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NEWS AND EVENTS

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News from Casato Prime Donne and Fattoria del Colle, territory, comments on the world of wine, events and wine personalities

IAN D’AGATA AND DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI’S BRUNELLO 2019

IAN D’AGATA’S TASTINGS OF BRUNELLO 2019 AND RISERVA 2018 AWARDS DONATELLA’S WINES WITH 93, 94 AND 93/100 AND OFFERS AN OVERVIEW OF MONTALCINO

 

Ian D’Agata is Italian by origin but grew up in Canada where his parents made him attend French language schools so Ian has three native languages. Gymnastics that then served him when he became a doctor and chose paediatrics and research, arriving at the most selective university in the world, Harvard Medical School. In short, he was a young genius of scientific research until he fell in love with wine and in this field too, he gave a masterful touch, directing his interest towards terroirs and native vines. His contribution concerns events and tastings but also highly successful books such as “The Ecco Guide to the Best Wines of Italy” and the monumental “Native Wine Grapes of Italy”. He is one of the world’s leading experts on the wines of Italy, Alsace, Bordeaux and Canada.

One wonders how he knows so many things and the answer is: he has a great memory and never sleeps. He is always moving from one nation to another and from one topic to another. When I prepared the Vinitaly tastings for the Donne del Vino with him, he responded to me at any time of day or night, always with funny and self-deprecating jokes. Obviously, the experience of medical research has left its mark on him: he doesn’t want generic data <<to say that a soil is made up of sand and clay is not enough without the percentages>> but then he knows how to sum up like few others, he decides and reaches the goal with a smile on his face, as if everything had been easy.

 

SUPERTUSCAN WINES AND MONICA LARNER’S TUSCAN DISCOVERIES

THE EDITOR OF WINE ADVOCATE – ROBERT PARKER PRESENTS US 110 IGT WINES AND MINOR TUSCAN DENOMINATIONS INCLUDING OUR CENERENTOLA AND IL DRAGO E LE 8 COLOMBE

 

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

 

Monica Larner editor of Wine Advocate – Robert Parker amazes us once again with the report of 110 wines including Supertuscans and wines from small Tuscan denominations. In her presentation article she specifies that she has included the “usual suspects” i.e. Tignanello, Solaia, Saffredi, Galatrona and Redigaffi and <<some fun discoveries made on the Tuscan wine route relating to smaller or little-known names>>.

 

MONICA LARNER AND THE BORDEAUX STYLE SUPERTUSCANS

In her explanation of the “super Tuscan” category there is another surprise. Monica Larner clarifies that the highest quality type of Tuscan IGT is linked to a specific period in the modern history of Italian wine, dating back to a period between 10 and 30 years ago << which was heavily influenced by Bordeaux. This catch-all category has always frustrated me because it goes against everything achieved to underline territorial identity, authenticity and varietal typicity in wine>>

OFFER: NEW SANCHIMENTO WITH ROSSO DI MONTALCINO

A proposal that includes a wine from each of Donatella’s farms: 6 bottles of Sanchimento and 6 bottles of Rosso di Montalcino at your home for €219.00

The Sanchimento 2023 from Fattoria del Colle is a real treat for lovers of Donatella Cinelli Colombini wines. It is partly produced in amphora as was done in antiquity. This is a very small series of only 1200 bottles. The Rosso di Montalcino by Casato Prime Donne, on the other hand, is a wine already known and appreciated by international wine critics. This offer proposes something new to discover, and a confirmation!!

Two wines to drink now, without having to wait. Two fresh wines with an extraordinary aromatic richness.

THE NEW SANCHIMENTO 2023 BIO IN ORANGE VERSION

Sanchimento comes from organic Traminer grapes and, in the cellar, is produced according to organic protocols. The particular production process of this wine is the result of the creativity of Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s three oenologists, who in three years of experimentation have developed a method capable of enhancing the characteristics of the vine, increasing the complexity of the wine and giving it distinctive characteristics.

Upon their arrival in the cellar, the grapes are cooled in small baskets then a quarter of them are fermented in terracotta amphorae from Impruneta with the orange system, i.e. with the skins and without the addition of yeasts. The wine remains closed in the jar almost until bottling when it is combined with Sanchimento produced with the traditional method.

