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Flying wines

These are the characteristics of wines to be consumed while in flight according to the Master of Wine and world champion Sommelier Markus Del Monego and our Andrea Gori

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

First Class dining

The starting point is a brief article by Andrea Gori who comments positively the choices made by Airlines regarding wines << it is really difficult, at least in first class and business class, to not find specialities that have great value>>. In fact to capture and render faithful the frequent flyers it is necessary to also offer them wine experiences which gratify them and surprise them especially during long transatlantic flights.

Lufthansa and Air France have asked advice of two world champion sommeliers: Markus Del Monego, winner in 1998 and Olivier Poussier, winner in 2000, who will create for the Airlines some onboard cabinets, where the contents will be changed every couple of months. The German airlines keep an eye on trends and specialized press opinions, then they select the bottles though a blind tasting so as not to influence the opinion of the tasters with brand name or appellation. The wines apt for consumption while on board must have low acidity or very soft tannins. Those with a slight residual sugar level are fine, as those with high alcohol content, as these two elements are not at all perceived whilst in flight. Criteria which correspond to the requests of the very clever Andrea Gori <<fresh young wines that are very intense in taste and in the aroma>>.

8 November 2014

in Uncategorized

Penfolds King of Australian Shiraz wine

What you might not already know about Penfolds: the experimental BIN wines, the corking clinic and the fascinating story about this enormous charming and innovative kangaroo

Read for you by Carlo Gardini (Cinellicolombini partner)

royal-visit-penfolds-wine

In Italy as yet there is little habit in drinking “foreign” wines except for Champagne of which we seem to be one of the main world markets, and this regardless our excellent Spumante.
This is how I discovered the wines of some of the most important Australian wineries during my holidays inMalta and then I continued drinking them back in Italy as I was made curious by their very different tastes and aromas compared to our productions.

A while ago we received from our importers and friends Caroline and Alan a wine from Penfolds as a present, without doubt one of the better known Australian wineries. Founded in 1844 by Christopher Rawson Penfold who bought his first 500 acresof good land in Magill, in Southern Australia. This is where Christopher Penfold begins planting a Vineyard using vines of French origin that he had taken with him, twenty years later his wife Mary take over, and runs it for a further 25 years practically until the end of the 1800… and in those days a winery run by a woman really was something extraordinary.
Penfolds has always been a winery open to new ideas and has played a fundamental role in the creations of a typical “style “ for its nation.

It produces in fact many types of quality wines some of which can be considered milestones in the Australian winemaking as they demonstrate that wines made in the new world can last in time…Grange, a blend of Shirazand Cabernet Sauvignon, is, without doubt, the primogenitor of this generation of new wine making.

6 November 2014

On your skin the long lasting youthfulness of the Montalcino wines

At Fattoria del Colle the room for the couple massages with grape powder, the fluid and serum from wine, next to the cave for lovers Vinotherapy

wine and wellness at fattoria_del_Colle

The Brunello, wine made with only Sangiovese, that challenges time and after years and years is still alive, refined and intriguing maybe contains the magical virtues that give skin the same youthfulness?
It is worth trying.
For this reason Donatella Cinelli Colombini has acquired from her winery Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino, the substances to produce grape powder, saline wine scrub, wine serum and wine massage fluid …. All that gives wellness and youthfulness to the skin.
These products contain the virtues of prestigious wines and will be used in a small massage room with 300 years of history: stone walls, a medieval stairway has been transformed into shelves, the 18th century flooring is rustic but original. Everything has been studied in the minimum detail so as to offer the guests at Fattoria del Colle a regenerating experience in every way, starting from the wellness area with the Turkish baths, sauna, sensorial shower and Jacuzzi, or in the small cave with its wooden tub that seats two where one soaks in wine, to then continue with a couples massage where the products used are made from the wines from Montalcino. A unique experience to which we can add a tasting of wonderful Brunello.

