open minds and would stimulate new energy in the whole territory.

Over the years it has given a boost to the growth of Montalcino and, in 1999, the Award was transformed into a promoter of female talent, and since last year it has added to its previous activity that of incubator of young talents.

31 August 2023

MY RECENTLY AWARDED WINES

BRUNELLO BUT NOT ONLY, ALSO MY ORCIA DOC WINES, THE IGT IL DRAGO E LE 8 COLOMBE, THE ROSSO DI MONTALCINO AND THE CHIANTI SUPERIORE AWARDED WITH SCORES ABOVE 90/100

Awarded wines by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Receiving ratings above 90 points from the major international newspapers is always a pleasure but paradoxically happiness is greater when the judgment concerns a wine other than the TOP ones because it means that the winery offers its customers a very high level of quality across the entire range . In short, it is a sign of the brand’s strength and a confirmation of its choices in the vineyards. In fact, the vineyards are the major economic and organizational commitment of every small but ambitious producer like me.

Here I show you some of the scores that have made me happiest in the last few months. Evidently the 94/100 on my Brunello Prime Donne 2018 (and the 93/100 on the Brunello) also filled me with pride and I am grateful to Monica Larner for having well reviewed my wine in Wine Advocate Robert Parker. Incidentally, Master Sommelier John Szabo and Canadian journalist Michael Godel also gave 94/100 to my 2018 Brunello on “Wine Align”.

But here I would like to tell you about my other labels reviewed in the last few months

VINOUS AWARDS 93+ TO CENERENTOLA DOC ORCIA AND 92 TO THE IGT IL DRAGO E LE 8 COLOMBE

Cenerentola Doc Orcia 2018 also obtained 91/100 in the Falstaff Trophy 2023.

25 August 2023

OFFER: TWO GREAT DOCG WINES AWARDED AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

3 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018 BIO-Organic “Prime Donne selection” and 3 bottles of Chianti Superiore DOCG 2020 BIO-Organic at the price of 179 € directly to your home

Offerta agosto: 3 Chianti superiore 2020, 3 Brunello di Montalcino progetto Prime Donne, una wine skin e un cavatappi personalizzato

August offer: 3 Chianti superiore 2020, 3 Brunello di Montalcino Prime Donne project, a wine skin and a personalized corkscrew

For autumn, a proposal of two premium red wines, produced in small exclusive series and appreciated by wine critics from all over the world

The new proposal includes two wines by Donatella Cinelli Colombini, a wine from each estate: Chianti Superiore DOCG 2020 from Fattoria del Colle and Brunello di Montalcino Progetto Prime Donne DOCG 2018 from Casato Prime Donne. Two flagship wines from Donatella’s wineries!

Both productions are limited to just a few bottles, wines that are approachable, versatile and of typical Tuscan elegance.

Together with the bottles you will find two small gifts: a wine skin ,which is a bubble wrap container to protect your bottles when you carry them in your suitcase, and a professional corkscrew. Both are customized.

OFFER FOR MEMBERS OF DONATELLA’S CLUB

3 bottles of Chianti Superiore DOCG 2020 Organic and

3 bottles of Brunello Prime Donne 2018 Organic

1 wine skin with Donatella Cinelli Colombini logo

1 professional corkscrew with Donatella Cinelli Colombini logo

17 August 2023

THE CASATO PRIME DONNE AWARD WINNERS 2023

THE PRIMA DONNA 2023 IS MARIA CANABAL, FOR JOURNALISM AWARED IRENE CHIARI AND ALESSANDRO REGOLI FROM WINENEWS, LOREDANA SOTTILE AND GIANLUCA ATZENI FROM TREBICCHIERI

Irene Chiari e Alessandro Regoli vincitori del Premio Casato Prime Donne 2023

Irene Chiari e Alessandro Regoli winners of Premio Casato Prime Donne 2023

In 2023 the Casato Prime Donne award chooses one of the characters who have worked the most in favour of gender equality in food & wine: Maria Canabal, founder and organizer of the Parabere Forum. Every year since 2015, the forum brings together, in a different place, 400 women from all over the world: cooks and scientists, engineers and farmers, anthropologists, wine producers and agronomists. Parabere is a non-profit association and is aimed at empowering through three ingredients: information, teaching and role models. Therefore, it tries to create a network that increases the opportunities for the female participants and raises their awareness. In 2015 Maria Canabal was recognized among the “Most Influential Women in Gastronomy” by the Foundation Woman’s Week and her cookbooks were awarded by the Gourmand Cookbooks Awards as “Best in the world”.

The jury of the Casato Prime Donne Award, chaired by Donatella Cinelli Colombini and composed of Rosy Bindi, Anselma Dell’Olio, Anna Pesenti, Stefania Rossini, Anna Scafuri and Daniela Viglione, together with the Mayor of Montalcino Silvio Franceschelli and the President of the Consorzio del Brunello Fabrizio Bindocci have chosen two of the major wine information portals as winners of journalistic awards for their contribution to promoting Montalcino and its wines.

10 August 2023