Blog

Brunello in Washington, the centre of the world

A day’s work in the cold in Washington with just a little time for tourism with the Brunello producers

Seen for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Washington, US Capitol

Us Capitol in Washington, Donatella and Carlo

We were up at the crack of dawn, and then took a taxi to Penn Station, the enormous underground station next to Madison Square Garden where Nino Benvenuti’s international boxing contests took place. Here we take a train with very large wagons but they are so old that for 2 hours 45 minutes they shake us ‘til we reach Washington. Once out of the splendid Victoria station we are in front of the United States Capitol, what a sight! The small group of representatives of the Consorzio del Brunello and I had planned a day at the Italian Embassy. The building was constructed in 2001; it is square shaped and has a spectacular glass-domed atrium. There are archaeological objects exhibited and a hall dedicated to Falcone and Borsellino with the photos of the two magistrates killed by the mafia.

After a long meeting and a buffet enriched with 20 odd bottles of Brunello, including mine, – which is something that I am particularly proud of- we are finally free to roam as tourists.

18 February 2013

Preview of the Brunello 2008 previews

A series of 12 new spectacular Brunello to begin the new year of the Union Européenne des Gourmets di Siena with a memorable event.

Gourmets_preview_Brunello-14

The Siena Consul Siena Alessandro Bonelli promises sparks in 2013 with wine tastings, conferences and tours of excellent producers. The beginning is a triumph, 12 wines that resemble the leading players on the Italian Premier league: Canalicchio di sopra, Capanna, Altesino, Costanti, Solaria, Casanova di Neri, Talenti, Fanti, Siro Pacenti, Banfi-Poggio alle Mura and of course Donatella Cinelli Colombini.

Nobody will quickly forget this wine tasting for its very elevated quality level and for the excitement in tasting them for the very first time. In fact the first official tasting of the new Brunello took place in the USA first and then in Montalcino.

15 February 2013

in Farm experiences

When a present becomes a treasure and a story

Here’s how a towel becomes a unique present, able to tell a story hundreds of years old and to make a bathroom extremely elegant

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

ToscanaLovers-Siena-serviettes-Damas-pattern

ToscanaLovers-Siena-towels-Damas-pattern

Magic? Not at all, we are in the boutique for Tuscan handicraft, where we can find what we need. The shop is in Siena, in the centre of the Palio city, and is called Toscana Lovers. One finds ceramics, cutlery, shawls, embroidered sheets…. and many other objects of great tradition made nearly entirely by hand.

We would like a towel, but not any old towel but something that will remember us to someone dear it and give a touch of class to their bathroom. So here is something unique: these towels are in lines or cotton, made by the wooden looms built in Anghiari two centuries ago during the Napoleonic occupation and still today functional. It is these centenary machines that give the cloth a particular softness, and then of course the designs that recall those visible in Sienese paintings from Medieval times onwards, there is even a towel with the typical rhombus from Pienza and the fringes which recall the one portrayed in the Maestà by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1308-11).

13 February 2013

in Forum: News and lifestyle, Vines and wines

Brunello 2008 conquers and surprises New York

Brunello 2008 is liked by the Americans more than they expected. It’s a 4 star vintage but is earning its fifth on the field.

NewYork-preview-Brunello2008

Seen for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

500 clients for 41 wineries from Montalcino under the monumental Gotham Hall dome for the first New York toast to the Brunello 2008.

We are in the heart of the Big Apple, in the 19th century branch of a business bank, a sort of modern Pantheon where everything – from the doors to the chandeliers – transmits the opulence of the golden years of America. A location that become a cult for the Batman film and upon entering you really think you see the famous bat fly under the enormous central vault.

The tables for the 41 Brunello producers positioned in a circle around a central buffet with tables for eating on the outside. At midday the assault begins. Really long queues in front of the signing- in desks and an ever growing crowd in front of the producers’ tables, who for 5 hours didn’t have time to go to the restroom. Importers, buyers, journalists and bloggers, restaurateurs, shop owners

Piero_Antinori_NY_tasting_Brunello

….. as if to confirm that Brunello is a star that shines more and more in the first wine market in the world. It is also evident that the 2008 vintage meets with the requirements of the best clientele of the area: it is a “friendly” wine, so much readier and more easily understood than other Montalcino vintages. More importantly it is liked more than everybody expected. It reached here with 4 stars awarded in the harvest rating but is earning its fifth on the field.

11 February 2013

in Uncategorized

Frank Ferrante: the American dream is born from crisis

Frank Ferrante Business lawyer in Manhattan, explains how most of the 500 major American societies were born form the 1929 crisis

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Cristina Vannuzzi Landini interviews the Italo-American lawyer Frank Ferrante, founder of the Studio Legale Ferrante in New York. Born in Calabria, he studied in Italy and then in USA. In his profession he unites the rapidity and dynamics of the American business style together with the care for attention and the flair which are typically Italian.

