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2020 Grape harvest is heading towards another 5-star double-win

2019 and 2020 grape harvest, like identical twins, but different: both worthy of the highest rating but also to be understood in their diversity like 2015 – 2016

Brunello-2020-Grape-Harvest-Casato-Prime-Donne-the-two-young-winemakers-Giada-and-Sabrina

It is always difficult to shine next to a great star: it will be difficult for those running 100 meters after Usain Bolt, it has been difficult for all mathematicians after Albert Einstein and it is difficult for all entrepreneurs comparing with Jeff Bezos from Amazon.

It will be the same for the 2020 vintage. It cannot shine after a masterpiece of a vintage like 2019 even though it is one of the best vintages picked during the last 20 years, without doubt worthy of the 5 stars given to the best vintages in Montalcino.

THE 2020 COVID GRAPE HARVEST

Let’s go in order, by telling you in detail the harvest in the Covid year. The first with facemasks and the necessity to keep at a distance however had had contact, even indirectly with those found positive. It has been terrible to say to two grape pickers to because their kids class was in quarantine <<go home and you can’t come back until you have a negative swab>> and it has been difficult to say to our consultant wine maker Valérie Lavigne << if you cannot have a swab done before leaving France you must renounce in coming>>. The risk of contagion has created as lot of worry, many problems and however a much less joyous atmosphere than usual.

CLIMATE: 2020 GRAPE HARVEST FROM VERY DRY TO VERY RAINY

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There has been a frost during the budding (18-23) at the end of March. To begin with the vineyards seemed unharmed but then we saw that the grapes were decidedly less than usual.
The winter has been very mild and dry. In spring we underwent an attack of powdery mildew in the Fattoria del Colle vineyards and the tractor drivers had to get up really early to spray the vineyards with sulphur before dawn.

In June finally the rainfalls arrived, a really rainy month. The torrid summer began halfway through July and lasted until halfway through September practically without rain except for a nice rainfall at the end of August. Luckily the difference in day and night temperatures has always been great.
The veraison took place at the end of July and the last phase of the grape ripening took place in the heat, especially in September when the daytime temperatures stayed over 32°C. The vineyards were not de-leafed so as to protect the grapes from the sun that did however do some harm.
The problem has been that the rainfall arrived exactly during harvest time and the constant risk of rain forced the grape pickers to an accelerated job, with great anxiety and an occasional prayer.

25 September 2020

Sugo bugiardo for the poor farmers

The proverb says <<virtue out of necessity>> and also <<farmers have big shoes and sharp brains>>, the sugo bugiardo dressing born in the poor countryside demonstrates it

The sugo bugiardo or “pretend” was made by the poorer Tuscan families who could not buy meat to put in their sauce and had studied a recipe that resembled the traditional one but, in reality was made with pork and vegetables.

Sugo-bugiardo-Tuscany-Fattoria-del-Colle

Up until fifty years ago the harder summer jobs, like reaping and threshing regarded an “exchange in labour” among the Tuscan farming families. In other words people went to help their relatives or neighbours with one or two people and got the same help back. Naturally a large number of hungry people had to be fed and this meant two or three lunches, with antipasto, broth, pasta, and meat in a stew, roasts and a dessert.

Sugo-bugiardo-Tuscany-Fattoria-del-Colle

Not everyone could buy beef so the vegetable garden was of upmost importance. The poorer dressing was born form this necessity. It is a very tasty sauce that seems a regular ragu but in truth is not because it contains only some salted rigatino and in some cases is all vegetarian.

INGREDIENTS OF THE SUGO BUGIARDO

1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick, extra virgin olive oil, 200 g of white beans, 200 g of salted pork rigatino, 600 g of ripe tomatoes, half a glass of white wine, salt and pepper sage, garlic, peperoncino and aged pecorino.

16 September 2020

12 bottles of TOP Tuscan family wines delivered to your home

Brunello, Supertuscan, Orcia Doc, IGT Toscana from Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s wineries. 12 bottles of family wines produced in small amounts to make your lunches and dinners exceptionally special

Club-offer-Donatella-Brunello-Orcia-Doc-Supertuscan-IGT

3 Bottles of Brunello 2015 – 94/100 Wine Advocate Robert Parker, 94/100 Wine Spectator – Fine red wine to be consumed now, with cheeses and roasted meats, or to be stored for an important occasion many years from now.
3 Bottles of Supertuscan Il Drago e le 8 colombe 2016 – 93/100 Wine Advocate Robert Parker, 93/100 Vinous Antonio Galloni – Powerful, elegant and silky red wine (Sangiovese, Merlot and Sagrantino) for now or even in 10 years time.
3 bottles of Leone Rosso Doc Orcia 2018 BIO – 92/100 James Suckling – Young powerful and round wine made with Sangiovese and Merlot for dinners among wine lovers.
3 Bottles IGT Toscana bianco Sanchimento 2019 BIO – This is a rarity, produced with Traminer grapes, just 2000 bottles. It will surprise you with its richness, elegance and pleasantness.

