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Montisi the magical village part of Montalcino
Toscana-Montalcino-Montisi
By Donatella Cinelli Colombini
Two km from Fattoria del Colle there is a sign indicating the entrance to the territory of Montalcino. I feel at home, although originally my municipality was not so big because it expanded with a merger only in 2016. It is a fact that in Montisi (6 km from the Fattoria) now they say here in Montalcino>> and I listen to them ecstatic.
Montisi is perhaps the most intact medieval settlement in Tuscany.
A small gem built on the remains of the Cacciaconti castle with narrow streets that climb up one inside the other among beautifully restored stone houses. It is so pretty that it looks fake but it is not… the Pieve della Santissima Annunziata (XIII century) with a beautiful altarpiece by Bartolomeo (1496), the Church of Santa Flora and Lucilla, the ‘Oratorio di Sant’Antonio Abate with the small museum that testifies how, the poor people of Montisi could survive by helping each other. In these places I have a beautiful personal memory.
MONTISI A PERSONAL MEMORY WITH ABSOLUTION
I was little more than twenty and studied medieval Sienese goldsmiths. As in each of the things that I do, even in that case I had thrown myself into the adventure with all myself dragging my husband, then fiancé Carlo Gardini, in an interminable pilgrimage between museums and churches to count chalices, reliquaries, and so on …
In Montisi there was a processional cross and I went to examine it and photograph it. Seeing the patience with which Carlo helped me, the priest said to him “Were you in Rome for the Holy Year? Did you take up the plenary indulgence?” Carlo did not expect it and was amazed “no” he answered with a thread of voice “it doesn’t matter>> said the priest “ kneel because I’ll give you absolution, I can see that you are a good boy>> and blessed him. To me nothing, he obviously understood who was the tender one between us.
USA duties to which wines do they do most harm?
How much and on which Italian wines could US duties do us most harm? In percentage terms on white wines but the absolute terms on red Tuscan PDOs
By Donatella Cinelli Colombini
Are the great Tuscan reds, Brunello, Bolgheri and Chianti Classico the ones that would come out with broken bones if Trump put import duties? Probably they are.
USA DUTIES ON WINE
An analysis made by Corriere Vinicolo draws the geography of the possible disaster, keeping in mind that after October 2019, that is after the application of the duties, it seems French wines lost 36% of their business to the USA, although Champagne and great reds were exempt from the tax. Such a backlash in purchases that perhaps the income of the American treasury has been negative even with respect to the past. Apparently the real effect of the duties was not the recovery of the money paid to the Airbus Consortium, which according to Trump brought Boeing to its knees (as if the 737 Boeing did not fall) but to terrorize European governments and create a veritable chaos in the US distribution system of importers, distributors and retailers.
Easter at Fattoria del Colle
From the Sacredness of the abbeys to the sin of gluttony, while all around the most beautiful countryside in the world is reborn with the news spring and so Easter at Fattoria del Colle is even more beautiful
EASTER WEEKEND AT FATTORIA DEL COLLE WITH A VIEW
Easter at Fattoria del Colle
Fattoria del Colle (write to holiday@cinellicolombini.it for the program) is an extraordinary place. It is basically a small hamlet built at the end of the 16th century. Here there is an aristocratic villa, chapel, parks, and old farmhouses transformed into lodgings for visitors, restaurants and wellness area. Above all at Easter we are offering guests the possibility to really experience the authentic and old Tuscany . We propose old recipes such as corolli and schiacciate or l’acqua cotta pasqualina,… guided tours in the Brunello and Orcia Doc-Chianti Superiore wineries , brief cookery lessons and itinerant or vertical wine tastings to understand the magical longevity of the Montalcino wines.
SURROUNDING THE FATTORIA DEL COLLE ESTATE ABBEYS AND CITIES OF ART
Easter at Fattoria del Colle Vinotherapy
Surrounding the farm, a landscape that has remained miraculously untouched for. A short distance away are the great cities of art and the great abbeys. Just 12 km away the Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, 35 km distant is the Abbey of Sant’Antimo in Montalcino and just over an hour away the Abbazia di San Francesco in Assisi. In a 40 km radius one finds Cortona, Montepulciano, Pienza, San Quirico-Bagno Vignoni, Montalcino, Buonconvento and Lucignano.
This is a fairy tale land full of hiking trails regenerating for the mind and body, using the “ landscape therapy” to find balance between us and nature. Trails that allow your four legged friends to run free.