THE ADVANCE OF WHITE WINES AND EXCESS PRODUCTION

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE CHANGE IN WINE CONSUMPTION FROM RED TO WHITE AND THE NEED TO RECONVERT WHICH ESPECIALLY CONCERNS TUSCANY, THE LAND OF SANGIOVESE

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

Vernaccia di San Gimignano

San_Gimignano e vigne di vernaccia

The ISMEA 2024 wine sheet is an excellent observation point and helps us frame the Italian situation in the global scenario. On the planet, wine consumption fell from 246 million hectolitres in 2018 to 232 in 2022 while production, net of the 2018 big harvest and the 2023 slide, remained almost stable at 252 million hectolitres. What has changed is the colour: in the last 5 years the production of white wines has gone from 55% to 57.7% of the total. So the excess production is red in colour and this explains the massive clearing of vineyards in the less reputed areas of Bordeaux and the rumours of similar measures also in Spain.

One wonders whether these interventions will be enough to save the fall in prices, given the continuous increase in production in the areas without European regulations and production costs. I’m thinking of Chile, Argentina or China.

Brunello 2018 according to canadian tasters

DAVID LAWRASON, JOHN SZABO MS, MICHAEL GODEL, SARA D’AMATO, MEGHA JANDHYALA, S.J.D. AND JANET DOROZYNSKI, DIPWSET, PHD, JASON SOLANKI TASTE BRUNELLO 2018

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

Wine Align is a rating agency like Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s. These evaluate the banks while Wine Align judges the wines.

Obviously the experts are highly competent and completely independent: David Lawrason, John Szabo MS, Michael Godel, Sara d’Amato, Megha Jandhyala, S.J.D. and Janet Dorozynski, DipWSET, PhD who are the new entries in the group joined by Jason Solanki. Next to the profile of each taster there are the numbers of wines passed or failed which, roughly speaking, are a third of the total. So sending your bottles to Wine Align is a risk because criticism is very frequent but, when the opinion is positive, it has a tonic effect on the Canadian market and specifically in Ontario where Wine Align is based.

In this case I propose the 5 tasting results published on my Brunello di Montalcino 2018. All the critics gave similar scores, three of them 94/100 and two 93/100. The descriptions, however, are different and denote a certain difficulty in framing an “old style” harvest played more on elegance than on power. A vintage which, in my opinion, will be very long-lived but which many find extremely satisfying even now.

DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI PRESENTS CANTINE APERTE

MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES AT CASATO PRIME DONNE AND FATTORIA DEL COLLE IN TUSCANY FOR THE 2024 EDITION OF CANTINE APERTE DEDICATED TO GREAT WINES AND DOP TUSCAN BREAD

Donatella Cinelli Colombini celebrates Cantine Aperte on 25-26 May 2024 by offering wine lovers who come to her wineries two different and memorable experiences. Itinerant tastings inside and outside the cellars interspersed with stories, tastings of great Brunello and Orcia Doc wines paired with traditional food.

 

CANTINE APERTE 2024 AT CASATO PRIME DONNE IN MONTALCINO

Here the DOP Tuscan bread made with regional wheat, sourdough and strictly without salt, is accompanied by very tasty Cinta Senese salami (medieval breed of pigs), aged pecorino cheese, extra virgin olive oil from Moraiolo, vegetables grown by the farmers, “Dante’s soup” made with the ingredients that were there in the year 1300 when the great poet passed through this area on his way to Rome.

ONLY FOR THE CLUB: ORGANIC BRUNELLO 2018 “LATE VINTAGE RELEASE”

The proposal includes 6 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino 2018 late vintage release, each numbered and wrapped to be received directly at your home at a cost of €297.00

DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI PRESENTS YOU  WITH A SMALL SERIES OF BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2018 FROM CASATO PRIME DONNE OF GREAT QUALITY AND WITH AGING POTENTIAL

In 2018 a small quantity of grapes and then of wine was jealously kept separate from the rest in 4 5-7hl French oak tonneaus and finally also in a 15hl barrel, until it was bottled on its own.

The refinement in the bottle made the superior quality to the rest of the 2018 “vintage” Brunello even more evident.

This is why Donatella Cinelli Colombini and her daughter Violante have decided to emphasize the exceptional nature of this Super Brunello, born as an “experiment” and that has become a small jewel of only 3000 bottles for enthusiasts looking for exclusivity to drink

 

HOW DO YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE FROM THE BRUNELLO 2018 VINTAGE?

To distinguish it on the label, a golden stripe has been inserted on the base. These bottles will be numbered, wrapped one by one and marketed mainly in wooden crates. The price increase is minimal and only serves to highlight the difference.