Club-offer-Donatella-Brunello-Orcia-Doc-Supertuscan-IGT

OFFER 12 BOTTLES OF FAMILY WINES

FOR MEMBERS OF DONATELLA’S CLUB

Special price of 185,00 Euro (instead of 232,00 Euro)

FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT YET MEMBERS OF DONATELLA’S CLUB

Special price of 212,00 Euro (instead of 232,00 Euro)

FREE SHIPPING IN ITALY, DISCOUNTED ABROAD

For Italy the price includes shipping, for those ordering from abroad there is a 20,00 euro discount on transportation costs. Costs for shipping abroad vary from nation to nation and will be quote upon receipt of the order. We have very convenient prices for shipping to US, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

11 September 2020

San Quirico d’Orcia, the Val d’Orcia lounge

10 things to see do taste and buy in San Quirico d’Orcia, the most glamorous, most photographed and most refined small city of art in Tuscany

San Quirico d’Orcia

San Quirico d’Orcia is one of the most beautiful cities of art in Italy (30 km from Fattoria del Colle). This resembles an open air lounge thanks to the beauty of its monuments and the century old history that blend in with the glamour of International VIP visitors who want to own a house here: the last of which is Jennifer Lopez who has been looking for a villa for her holidays.
The village centre dates back to before the year one thousand, along the Via Francigena – from Canterbury to Rome- when this route substituted the Roman Cassia route as it became impracticable because of the Valdichiana bogs. The passage of sovereigns such as Federico Barbarossa, pilgrims, merchants and whole armies. This meant making the fortune of the villages every 20 km along the route. In fact this was just the right distance for those on foot or who had to change horses.

WHAT TO SEE

Collegiate Church of San Quirico d’Orcia

1) PALAZZO CHIGI: built in the 17th century by a family of Sienese-Roman bankers, to accommodate their relative Pope Alessandro VII who in fact never lived there. Inside the hall have frescoes with mythological subjects. Be careful in entering the decorated rooms, you might enter the Mayor’s office.
2) HORTI LEONINI:a splendid example of Italian style garden created by Diomede Leoni at the end of the 16th century.
3) COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF SAINT QUIRICO AND GIULITTA: built on a parish from the 8th century. Magnificent portals from the end of the 13th century. Inside there are some inlays by Antonio Barilli coming from the Cathedral in Siena. The Altarpiece by Sano Di Pietro and the tomb of Enrico di Nassau who died here in 1451.
4) VIA FRANCIGENA: that runs the whole village with the name of Via Dante. Take note of the houses, towers and palaces on both sides of the road. Near the end, facing south, to the left is the “Spedale” built by the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala in Siena to welcome pilgrims.
5) CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA ASSUNTA: dating back to the 11th century in Romanesque style.

7 September 2020

CHRONICLE 2020 IN BRUNELLO VINEYARDS AND WINERIES

In the year of Corona virus the vineyards in 2020 are the only ones who have had an easy year: cosseted regardless the lockdown, never like this year the final objective was a low yield

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Sangiovese vineyards in 2020 veraison – Violante – Cinelli Colombini

In the confusion of the first days of lockdown, while all Italians were shut in their homes, my grape growers continued to go into the vineyards armed with written authorization for travelling by car, and with the first masks on their face. To complicate things, around March 20^th, while the vines were just budding, a frost arrived that burned the young leaves. Not a tragedy we all know that we have to hope for a low yield year because Covid-19 will devastate the markets. Such devastations arrived, even worse than we imagined. For this reason I decide to abandon 4 vineyards in 2020 for a total of 8 hectares. On these areas, which obviously I consider of less quality, we will only do the bare minimum.

SPRING FROST AND SPONTANEOUS REDUCTION IN GRAPE PRODUCTION

So I precede the decisions of the Minister Bellanova regarding the green harvesting.
The 2019-2020 winter was very mild and dry. During lockdown at Fattoria del Colle that was deserted, my husband Carlo and I console ourselves sunbathing at lunch time. Flowering of the vines happened between the end of May (in Montalcino) and the beginning of June (at Fattoria del Colle).

