Social Vignerons the best new 2015 wine blog

Socialvignerons is an icon in viral wine talking; it comes from New Zealand and from a winemaker with a degree from the University of Bordeaux: Julien Miquel

Julien Miquel

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Casato Prime Donne

Julien Miguel began as a “Flying winemaker” and for 10 years has worked for  Chateau Margaux and Kangaroo Island in southern Australia, Sonoma County, Ribera del Duero, Toscana, Margaret River, Toro in Spain … then he decided to change his rapport with wine and to become a communicator. He cared for the publishing of Wine-searcher. com, the most clicked wine portal in the world for 6 years. This took him to New Zealand, a wonderful place where he has literally settled.

Social-Vignerons

In December  2014 he decided to set off on his own and launched a blog called socialvignerons.com, six months later he wins the 2015 Best New Wine Blog , prize awarded by the Wine Blogs Awards. And he deserves it.

In the home page one finds the number of followers: Twitter 216.000, Facebook 13.500, Instagram 20.000, LinkedIn 5.600. Are you convinced about the ability of this genius in social wine?

Chianti superiore DOCG 2013 a super traditional vintange

2013 was a vintage to be called “old style” consequently fresh, with a very slow ripening of the grapes, grapes able to give the wine complexity, harmony and elegance.

Chianti superiore 2013 fattoria del colle

Chianti superior is our first red wine on the shelves from 2013. This is a favourable circumstance because it associates to the most traditional Tuscan appellation a vintage with character that is particularly Tuscan and traditional. So placing the 2013 Chianti Superiore under the motto of tipicity.

Chianti superiore 2013 Fattoria del Colle

Fattoria del Colle where this wine is produced is in southern Tuscany, at 404 metres above sea level on the hills, where there are plenty of woods and small valleys where the white truffle is born. The vineyards are on the crest, in a ventilated position with an excellent exposition. Practically all the vineyards have been planted by Donatella Cinelli Colombini and are consequently young, but masterpieces with the objective of producing exceptional wines. Fattoria has in total 16 hectares of vineyard on a surface of 336 hectares and mainly the new vineyards have been planted where her great grandfathers were, he too as passionate about Chianti.

2015 a Dream of a Harvest

This was a real triumph, a wonderful harvest. In all my life I have never seen anything similar; all the clusters were perfect, ripe, small and perfectly sound, from the first to the last.

Harvest 2015 Brunello Donatella Cinelli Colombini

In the Brunello region this harvest beats even the great 2010 vintage, and news coming from the rest of Italy is good too.

2015 Harvest – Assoenologi data

To be on the safe side I wrote little about the 2015 harvest. I kept my fingers crossed and I waited until all the grapes had reached the cellar. It was over in a flash: 7-9 September merlot, 21 -30 September Sangiovese, Foglia Tonda and Sagrantino. A big team of 18 youngsters went up and down the vine rows scissors in hand. Red baskets filling the bins ready to be taken to the cellar at Casato Prime Donne and Fattoria del Colle. Also quick, so quick that Barbara the cellar master had trouble keeping up with grapes arriving on the sorting table. A harvest amid music, many pickers had on headphones as if they were jogging. Maybe this is what accelerated the rhythm. This is something worth thinking about, even though the music isolates and stops the chitchat full of jokes, taking the Mick and camaraderie which for centuries has been the life of grape-picking.

1.600 quintals 160 tons of grapes, not even that much. In my 33 hectares an average of 46 quintals per hectare, so 4,6 tons.

Are you ready to find a fish in your glass?

During the next 5 years regionalism and seasonality will pass from the plate to the glass, all that is unusual such as healthonism will be protagonist

yoga and red wine

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Casato Prime Donne

In the near future we will see in beverages the same sort of evolution as seen in food, with proposals of niche products which are very local and change with the season. A way of revenge for all that is “handmade” and “homemade”, all this becomes trendy because made in small quantities and different. To eat and drink becomes something sophisticated <<food and drink as an experiential luxury and reflection of their personal identity.

As often happens this news comes from Drinks Business who in turn got it from a report in 2015 by “Future Food and drink” by the studio J Walter Thompson Intelligence and regards a survey on the UK and USA populations.

And, as always in trends here too there is a handicraft and an industrial dimension.

sex on the beach cocktail

Here the colossuses create hybrid drinks like the American from the whisky Whistlepig who launch a special type aged in barrels used for Sauterns and for Madeira. And also the Innis & Gunn beer infused with Bourbon.

In the cocktail sector there is a revival of the 1970’s  – Grasshopper, Tequila Sunrise and Sex on the Beach – sometimes the ingredients have been substituted with more natural and fresh ones, in some the additions are fun such as edible sand or fish (hopefully not real!).

The Dragon wag his tail and the 8 Doves fly happily in 2012

5-star harvest for Il Drago e le 8 Colombe 2012 where the structure of the Sagrantino, the roundness of Merlot and the elegance of Sangiovese blend perfectly togheter.