Valentine’s Day, lover’s tagliolini for dinner
The chef Alessandro Sironi from Fattoria del Colle in the most beautiful Tuscan countryside, presents the pasta recipe for dinner on 14 February Valentine’s Day
It will be the most romantic dinner of the year, with silver chandelier and great wines in the veranda at Fattoria del Colle. For this special appointment chef Alessandro Sironi, has prepared a menu that plays with foods legendarily known for their aphrodisiac virtues, such as panforte panpepato, quail eggs, truffle, chocolate … and renewing traditional dishes. A five-course dinner refined, light but full of flavors with four great wines in combination.
VALENTINE’S DAY AT FATTORIA DEL COLLE FOR LOVERS WHO LOVE WINE AND PERFUMES OF SEDUCTION
For those who stay to sleep in the apartments and rooms of the sixteenth-century village of
Fattoria del Colle there will be the opportunity to make the last toast with Spumante Brut, alone in the room.
On Sunday small lesson – experience on seductive perfumes with Gloria Del Dottore.
Therefore this weekend program is for lovers, it includes tastings, visits and natural treatments in the wellness area at Fattoria del Colle, check our website for info.
And here’s a preview of the dinner: the recipe for noodles made with red turnips, lamb, broccoli and dried tomatoes A dish that recalls the Romanesque culture in a modern and imaginative key.
The new chef at Fattoria del Colle is a sommelier
His name is Alessandro Sironi , he has a thirty-year experience in cooking but also a diploma of sommelier AIS and one of taster of beer. The new chef at Fattoria del Colle is a sommelier
Alessandro
48 years old from Milan, Alessandro Sironi, is the new chef of the Fattoria del Colle restaurant in the hills south of Chianti overlooking Montalcino and the Valdorcia. An ancient territory where gastronomy must be thought of in combination with wine. For this reason Donatella Cinelli Colombini welcomed with enthusiasm the chef sommelier Alessandro Sironi in the restaurant of her farm and immediately began to convey to him the essence of the Sienese culinary civilization.
ALESSANDRO SIRONI CHEF SOMMELIER AT FATTORIA DEL COLLE
Alessandro Sironi, did his cooking training after leaving the scientific high school before graduation. In his curriculum a period of four years in La bettolina in Gaggiano Milanese where he grew up professionally until he became a chef. This is followed by an even longer period, as sous chef, in the Michelin starred Marino alla Scala.
It is during this time that he becomes sommelier AIS and beer taster. Successive experiences in catering see him as manager or executive chef in restaurants as large as the Quanta Sport Village in Milan.
The Italian wine seen by Wine Spectator
During Wine2Wine 2019 the senior editor of Wine Spectator Bruce Sanderson tasted with young people and showed how his readers perceive our wines
By Donatella Cinelli Colombini
wine2wine-sonia-franco-violante-gardini-cinellicolombini
The tasting with 9 exponents of the new generations of Italian wine– among them my daughter Violante Gardini, Bernardino Sani and Dominga Cotarella- took place in the most multi-ethnic and social area of Veronafiere, the reign of Stevie Kim and VinitalyInternational. This is an environment that inspires creativity, with its painted ceilings, trendy interior design… But young people were very much “in the role” with little lightness and much determination. In front of them, Bruce Sanderson, one of the world’s most popular wine gurus, tastes Burgundy, Piedmont and Tuscany for Wine Spectator and, in my opinion, tastes the best!
The land of Sangiovese: Chianti Classico and Montalcino
The nature of the soil gives a specific sensory character to the wine, so understanding the soil is crucial to understand the most variable vine: Sangiovese. Today we talk about the land of Sangiovese: Chianti Classico and Montalcino
by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
It is well known that Sangiovese has the highest number of clones (108) and the greatest variability. In short, it is a mutant grape variety which is best expressed in two areas: Chianti Classico and Montalcino.
Very small selection of extraordinary Vin Santo
A very small selection of extraordinary Vin Santo
Just 350 small bottles of Vin Santo del Chianti 2007 produced by Fattoria del Colle with artisan care. A very very small selection of extraordinary Vin Santo
Jewels for true enthusiasts who, with the previous vintage, have obtained prestigious international awards such as 95/100 by Robert Parker/ Wine advocate.
The Vin Santo DOC Chianti is the most prestigious and successful result of the project on dessert wines wanted by Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s husband, Carlo Gardini. Donatella does not drink sweet wines and had strongly reduced their production at Fattoria del Colle although this winery, located in the south of Chianti, had a centuries-old tradition of Vin Santo. Carlo is instead a fan of sweet whites and has dedicated time and energy to create small selections of signature wine handcrafted in detail. It includes the Passito, the Vin Santo and the prestigious Vin Santo selection we are talking about.
Maturation of wine in cask, “Italian style”
With the rise in temperatures and the consequences in the vineyard and cellar, it becomes urgent to rethink the barrels and the Maturation of wine in cask, “Italian style”
barrels tonneaux Montalcino CasatoPrimeDonne
by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
For what regards the maturation of wine in cask, “Italian style”, we go from one exaggeration to another. After years of wines with too much wood we went to the fashion of no oak at all.