DRY AND MILD WINTER, RAINY JUNE, TORRID JULY

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Before the budding – March 15th, 2020 – Fattoria del Colle

In June after several “drought” months the rainfall finally arrives, allowing us some relief, because regardless of Covid-19 we had succeeded in planting a new vineyard at Casato Prime Donne. If it hadn’t rained we would have had to irrigate it.
But rain has also its negative sides: there are mildew attacks and the grape growers start a real battle to defend the vineyards. To stop the white mold, in an organic winery like ours we had to work during the night and interrupt the sulphur sprays as soon as the sun. Quite an endeavour for the tractor drivers and a disturbance for the first tourists arrived at Fattoria del Colle for a rest after months of quarantine at home. Shame but the vines come before everything else. Decidedly in the vineyards in 2020 the year has been a complicated one for several reasons.

4 September 2020

in Forum: News and lifestyle

THE VINEYARD’S DIET

Does the vineyard have “nutritional disorders” such as anorexia or bulimia? No, but it does have something similar and an Australian app helps grape growers keep it healthy

Vineyard’s nutrition – Montalcino – Casato Prime Donne

I heard talk about the “humanized” approach for the first time in the Bordeaux University, about twenty years ago, when the lesson regarding the summer pruning of the vine referred to “the vine sexuality”. In fact it did regard the intervention of man on the equilibrium between the grape grower’s project, who wants to produce grapes for wine, and that of the vine, who wants to reproduce itself.

THE AUSTRALIAN APPROACH TO THE VINEYARDS NUTRITION THROUGH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Suzy Rogiers – Vineyards nutrition and artificial intelligence

In this case the Wine Australia and the Charles Sturt University have gone even further and have forced the National Wine and Grape Industry Center (NWGIC) researchers to create an app for Smartphone to manage the vineyard’s nutritional disorders as if it were a human being. What is curious is that for both man and the vineyard the nutritional problems come from the wrong approach by “parents”. It seems a paradox but the Australian method to the managing of the vineyard helps us to rethink, in a more general way, all of our behaviours, in life like in the wine enterprises. Often grape growers in fact over feed their vines and they mistake the vigour for wellbeing of the plants, just like some mums fill their kids with love by piling their plate until they get obese.

26 August 2020

With the Club, in Tuscany for the Grape Harvest experience

A special proposal for the members of Donatella’s Club in the occasion of the 2020 grape harvest fro Brunello, Chianti and Orcia

Grape Harvest Experience at Fattoria del Colle – Tuscany

In Tuscany, at Fattoria del Colle, for the last two weekends in September and the first two in October to see how fine red wines from Tuscany are born, but also to understand the specificities of Sangiovese with the help of three great wine experts: Leonardo Romanelli, Leonardo Taddei and Franco Pallini.
They will conduct the seminars reserved to the participants, to which we are adding an intense program of experiences in the vineyard – touching the clusters and learning how to taste the grapes – and in the cellar seeing the various phases of the vinification but mostly tasting must, wines, and Reserves. The participants will prepare their own Supertuscan wine by becoming “winemakers for a day” and to conclude they will receive a diploma.

Taking part in the Grape Harvest experience 2020 is a way of making new wine lover friends and to take part in the story of Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s wineries. Most of all it is a way to share with her the effort in reaching excellent quality and respect for nature that have made the wines by Casato Prime Donne and Fattoria del Colle international successes.

An exciting and extraordinary experience, in the peace of the vast spaces of the countryside and in the healthy ambiance of the BIO (organic) vineyards.

Grape Harvest Experience at Fattoria del Colle – Tuscany

OFFER FOR MEMBERS OF DONATELLA’S CLUB

€ 228 per person

FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT YET CLUB MEMBERS

€ 268 per person

TO BOOK

Send an e-mail to : info@cinellicolombini.it or call the number: +39 0577 662108

25 August 2020

Grandma Giuliana’s apples covered with custard and meringue

Delicious, simple ingredients, easy to make, but needs time. “Mele coperte” covered apples with custard and meringue, my grandma’s dessert

Mele coperte is the dessert that my grandma Giuliana Tamanti Colombini used to prepare for family or for friends who more frequently came to our house. I feel that it is an invention of hers with mixed cultural ascendancies. She was born into a Roman family of famous architects, the Busiri Vici’s and of officials of the Pope, the Barluzzi’s. One of these families had lived at the Quirinale palace until the capture of Rome when the new lodger became King Savoia.

mele coperte – ingredients – Fattoria del Colle

In marrying my grandfather Giovanni Colombini, Giuliana went to live in Modena where her father in law was rector of the University. This is where my mother Francesca was born and where the family lived until they returned to Montalcino, where the Colombini’s actually originated form.
Each of these places left a trace on our table. In our house there was a real cult for eating Tortellini and the Zampone, as it was usual to eat Gnocchi alla Romana and Saltimbocca. I would not be surprised if in the dessert that I am telling you about today there is a real mixture of food cultures and I like to think that it is exclusive to my home.