1 November 2014

in Vines and wines

Recent wine travels for Violante, a woman with a suitcase

She seems fragile but she has real stamina. In the past month she has visited New York, Philadelphia, Denver, Minneapolis, 4 days home and then Hong Kong and Shanghai

Violante's Usa mission in october 2014

Violante Gardini the Cinellicolombini Jr, always has trips that begin with an adventure: to go to the US they cancelled her flight but she was able nevertheless to get to the wine tasting in Washington on time going via Brussels . To go to China her car’s clutch broke on the way to Rome. A journey with mechanical noises and lots of frights. When she got to Fiumicino she was so upset that the check in staff was so sorry for her that they gave her a super comfy seat on the plane

Her texts from abroad are hilarious, here’s one of them <<how much do you have to walk to sell wine? My feet are exhausted!…. This first week on work, running after planes, taxis and

Violante's new shoes

most of all time, has finally finished >> . Violante describes a different New York than what she has seen the last few years, more beautiful and with more positive energy. People have more faith in the future and want to spend more.
<<Lots of overweight people, but less than usual. Maybe Michelle Obama’s campaign regarding exercise and eating vegetables has worked. There are less McDonald’s, where have they disappeared to?>> <<It is said that there are BIO stores everywhere, but I didn’t see any, however all that is organic is liked>>.
<<The Rosso di Montalcino was fantastically successful, everyone loves it and we placed it in 2/3restaurants to be served also by the glass. Someone is surprised by its freshness, how delicate it is and sweet and pleasant, others just fall in love with it straight away. >>
Violante finds time also for friends and shopping <<Tomorrow Maria will come to the city, she is a young wine producer from Puglia who is doing work experience for a few month with an importer just out of the city. She will come to NY for the weekend so we can spend some time together, fantastic!>> The result of this shopping is a pair of really funny pink shoes. For someone always dressed in black, brown and blue this has been a really revolutionary choice!

24 October 2014

The most beautiful farm wedding ever

Fattoria del Colle is a romantic antique location where every couple can have the wedding of their dreams with three small romantic wedding rites

Wedding lunch at Fattoria del Colle

Fattoria del Colle is several hundred years old and for this reason it can offer a wedding couple something unique and unforgettable such as the wedding night in the bedroom that once belonged to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. At the end of the Eighteenth century the farm was a secret hideaway for the Gran Duke of Tuscany Pietro Leopoldo d’Asburgo and his lover Isabella. The bedroom built for them has a decorated ceiling and antique furnishings.
For an unforgettable honeymoon two hours in the exclusive wellness centre ,wine therapy, couple massages and a Jacuzzi at sunset with a well wishing toast in candle light. Warm water, effusions in an area where every detail is carefully planned. Before leaving there is another rite: the love padlock to be sealed in the Fantabosco at Fattoria del Colle so that it will remain for ever as a souvenir of the wedding couple.

Three details which distinguish the weddings organized at Fattoria del Colle and make them particularly romantic and sensational.

Fattoria del Colle wedding

Fattoria del Colle is a small hamlet with a chapel, a villa, parks, and all surrounded by vineyards, olive groves and an extraordinarily beautiful panorama. A large open space where every wedding couple can organize their “custom fitted” wedding completely different from all others. A great outdoor ceremony and party, aperitif around the swimming pools, wedding banquet and cutting of the cake, open bar and a DJ for dancing under the trees which shine with small lights until late….The intimate celebration inside the San Clemente chapel and a banquet for few. The wine wedding in the cellar and the gourmand banquet with haut cuisine dishes and Brunello from great vintages.

16 October 2014

in Vines and wines

In Montalcino we had a fermentation phase full of wonderful surprises

There are some excellencies in the 2014 wine, even though less than in 2012 and 2013 which, for us, have both been exceptional

Sangiovese Fattoria del Colle and Felix

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini
This year has been the BIO year as quite rightly stated by Loredana Sottine in Trebicchieri, the Gambero Rosso weekly <<never before has the sector been able to get its own back on conventional productions>>. The only possible way to bring good grapes into the cellar has in fact been using more attention to nature. For those of us who cultivate our vine organically this is excellent news!
First surprise, with respect to the rest of Italy where the vintage looks like being inferior in quantity to the previous ones ( 41 million ), we have had an abundant one. No decrease.
Second surprise, were expecting a late harvest but on the contrary the picking took place exactly 40 days after the veraison, practically a textbook routine. The younger vineyards and the ones that tend to be ready sooner and have a lesser root ramification, those facing south and with good inclination have given good and excellent grapes. Grapes for Brunello without doubt.

