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Tuscany wins in export by renewing the wine fairs

700 million Euro in 2012 with + 6,8% during the first 9 months for exports of Tuscan wines, a success built ton missions abroad and a new way of organizing fairs

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Florence - Buy Wine 2013

Very positive comments for the Tuscan wine exports where the DOCG and DOC wines have opened the way with +9,6% built especially through the expeditions to the USA. The stars and stripes wine lovers are among the major Tuscan wine estimators, these Tuscan wines in the States have proven a well deserved + 14% , this is market where in fact the most investments for events and tastings have been done by the Consorzi and by the Regione Toscana.

The amministrazione regionale – Toscanapromozione – has organized the first true wine fair of the new millennium: Buy Wine at the Fortezza da basso in Florence where the producers met operators through an innovative method of making offer and demand meet. 10.000 exhibitors and 30.000 operators took part at the event.

18 March 2013

Vancouver you are so beautiful, but so humid

Canada, Vancouver start off in a limousine and then a free day on Sunday with market stalls, ferry boat and American-Indian dances. Monday extra long Brunello

Seen for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

MOA Vancouver Native American dances

Once again in Canada and this time with the other Brunello producers. We are in Vancouver and we are all dressed for winter, but here it is hot, hotter than Montalcino at least.
Upon arrival the Brunello producers find a limousine with lounge and ceiling with lighting similar to a Christmas tree waiting for them. We were all overawed but happy.
Sunday was a free day with a visit to the market stalls, a ferry boat trip across the bay and then the Museum of Anthropology with the American Indian music festival. Wonderful!
The city is quite rainy but beautiful, what is especially fantastic is the lifestyle, with many young people and many different races. Asians, European immigrants…if there is a really multiethnic place then that is Vancouver. It also seems a happy city, with no tensions and a great love of life.

15 March 2013

in Farm experiences

Easter eggs decorated by Jana

Different nations have different cultures and at Easter the tradition of painting eggs is particularly common in Eastern Europe. Here is how to do it

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Decoranting eggs, how to do it

At Fattoria del Colle we have a young girl from Chomutov, an industrial city with 50.000 inhabitants not far form Prague doing some work-experience. Her name is Jana Kurucova and she’s a beautiful multilingual girl who is learning the ins and outs of the front office sector in tourism.
Jana learnt from her mother who in turn saw her grandmother paint Easter eggs. This is a very old tradition and originated from the countryside that still today is carried on in all homes. The decorated eggs are then attached to the blooming laburnum branches, as the eggs originate the joyful symbol of Resurrection and the rebirth of nature connected to springtime.

In the Easter weekend at Fattoria del Colle we have programmed a workshop on painted Easter eggs with Jana as teacher. All the guests will take home a splendid painted egg.

Here for you is the procedure to make at home some wonderful eggs to embellish your Easter table.

13 March 2013

in Uncategorized

Where does Italian wine go?

Abroad, but if it stays in Italy it’s in the supermarkets or sold directly in the wineries. The new consumers are in America and in Asia, they are millennials and female.

Violante, Donatella's daughter with a chef in Alberta, Canada

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

So most of the Italian bottles are destined abroad. The firs data regarding 2012 indicate an increase in export of 6,3%, a value which becomes 7,5% if we consider only the red appellation wines. All major Italian wine markets are on the increase, in decreasing order, USA, Germany, UK, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Denmark, Holland, Sweden. The best performance in Japan (+32%) and Sweden ( + 23%) but the dimension of the USA market is what is most impressive: 640.168.534€ imported in one year.

These figures are the direct consequence of a change in “weight” of the consuming nations. In other words regardless that Europe remains the first market in the world for wine; actually its importance decreases gradually while USA and Asia are growing. In the period from 91-95 and 2011we see that the first nation for consumption, France, looses 20%, Italy and Spain loose 34% while the US show a +53%, China + 233% and Russia + 80%.

11 March 2013

Prime Donne tasting Brunello 2012 and 2010

8 March 2013

in Farm experiences

Baccalà alla fratina, friar’s cod, a recipe from Trequanda in Tuscany

Cod is really apt for the lent period, even though once it was considered a poor man’s fish, while today it is a delicacy for the rich; this is a traditional Tuscan recipe

Baccalà alla fratina di Trequanda

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

In the Tuscan countryside baccalà was, together with anchovies, the only available fish and king of the days of lent

A CRAFTY TRICK

The housewives had learnt to cook it with great sauces, even though in the dish one got only a small piece of cod, although with bread dipped in this very tasty sauce one was able to ease the hunger.

Nobody remembers the reason for this recipe’s strange name even though monks touring the countryside asking for charity were a frequent vision in farmhouses and around the villages, so we can think that maybe there were some dishes created especially to honour them. At Fattoria del Colle there is even an apartment called “monache” (nuns) which used to be used to welcome these religious people on their way, it is in a position that allowed the guests to go outside without having to pass through the kitchens and the pantry. It was not unusual in fact there to be monks who were imposters, who tried to get into pantries and cupboards to thieve food, and so it was necessary to take precautions.