The Studio Legale Ferrante is a real boutique for Italian clients in New York, there are about 15 experts with an International vocation. He has already opened offices in China and Brazil. The Studio assists in Italy and abroad many clients from real estate, fashion, design, technology, and from wine and food sectors. It offers services relative to 5 micro areas: advisory for start-up business in USA for Italian companies, real estate, immigration, e-commerce and intellectual property (brands/copyrights)

Interview by Cristina Vannuzzi Landini

Q. Avvocato Ferrante “Is small still beautiful?

A. “I am convinced that small is always better, but the time has come to reinvent ourselves. The Italian economic fabric has always been made up of mostly medium and small companies; most of these were in fact family run. The US is one of the largest “friendly” nations for business men, as proven by the World Bank statistics. As long as the “business plan” is solid, the States can offer infinite benefits from a fiscal, corporate, immigration and transparency point of view. I have directly experienced this myself and I try to help the Italian excellencies to experience the so called “American dream”. In a moment of crisis, the worst thing to do is to stay still and wait for it to go away. To look abroad is no longer an option, but a strategy for survival. From this “survival” many have obtained success!”

8 February 2013

in Farm experiences, Vines and wines

Ciancifricola – many names for this Tuscan recipe with tomato

A delicious tomato and egg soup, in the Siena‘s countryside it is also called picchio pacchio. Here you find it in the Fattoria del Colle, farmhouse in Tuscany

Ciancifricola_FattoriaDelColle_ingredients_recipe

Rewritten from the housewives by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

This is a main course for those who get home half an hour before dinner and still are able to put something delicious on the table. In a more refined meal the ciancifricola becomes finger food to be served in small bowls.

It definitely originates from a long time ago even though not quite Medieval. Surely though in the 19^th century the ciancifricola used to be served halfway through the morning, so as to give the farmers some energy, during the heavy summer jobs. In the villages in the Sienese countryside it changes name and becomes pomodorata or picchio pacchio although with some minute variations, the recipe remains the same.

6 February 2013

in Uncategorized

2012 Tourism with spendthrift foreigners especially Russians

Lost 11 million touristic presences in Italy, fewer rooms filled in hotel but there is an increase in spending by non European tourists.

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Tourists_in_Italy

There are few certainties for Italian tourism were the non registered nights seem to be, according to ISTAT, 56%ofte total and in Puglia they would even multiply by 6 the official number. A situation which make any evaluation doubtful and especially makes a credible projection for the future impossible, but Trademark, the major Italian institute for surveys, tries all the same concluding with a situation full of light and shadows.

The first negative element is the amount spent on promotion: summing up all the expenses of all the regions we obtain an amount that is double that invested in Spain, three times as much as what is spent in France and 10 times the USA budget. But if only it were of some use! In fact though it results as being a << conceited exhibition that goes on since 1970 … waist, double expenses, false buyers, false educational trips, mess ups ….>> as they are descried by Aureliano Bonini from Trademark who brings attention to the large number of politic delegations who go abroad.

4 February 2013

Houston places Brunello sky high

A tasting of 41 Montalcino wineries in Houston – Texas attracts operators from hundreds of kilometres and even from other states

shoes_from_Texas

The USA are now the largest Brunello market, even larger than Italy. They absorb 25% of the total production, which means one bottle of Brunello very four. If we consider that most of the wine sold in Montalcino is sold to foreign tourists Italy goes below this quota and become the second market. It seems strange but that is how it is!

For this reason the first important tasting of the new Brunello 2008 takes place in the USA even before the Benvenuto Brunello kermess in Montalcino.

Every year the presentation in the USA takes place in New York and in another key city. This year for the first time we are in Texas, and it’s a success.

Don’t think of cowboys and cattle, here there is true richness, petrol, an industry bound to electronics, here is found the best hospital in the world and the largest university if the States. A less formal lifestyle and dress style but, many dollars…everything is big, exaggeratedly big!

The Brunello tasting location is a structure used for banquets, with a large hall and a smaller one for the two seminars held by Kevin Zraly a wine expert and tutor for wine courses of international fame.

1 February 2013

Here’s for you the Brunello Prime Donne 2008

The Brunello dedicated to women, in the direction for Sangiovese and Montalcino tipicity, a new research of personality and finesse with little “oak effect”

Brunello2008_PrimeDonne

The Brunello Prime Donne 2008 expresses its full belonging to the identity of Sangiovese and Montalcino. In other words it exalts those characteristics of the grape variety and of the Brunello territory that right on the Montalcino hill reach their excellence. A choice that puts the wine’s personality in the role as protagonist. The choice of refined style is also evident: a togetherness of harmony, elegance, roundness and lengthiness.

The effect of the barrel ageing, where the wine has rested for more than two years, becomes softer also because of the choice of medium and large barrels after the winemaker Valerie Lavigne asked us to empty our cellar of barriques.