18 August 2020

Full experience Grape Harvest in Tuscany

For the last two weekends in September and the first two of October at Fattoria del Colle a Brunello, Chianti and Orcia experience

Grape Harvest experience – Fattoria del Colle – Tuscany

From Friday evening until Sunday to see how fine red wines from Tuscany are born, touching the vines, the grape clusters, and seeing the various phases of the vinification but mostly tasting must, wines, and Reserves … so as to understand the evolution of Bacchus’s nectar with the help of great experts. Three journalists will tell the history of Tuscan wine and the specificities in the production of Tuscan wines and of Sangiovese. A chance not to be missed for wine lovers, where they can stay in peace in the vast spaces of the countryside and in the healthy ambiance of the BIO (organic) vineyards.

FULL EXPERIENCE GRAPE HARVEST WITH BRUNELLO CHIANTI AND ORCIA

Grape harvest experience – Fattoria del Colle – Tuscany

18-20, 25-27 September, 2-4, 9-11 October with a program that includes visits, wine tastings, direct experiences and an in -sight lesson with a super expert.

The frame for these weekends full of experiences and emotions is Fattoria del Colle, 2 and a half hours from Rome and Bologna, one hour from Florence and Perugia.

18 km from the A1 exit Valdichiana-Bettolle.

Fattoria del Colle is a small rural hamlet from the end of the 16th century. There is a villa, a chapel and the old farmers’ houses that have now become lodgings for guests, furnished with antiques and with modern comfort.

GRAPE HARVEST EXPERIENCE PROGRAM

The 2020 full-experience harvest weekend program includes participation to different phases of the grape picking and the vinification with a tasting of the new must, plus the guided tour of the vineyards with a tasting of the grapes. The tour of the wineries in Montalcino (Casato Prime Donne) and in Chianti-Doc Orcia with a Vertical tasting of Brunello and Orcia, an in-sight lesson regarding Sangiovese and the wines from Tuscany with an experience called “winemaker for a day” where each participant produces their own Supertuscan.

For information and bookings please click on the link cinellicolombini.it or call the nember: +39 0577 662108.

11 August 2020

in Farm experiences, Forum: News and lifestyle

Fruit salad with Grappa di Brunello

Fruit salad or macedoine is tastier with the addition of dry fruit and grappa. With Grappa di Brunello it is just wonderful!

Fruit Salad with Grappa di Brunello

As in everything else it is the quality of the ingredients that makes the difference, if courage and creativity are added too. The fruit salad that everybody calls macedoine is an easy dessert that can conclude with style a meal if well ripe mixed fruit is used, with lots of lemon and some sugar.

FRUIT SALAD WITH GRAPPA DI BRUNELLO

If you wish to obtain something really super, then an addition of pine nuts, raisins, nuts and dried apricots, a generous shot of grappa and some whipped cream or artisan ice cream. It is worthy reflecting on these two last ingredients. To use a fine estate grappa from the Brunello lees from Casato Prime Donne and distilled by Marolo in Piedmont makes all the difference.
If the cream is made with excellent raw products and whipped at the last moment at home, or if the ice cream is Italian gelato….not cream that we used during covid lockdown (at least Silvia found some of that though!) … then you will have a n extraordinary final dessert for your meal.

3 August 2020

Sanchimento IGT 2019 Tuscan white wine

From Traminer grapes from the small vineyard next to the chapel at Fattoria del Colle in the best vintage of the century with a hint of orange

IGT Toscana white wine Sanchimento – Donatella Cinelli Colombini – Fattoria del Colle

This is the first 2019 vintage wine by Donatella Cinelli Colombini to be ready, and reveals a desire for experimentation. The Traminer grapes used to make it look towards orange wines. It is just a touch of orange but Sanchimento 2019 appears completely different to previous years, with more structure and aromas, with hints of yellow coloured fruits. This is something new and refined and even more versatile in food pairing because it can be matched also with young cheeses and dishes that are just a bit flavourful.
Sanchimento IGT 2019 is a BIO wine (organic) produced with Traminer grapes from the small vineyard that surrounds the San Clemente Chapel (or Sanchimento as in local old tongue) at Fattoria del Colle. The building was built in 1592 by the present owner’s ancestors while the vineyard was planted by her father in 1989. Traminer is an unusual variety in Tuscany that, thanks to the altitude of Fattoria del Colle at 404 metres above sea level and to the cool nights, reaches ripening preserving freshness and aromas.