Il Drago e le 8 colombe IGT Toscana 2012

The most incredible harvest man can remember in 2012: the winter was dry because the massive snow falls in February left the soil dry . Warm spring very hot summer but more importantly 3 months without a drop of rain. Then a miracle occurred and the storms arrived at the beginning of September to hydrate the vines and permitted a ripening that was regular and complete. In the end the grapes were perfect for the production of great red wines. In 2012 there were other exceptions: the harvest was the scarcest in grapes that we can remember. At Fattoria del Colle we picked much less than half of what we usually pick, practically only the grapes for the best wines: Cenerentola DOC Orcia and Il Drago e le 8 Colombe.

Merlot_Donatella_CinelliColombini

Il Drago e le 8 Colombe is the only wine made by Donatella Cinelli Colombini, dedicated to men, and precisely to her husband Carlo Gardini – the dragon. Her two wineries are in fact a flagship for female winemaking because the staff are all women, and these are represented by the 8 doves in the name and on the label.

It is made with grapes from the vineyards, at 400 m above the sea level on the ridge that separates the Val d’Orcia from the Val di Chiana at 18 km from the Umbrian borderline. Three different grape varieties are used, vinified and aged in barrel separately, and then blended with the intent of obtaining a perfect equilibrium between the elegance of the Sangiovese, the roundness of the Merlot and the structure of the Sagrantino. This last variety comes from Umbria that is close by and at Fattoria del Colle has found a particularly favourable habitat.

Will 2012 be Cenerentola's Prince Charming?

The top wine at Fattoria del Colle from a 5 star vintage, arrives full of elegant lushness just like a real princess form the DOC Orcia

The 2012 harvest was the scarcest harvest ever at Fattoria del Colle. Few clusters, small but of high quality that were practically all used or the most important wines:

Cenerentola 2012 Orcia Doc

Cenerentola DOC Orcia and the Il Drago e le 8 Colombe IGT.

2012 was an odd year; the winter was dry regardless of the heavy snowfalls and the very hot summer, without rain, until September. To help the vines put up with the hydro stress the grapes were which were already scarce where diminished through pruning. In the end in the

2012 must

Fattoria del Colle vineyards there was less than half the usual amount of grapes, but with  anthocyanins and tannins – the noble substances – so abundant and soluble to give the wine a an opulent and rewarding lushness. Cenerentola 2012 is a very pleasant young wine and it will age for decades

This wine is made with grapes from two local varieties from Tuscany, Sangiovese and Foglia Tonda. This latter is an old variety that was abandoned about a century ago when the farmers we too poor to wan to thin out the grapes, and wanted to leave them all on the vine, but at harvest they were not all ripe. Thanks to Vitarium in the Regione Toscana, who supplied us with the cuttings for the first grafting, for the past 15 years we have cultivated two vineyards wog Foglia Tonda and have learned to love and emphasize this variety. Its wines are powerful and apt to be united with Sangiovese which on the other hand is a champion in elegance.

The message in colours on wine labels

Red, purple, blue, black and gray these are the colours on wine labels that help choose, sell and even raise the price of bottles in the USA

Bottle colours Wine Intelligence

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Casato Prime Donne

Colours have a fundamental role in the wine packaging and sometimes even in its commercial success. Let us not forget that in 92,6% of cases sales are influenced by visual factors. Colours play a decisive role in these choices, they create sensations that differ from consumer to consumer – elegance, exclusivity, handicraft, – and so must be chosen according to the producer and the wine trying to represent in the most faithful manner the contents of the bottle. Only in this way will we have a satisfied client who will find I the bottle what his eyes had promised him.

Brunello di Montalcino 2010

Colours have different meanings in every culture but those common to the western world must be known and used. In fact sometimes they communicate things even when they have been inadvertently put on a label so it is better to know what they mean.

Music at the Prime Donne

Casato Prime Donne, the first winery in Italy with an all female staff becomes a music workshop: Igor Vazzaz and his wine and music masterpiece 2015

Igor Vazzaz (© Elena Modena)_02

Introduction by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Five months of trials and here is born a sensorial experience to be launched on September 13th during the Casato Prime Donne Award 2015, and to then remain permanently active. It unites and changes the perception of places, wines and music under the direction of the intellectual eclectic and transgressive Igor Vazzaz.

Montalcino Casato Prime Donne barrel ageing

For a long time I had been searching for a wine expert who was also a wine expert, and who would be able to choose the right music to accompany my wines while being tasted in the winery where they are made. Thanks to my friend Marzia Morganti I met Igor Vzzaz .I immediately liked him and I asked him to choose for the  “la musica delle Prime Donne” an itinerary in sound ambiance able to express new sensations while tasting 4 wines. It will surprise you when you come to visit

Let me present Igor Vazzaz to you. He is half Tuscan and half Friulian, born in 1974; singer songwriter, theater critic, essayist,  sommelier, cultural editor, sports journalist, semi-satirical writer

He has been for many years on the tasting panel with other AIS sommeliers for the magazine “Sommelier Toscana”. He teaches theatre in the Università di Pisa, but music is his great passion: from the traditional Tuscan songs to the Irish folk songs from  define popular music by artists who write and perform their own material, and he  even composes with the  etnosurf group Tarantola 31 with whom in 2013 he published an album Nonostante Maria (va tutto bene).