To understand which is the right way the Italian Union of Wines through the Wine Corriere has organized a survey and then a conference during the exhibition in Milan.
WOODEN TASTE: MANY SAY THEY HATE IT BUT IN REALITY IT IS NOT TRUE
The results were intriguing, stimulating and even a little embarrassing.
In fact there is a fundamental contradiction: the consumer says he appreciates one type of wine but then he buys another. He thinks he prefers dry wines but then he is more happy to put in the glass those with residual sugar. He claims to hate barriques and “Parker style” wine but then chooses the one with an oak imprint to which he is accustomed.
Contradiction that, from my experience, also affects many tasters formed in the era of late 20th century style wines.
This is not a small problem especially for wines with long aging in cask like Brunello.
Vin Santo del Chianti 2008 Fattoria del Colle
Donatella Cinelli Colombini presents her Vin Santo del Chianti 2008 Fattoria del Colle aged in caratelli for eleven years .
A small selection of very few bottles for lovers of sweet wines
First of all Vin Santo is part of the history of Tuscany. In ancient times all the noble families had caratelli (small barrels) in which the Vin Santo aged in the attic of their Villas. Vin Santo was always served at important banquets .
We do not know when the production of this sweet golden and refined wine was born, it surely existed already in Siena in the fourteenth century. But it was precisely during a banquet that the Vin Santo ceased to be called “vino pretto” that means pure and took on its present name.
The legend
According to legend, this happened in 1439 after the Council of Florence. That meeting was attended by the Greek Cardinal Giovanni Bessarione who, tasting it, exclaimed “this is the wine of Xantos! ” in reference to the island where sweet wines were produced at the time particularly appreciated. Hence, since then xantos wine became Vin Santo and the name remained to indicate the delicious Tuscan nectar.
Fattoria del Colle too, has its vinsantaia, it is in the attic of the sixteenth-century villa. So, crossing the winery and climbing a staircase you can reach the attic where in winter it is very cold and in summer it is very hot. Here are the small barrels in which the golden liquid, squeezed from the dried grapes, remains to ripen for over ten years.
Last year the Vin Santo del Chianti of Fattoria del Colle received 93/100 from Robert Parker/Wine advocate. A success that we hope will be repeated in the future.
We recommend not to dip cookies in Vin Santo. It is a popular practice very widespread in Tuscany but absolutely harmful because it alters the aroma and taste of the wine.
Music and wine: How sounds make you sell more
Music and wine: How sounds make you sell more
Among the senses the strongest is sight but also hearing has a decisive influence on taste and even on the purchase of wine with the “Lafite effect”. Music and wine: How sounds make you sell more
By Donatella Cinelli Colombini
Refined music drives you to buy expensive wines, relaxing music decreases the frustration of those queuing in front of the register, whereas a very well-known music distracts you from buying.
So, the rhythm accelerates consumer movements between the shelves and decreases sales. Here, in a nutshell, how sounds can change the attitude of wine lovers inside a wine bar or in the shop of the cellar.
That’s why spreading the sounds of an opera helps an Italian winery to sell more and more expensive wines.
THE NEUROMARKETING OF VINCENZO RUSSO AND THE USE OF MUSIC TO SELL WINE
Professor Vincenzo Russo, the most experienced Italian neuromarketing expert, teaches us, through Trebicchieri – economic weekly by Gambero Rosso, how sounds influence the purchase of wine.
It should be assumed that hearing has an “adaptive function” because it is closely connected with three parts of the brain. We have the limbic system in which emotions reside, the prefrontal Cortex that makes us feel pleasure and motor Cortex that, as the name says, commands movement. The first two are the real pleasure centers in all of us, in fact they are the parts of our brain that react “euphorically” when we eat food that we like, and consequently when we have sex or we use drugs.
DRY JANUARY? BETTER NOT
Italian consumers and wine culture
Is abstinence from alcohol better than education for moderate drinking? The British say yes to dry January and perhaps even the French. In Italy no
By Donatella Cinelli Colombini
It must be said that in Italy the problem of alcohol abuse is much lower than in other consumer countries. If in fact in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belarus, Lithuania and Portugal the average alcohol consumed in a year is 12.5 liters per person. In Italy it is between 5 and 7 liters as in Japan, Iceland or China. It must be known , in the ranking of the OECD countries on alcohol abuse, in the first place are the USA, and Italy is in last position.
However wine is only 12% of the total alcoholic beverages consumed by about 2.3 billion people in the world. To alcohol should be added drugs which are often used in a combined way, especially by young people, to accelerate the euphoric effect.