Sanchimento IGT is a limited production of just 2.000 bottles.

Traminer – Tuscany – 2019 Harvest – Fattoria del Colle

SANCHIMENTO A TUSCAN WHITE FROM TRAMINER GRAPES

TYPE: dry white
PRODUCTION AREA: Tuscany, Trequanda, Fattoria del Colle
VINTAGE CHARACTERISTICS: dry winter, April and May very vey rainy, the summer was very hot even though interrupted by two great storms, on July 1^st and September 15^th that however irrigated the soil.
GRAPE VARIETY: Traminer 100%

HARVEST AND VINIFICATION OF THE SANCHIMENTO 2019

GRAPE HARVEST: September 10th. The grapes were handpicked and put into small crates with slits, where they were refrigerated before vinification.
FERMENTATION: A small amount of grapes was vinified with its skins and natural yeasts according to the orange wine technique. After 12 days of maceration the racking took place.

The rest of the grapes were pressed and the must obtained was cooled at 4°C for the static decanting of the lees. After 12 hours the limpid must was racked and as soon as the temperature reached 14°C the yeasts were added. The fermentation lasted about 18 days at a temperature of 16-18°C.

Only a few months later did we add to the Sanchimento the 5% of Traminer that had vinified with the skins.
QUANTITY PRODUCED: 2.000 bottles.

28 July 2020

The vengeance of Brunello 2014

Considered a lesser vintage the 2014 Brunello di Montalcino offers pleasure to those who drink it. This is an important benefit as explained by Andrew Jefford in Decanter

Andrew Jefford, Decanter about Brunello di Montalcino 2014

Life as a wine producer is full of surprises: the article in Decanter is dedicated to the hedonistic pleasure of enjoying wine, rewards our Brunello 2014 and fills us with joy.

The wines born in weaker vintages are like “Children of a lesser God”, to discover their beauty it is necessary to overcome the clichés. This is what has happened to the Brunello 2014, product of a rainy and cool year that forced us to choose the clusters and o produced just a third of our normal production. Consequently in this vintage we used for Brunello what usually goes into our selection and the Riserva, the grapes from our TOP vineyards, that never fail, whatever the climate.

BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2014, GOOD RATINGS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Brunello 2014 – Donatella Cinelli Colombini – Casato Prime Donne – Montalcino

The specialized international press reports were favourable: 91/100 from Robert Parker -Wine Advocate and Wine Enthusiast, 90/100 from Wine Spectator. The market had appreciated this pleasant to drink and “carefree” Brunello, as Monica Larner called it.
However nobody let out a “cry of joy” before this article by Andrew Jefford, Decanter contributing editor and multiple award-winning author, published in the most important UK wine magazine and among the most authoritative and influential in the world.

21 July 2020

CAFFE’ IN FORCHETTA, A MONTALCINO DESSERT

This is a delicious dessert born at the beginning of the 20th century in Montalcino. It is called “caffè in forchetta” (coffee with a fork) but, in truth, it is eaten with a spoon

It is a Liberty-style dessert, an era when cafés became an important place in social life. In Montalcino, like in Venice or Turin, the local public places in the centre were re-qualified and enriched with velvet and mirrors so as to be able to welcome the bourgeois clients. These in Montalcino, the city of Brunello, comprised those who were noble, academics, business men, landowners and even a few artists.

CAFFE’ IN FORCHETTA IN MONTALCINO AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20th CENTURY

Caffè in forchetta of Montalcino Tuscany Fattoria del Colle

Montalcino has always, in fact, had a diversified social structure, cultured and open minded. Regardless of this liveliness the lifestyle of the women was controlled and certainly not as casual as in Paris. In particular, women were criticized if they drank coffee, it was considered too audacious. For this reason a cream caramel was invented where to the milk was added to coffee. This way it was possible to serve coffee to the ladies without it seeming so. This dessert was quite a success and was served in all homes, until like everything else it was no longer fashionable. I published a booklet called “66 ricette di cucina montalcinese” where the fine oral Montalcinese gastronomy was transcribed. This brought back into use the caffè in forchetta that is now once again very present in the restaurant menus in the Brunello territory.
Here it is. It is a simple dessert quite apt to sweetly conclude a meal.

15 July 2020

My Brunello 1970’s style

For the last 7 years Casato Prime Donne has worked, in the vines and in the cellar to bring Brunello back to the original style of the 1970’s: elegant, vertical and with long ageing potential