14 October 2014

in Uncategorized

Italian’s wine tourism Super Tuscany

All lists put Tuscany as first wine destination in Italy but Travellers’ Choice Award 2012 and Wayn Award 2013 consider it 1^st in the world

Cantina Antinori nel Chianti Classico

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Huffington Post 2013 and USA Today 2014 put it respectively in 6th and 7^thposition in the world. HoweverTuscany seems to be among the “historic” wine destinations, the one that has best resisted the attacks of the new destinations such asOkanaganValley inBritish Columbia and Maipo inChile. One must notice at this point how areas such as Champagne andAlsace have practically disappeared from such list from the world over while in reality they receive enormous amounts of tourists. Such a circumstance seems to indicate that the search for something new and not for masses, a tendency that penalizes

Chianti Classico

destinations which are too crowded or commoditized.

Tuscany offers, at very high levels 4 things that a wine tourist most appreciates: landscapes, culture, good food and great wines. The network of hotels, country inns and restaurants of good or excellent level is capillary and widespread in many of the Tuscan large and small cities of art. The large number of concerts and cultural events, the famous people, the possibility of doing shopping in the Gucci, Prada, Cavalli outlets … make a difference and assure Tuscany a decidedly strong position.

12 October 2014

in Uncategorized

Il Barone 2.0: Francesco Ricasoli Italian instagramer

Practically one thousand years of history for the Castello di Brolio family, always ahead of times. Francesco Ricasoli has been chosen as Instragramer of the week.

Read for you by Bonella Ciacci

Francesco Ricasoli Iger of the week

Today, if we talk about noble titles such as “barons”, we think of something old, dusty, forced into costumes of long ago… Nothing could be more wrong, at least for what regards the 32nd Baron Ricasoli, direct descendant of the family owners of Castello di Brolio, in the middle of the Chianti area.
Francesco Ricasoli has been nominated by the Italian web site of Instagramers (the community of users of the photographic social networking service Instagram), as Instagramer of the week and has been interviewed by his fellow countryman Antonio Cinotti on July 25th. If you visit Francesco Ricasoli’s photo gallery you will remain speechless because of his great style, the fantastic images, and his great passions, which he is very capable of expressing in his photos. And there is not only his wine, Chianti Classico, of which his ancestor Bettino Ricasoli, the “ barone di ferro”, created the formula as it is known today. On his profile we find images of his trips around the world, the sea, one of his great passions, and delicious food… So it is not a company account, born only to publicise its products and the company name, but a persona profile which allows us to discover the great man who is behind the rebirth of a winery that had ended up in Australian hands (the Australian winery Hardy), and has returned to be the flagship for Tuscan wine making.

3 October 2014

in Uncategorized

New stars in wine tourism: Alentajo Okanagan Maipo Croatia

The desire for novelty wins, but also a warm welcoming: restaurants, hotels, beaches …. Now more than ever an excellent wine is not enough

zambujeira-alentejo

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
The list of the wine destinations chosen by the readers of “USA Today”, the most widespread daily newspaper in the States, states the definitive surpassing of lists dedicated to the prestige of wine. The Giants such as Bordeaux and Champagne disappear, so do destinations too uniformed such as Alsace. The new destinations for wine lovers are places that are very well equipped for welcoming guests or better still not yet touched by tourism. Here are the top 10 region to visit: Alentejo -Portugal, Okanagan Valley-British Columbia, Maipo-Chile, Malborough-New Zealand, Croatia, Napa Valley, Tuscany, Oregon, Hunter Valley-Australia, Virginia.

After the earthquake that changed the hierarchy, only Tuscany resists in the list but only in 7th position. Many cities of art, wines of international fame, events, good restaurants, the

Alentejo-tipical handcart

possibility of staying in historic locations, local dishes, the beauty of the landscape……. are a strong point, but will they be enough in the future?