30 January 2013

in Farm experiences

Not only rice for a wedding in a farmhouse in Tuscany

At Fattoria del Colle – country inn in Tuscany – wedding couples from al lover the world and of different religions often choose

Wedding_ fattoria_del_Colle_horn_of_plenty_with_rice

small hearts or bubbles as a wedding wish

At Fattoria del Colle every wedding is different. The location changes as does that of the banquet, the entrees and the cutting of the cake are also different…in other words every couple has a unique experience planned carefully in every detail. Wedding couples of every nationality and religion have different habits and traditions, so the usual throwing of rice after the ceremony becomes something else.

First of all, on the contrary to what happens inItaly, foreign wedding couples come

Wedding_in_Tuscany_Fattoria_del_Colle

out before everyone else form where the marriage has taken place and then they stop to greet relatives.

The moment the couple exits is solemn and usually underlined just like and maybe more than their entrance. For the photographs this is perfect!

It is consequently necessary to organize a space where to stop with a doorway or a staircase for the bouquet throwing.

28 January 2013

2012 a sunny balance at the end of the year for Donatella Cinelli Colombini

2012 a very tiring year where a lot of work has been done. Great awards, successes, small commercial progress and great difficulties tied to the International crisis.

Vinitaly 2012 - Donatella Cinelli Colombini - Premio Internazionale Vinitaly

The best image of the past year is of the Premio internazionale Vinitaly received directly from the President Mr. Riello and the General Manager of Veronafiere Giovanni Mantovani. Such an important award which I shared with Debra Meiburg the Master of Wine who rates 7th in the list of most powerful women in wine in the world.

A good portrait of the increase in quality of the wines from this cellar is given by the image of 5 wines with ratings over 90/100 in Wine Spectator: Il Drago e le 8 Colombe, Cenerentola, Brunello, Brunello Prime Donne and Riserva, the latter with 95/100 is in the Olympus of the 18 Italian “Top Wines” chosen by Wine Spectator. The Brunello Prime Donne is among those Highly Recommended by “Decanter” and among the three preferred by the Master of Wine Rosemary George.

24 January 2013

From 10 to 600.000 € per hectare. How much an hectare of vineyard in Italy?

From 10.000 € in Copertino in Puglia to 600.000€ in Lago di Caldaro in Alto Adige there are all sorts of prices in Italy.

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Montalcino-Wine-area

A recent article in the “Corriere Vinicolo” (26 November pp.20-21) creates a map of value of Italian vineyards, underlining the decrease in sales but also the stable prices regardless of the economic crisis our Nation is facing. The report carried out by Inea points out how in Italy, from the beginning of the Millennium, the value of vineyards has increate by 28% consequently more than inflation, so in real terms, it has grown by 2% and all of this regardless of the contraction in prices which took place after 2008.

The average value of one hectare on a National level is of 36.000€ which means a lot more than that of other cultivations which is o f about 19.400€.

What does this survey say then about the period 2010-2011: negative period for prices of vineyards for Veneto and Tuscany regions In the latter the land for producing Brunello and Chianti Classico have decreased in value , even if just a little.

22 January 2013

Brunello di Montalcino 2008 to begin at best the 2013

We are waiting for you at Casato Prime Donne, in Montalcino, and at Fattoria del Colle (Trequanda SI), to taste the first Brunello 2008 just born.

Brunello_2008_CasatoPrimeDonne_2

At midnight on New Year’s Eve the red wine from Montalcino that producers have cared for with love for 4 and a half years has become Brunello.

Donatella Cinelli Colombini owner of Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino often says that she is very lucky in truth; many favourable circumstances help her producing great red wines. One of these lucky elements has been the change in climate with the increase in temperatures, which has increased her vines potential. In fact the high clayey content of the soil allows water to collect and quench the vines during the hot summer month in so allowing the grapes to

Casato_Prime_Donne

reach complete ripening very gradually. This reserve of water would not be possible in soils with more drainage considering the “monsoon” type of rainfalls. Obviously nature does not do everything alone, it is man through the winter and summer pruning who reduces the number of clusters, reduces the active leaf surface using it for shade.

18 January 2013

in Uncategorized

Domaine Romanée Conti is the king of luxury wines 2012

Wine’s Wall Street, is Liv-ex the major worldwide database for luxury wines. In their 2012 Blue chips list, 9 Italian brands: 6 Tuscan and 3 from Piemonte

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Romanée_Conti

Liv-ex is based in London but check wine markets all over the world to give merchants precise and rapid information regarding prices, but it is also a commercial and logistic turn-table. It was born in 1999 and has a web site which resembles that belonging to a great stock broker. Amazing! At the top of the page in succession are the quotations for bottles exactly as if they were Wall Street’s blue chips: Lafitte Rothschild 2000-12.000£, Fleur Petrus 2004-1150£ ….. million air bottles together with a Sassicaia 1998 sold at 111 £ a price which, in that context seems a pure bargain.

16 January 2013