6 March 2013

in Farm experiences, Vines and wines

Pleased to meet you, my name is Donatella Cinelli Colombini, grape-grower

Enthusiastic, imaginative, tough, idealist, strong willed, glutton …. I created Cantine aperte, Wineday, I am the defender of women in wineries and of the superstar Brunello

Donatella Cinelli Colombini and Sangiovese grapes

Donatella Cinelli Colombini holding Sangiovese

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini grape-grower in Montalcino

I hate doing sport, I prefer to read or watch a classical ballet on the web. I would like to eat chocolate, salmon, Parmigiano and spaghetti but they are things that are not good for me….I don’t give up though, I enjoy good food too much
When I was councillor in Siena I was called “tank” because I faced projects with great Energy, maybe too much. One of my defects is in fact the lack of half measures, if I believe in an idea I fight for it.
I am embarrassingly lucky and even the most incredible projects have a happy ending.

4 March 2013

in Uncategorized

Bubbles galore the world over, but in Italy 7 million less

Double figure increases for bubbly wines sold up until 2016 worldwide, with Great Britain overtaking Germany and the US

How to uncork a bottle of Champagne

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

So all over the world it is a favourable moment for bubbly wines that since 2007 ‘til today have shown an increase of 13,5% (source – WineNews).
Thing are going less well in Italy where 465 million bottles of sparkling wines are produced of which 25 with traditional method and 440 with Italian method with direct sales in the wineries for 1,2 billion Euro.

1 March 2013

New millionaire wine making neighbours in Tuscany

The Tuscan wine making regions, especially Montalcino, attract people with immense fortunes who want to see their name on dream bottles

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

The castle of Colle Massari winery

Next door to Casato Prime Donne a property has been bought by Alejandro Pedro Bulgheroni Argentinean billionaire from the petrol sector with investments al lover the world and vineyards in Argentina, Uruguay and California. We expect him to transform the present rural buildings, in front of us, into a villa with heliport.

The new owner of Argiano, still in the Brunello area, is a Brazilian indicated by Forbes as one of the 300 richest men in the world. He has fallen in love with the splendid 16th century villa built according to a project by Baldassarre Peruzzi – a sort of Tuscan Chateau – and with the noble history of this location where, among others, Foscolo, Carducci, D’Annunzio and Zolà have stayed.

27 February 2013

Fireworks for the Benvenuto Brunello 2013 edition

Glamorous, rural, traditional and new….. here’s Benvenuto Brunello 2013 in front of and behind the scenes

Benvenuto Brunello 2013 new generation producers

Young producers for Benvenuto Brunello 2013

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Certainly the 135 wineries present have brought some excellent Brunello 2008 which are immediately enjoyable. Some say that they are so good now that they will not age well, I am convinced that that is not true, and that these have been vinified better that in the past and so consequently will last decades, or event centuries.

I do not wish to talk about the wines, if not to say that mine – from Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino – have been liked by all (were you expecting me to say the contrary?)- instead I would like to tell you some curiosities. First of all the Gala party in the cloister in Sant’Agostino. 50 tables with a mirror surface and chandeliers one meter high in transparent Plexiglas. Tablecloths, serviettes, seat covers, water glasses and even the cutlery all black. In other words quite a Hollywood style that however gave a glamorous touch to our usual restrained Montalcino manner. Those present at Benvenuto Brunello for the first time actually goggled, like Federico Castellucci Direttore generale OIV who said << you have nothing to envy from the French, these evening is fantastic>> and then in a whisper –I was not expecting anything of this level, I wish to compliment you.!-

25 February 2013

in Forum: News and lifestyle

Jancis Robinson magazine gives recognition to the Brunello 2008

Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s Brunello 2008 among the three preferred by Jancis Robinson super taster and obtains 17,5 points out of 20

Jancis Robinson

The European ratings are expressed out of 20 and not out of 100 as is done in the US, plus they are much more rigid so to achieve 16 or 17 is a first rate outcome. So a vast amount of the 230 Brunello tasted by the super taster Walter Speller – a sort of 007 at the service of Her Majesty Jancis Robinson, queen of the wine experts – have reached this excellent result.
Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s Brunello 2008 rates higher with its 17,5 points, third in his podium. This is his description <<Lacklustre mid ruby with orange rim. Sweet and concentrated and quite closed at the same time. Hint of leather. Chewy tannin framing fresh cherry fruit. Muscular and yet not heavy. (WS)>>.
The rating for the Brunello 2008 Prime Donne is wonderful too 16,5/20 and good for the Brunello Riserva 2007 which obtains 16/20.

22 February 2013

in Farm experiences

Recipe for Chicken Mars style: the red planet on your plate

Midsummernight dream. The dish created by Antonio Corsano, chef at Fattoria del Colle, for Calici di Stelle 2012. Foto and text by Bonella Ciacci

Chicken Mars Style - the dish from our chef in Fattoria del Colle

Chicken mars Style from the chef Antonio Corsano at Fattoria del Colle

The dinner organized for the wine event that takes place on the 10th of august was completely dedicated to the stars and included dishes which reproposed old traditions or simbolic ingredients of mid summer rites. The chicken Mars style was inspird by the red planet in its colours and tastes, a balance between sweet and spicy. It is however an unpublished recipe which exalts the Tuscan products such as saffron, Vin Santo and extra virgin olive oil. Once again tradition originates a new dish which is apt for gluttons who are are attentive towards the news food trends.

20 February 2013

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