If we go and see the data regarding tourism we will notice that in Italy is on the decrease: -4,3% compared to 2012 in the presences (nights) and -2% in tourism consumption. And this

economic sector should be the engine of our nation! Tuscany is a bit more successful than the other regions and is able to compensate the contraction in Italian tourists with the increase in foreign visitors so the presences are equal to the previous year (IRPET data).

25 September 2014

in Farm experiences, Vines and wines

4 cookery courses in the Brunello and Chianti vineyards

Donatella Cinelli Colombini proposes tours in the winery with cookery courses and stays on the from a with high level cookery lessons with Helle Poulsen Tesio

cookery course at Fattoria del Colle

At the end of the courses we hold a brief ceremony and the awarding of a certificate to take home, practically a passport to guarantee your Tuscan spirit Brief experiences in the Montalcino and Chianti wineries together with some real courses in the school at Fattoria del Colle, but always something really authentic and regenerating. Historic places, breathtaking landscape, great wines tasted after having seen the vineyards and the wineries, food culture learned methodically from excellent teachers and through a direct experience in preparing the food.
A full-immersion experience of Tuscan civilisation, and full of small surprises. Here are the 4 proposals.
Antipasti Toscani and guided tour of Casato Prime Donne winery with a tasting of Brunello a light lunch to finish with. A day to spend in contact with the Montalcino countryside suggestions: landscape, great wines and traditional flavours framed by an area that has four hundred years of history and a worldwide reputation for high quality wines.
At Fattoria del Colle the daily visit with cookery school has an aristocratic style: guided tour of the 16th century villa including the bedroom created for the Grand Duke of Tuscany, experience with Chianti and Orcia Doc wines in the winery and cookery lesson regarding fresh pasta- the traditional local dish “pinci”- and some famous Sienese biscuits among which the Ricciarelli.

19 September 2014

Wine and beauty at Fattoria del Colle

16 September 2014

in Uncategorized

What is virtual is not always true

A short film on YouTube to show how social media help you to be more popular, even through lies. Is this true also for hotels and country inns?

Seen for you by Bonella Ciacci

"What's on your mind" video

A few days ago I came across an article online by Internazionale which talks about a short film which is greatly clicked on YouTube (7 million visualizations up to today). The director Shaun Higton tells the story of a man that lives a sad life, who gets even sadder looking at the photos of his friends on Facebook, who seem to live idyllic lives. So he begins to pretend, taking misleading photos and posting comments which tell the opposite of what is really happening. For example when with his car he gets to the top of a hill near the city, and then in his jogging gear he takes a photo of himself pretending to have just done a long but satisfying run.

From here the consideration: how much is the online reputation important for companies? And more importantly for hotels, and restaurants, who must respect, among the main requirements of the guests, their appearance and what the promise to give to the guests? For example at the end of May An article that appeared in many newspapers among which also La Stampa, regarding an inquiry by the Antitrust on the ratings in the famous website TripAdvisor.

13 September 2014

The Brunello sky with Sandra Savaglio’s stars

The Casato Prime Donne award 2014 is full of stars: Sandra Savaglio, Daniele Cernilli, Ian D’Agata, Anna Di Martino and Andrea Rontini

Sandra-Savaglio-Cenerentola

September 14th in Montalcino Casato Prime Donne award in a star filled edition: the stars belonging to the astrophysicist Sandra Savaglio, the moon photographed by Andrea Rontini and the three stars from wine journalism Anna Di Martino, Daniele Cernilli, Ian D’Agata and then “Vita” the grape-picker who is looking at the sun by Piero Sbarluzzi.
This award for the past sixteen years has transformed Montalcino into a stage for great women, those who change the feminine profile, it proposes this year a positive example for the world of research: Sandra Savaglio the astrophysicist who has decided to return to Italy to the Università della Calabria in Cosenza after 23 years of working abroad with the best foreign telescopes and after having become the icon of the participants of the brain drain. In fact in 2004 the weekly “Time” magazine put her on the front page with the title “How Europe lost its science stars”.

12 September 2014