GREEN WEEKEND WITH FORAGING AND BRUNELLO

MAY 3rd to 5th IN TUSCANY, AT THE FATTORIA DEL COLLE, FOR A WEEKEND WITH NATURE AND GREAT RED WINES: FORAGING IN THE FIELDS, WOODS AND GARDEN WITH OUTDOOR SNACK

 

orto e erbe spontanee

vegetable garden with spontaneous herbs

When spring covers the Tuscan hills with a green blanket, walks have an extraordinary regenerating capacity. They call it landscape therapy and it is an antidote to the stress of our time.

This is especially true in places that keep their past intact, such as Fattoria del Colle, surrounded by the most beautiful countryside in the world, partly inscribed in the UNESCO heritage list precisely for its historicity and harmony: the Val d’Orcia and the Crete Senesi .

Added to this is the organic cultivation of the entire Colle farm (336 hectares) which allows you to walk, stop and collect herbs to eat in a preserved and respected nature. Last, but not least, the two cellars for the production of Premium wines intended for exclusive customers in 44 foreign markets: Brunello, Chianti Superiore, Orcia and Supertuscan. The visit to the production sites and the tasting, but also the pairing with delicious traditional dishes, in the Fattoria del Colle restaurant, complete a weekend dedicated to tradition and nature.

SANCHIMENTO IGT TOSCANA BIANCO 2023

THE SANCHIMENTO WHITE WINE, A SMALL SERIES OF ONLY 1200 BOTTLES  OF IGT SUPERTUSCAN BIO –  ORGANIC THAT TAKES EXAMPLE FROM THE ORANGE TECHNIQUE.

 

 

The white wine “Sanchimento” from Fattoria del Colle is produced with grapes from the vineyard surrounding the Chapel of San Clemente (or Chimento as the Saint was called in the Middle Ages). It is a small plot of one hectare planted in 1989 with the Traminer variety at 404 meters above the sea, facing north, on a soil of marine sand and clay.

 

 

THE 2023 VINTAGE

2023 will be remembered for the rainfalls and the downy mildew that hit the red grape vineyards hard but spared the pink Traminer bunches. A poor harvest therefore, but with perfectly healthy grapes thanks to the assiduous care of the grape growers and also to the cool climate which gave the Sanchimento 2023 an extraordinary aromatic richness

HAPPY EASTER

DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI TOGETHER  WITH VIOLANTE, ENRICO, LORENZO AND THE EXTENDED GREAT FAMILY AT FATTORIA DEL COLLE AND CASATO PRIME DONNE SEND YOU THEIR  BEST WISHES

 

Crocifissione

Crucifixion- Giotto

This year I would like to combine my wishes for a happy Easter with a reflection on the importance of love.

We are living in a period of ferocious wars, the likes of which we have not seen for fifty years. There are people forced to emigrate because their lands no longer have water, but where these migrants arrive they are perceived as a threat and not welcomed as an opportunity. Feminicides in Italy occur at a rate of one every three days.

Don’t we know how to love anymore? Or do we underestimate the strength of <<The love that moves the sun and the other stars>> last verse of the Paradise and of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Yet by cultivating love, things could go much better and humanity could be much happier. It seems incredible, but giving love makes you happy, much more than receiving it.

I think this is the message of Easter, the one that Jesus sends by accepting to die on the cross to open the doors of Paradise for us: love more, love everyone, always love, even beyond death!

 

Donatella Cinelli Colombini

HAPPY EASTER

THE CANADIAN MONOPOLY LCBO CELEBRATES WOMEN WITH BRUNELLO

THE CANADIAN MONOPOLY OF ONTARIO, THE VERY POWERFUL LCBO, CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY WITH DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI’S BRUNELLO

Brunello di Montalcino 2018 Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Brunello di Montalcino 2018 Donatella Cinelli Colombini

 

LCBO, a monopoly of the state of Ontario, is one of the most important buyers in the world, with very large stores in Toronto and other cities. In March 2024 it puts the spotlight on the women of wine, spirits and beer. Celebrating their talent and stories

 

THE CASATO PRIME DONNE WINERY IS A SYMBOL OF FOR WINE IN THE WINE WORLD

 

In the LCBO newspaper there is a photo of Donatella and Violante and the story of the first Italian winery, with an entirely female staff. The episode that marks the birth of Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino dates back to 1998, when her parents entrusted Donatella with two portions of the family properties, in which to give birth to her new project and, they gifted her  a small quantity of Brunello in barrels, to allow her to start her own commercial network.

For her, this wine was very important and so to take care of it Donatella needed an oenologist, so she called the oenology school in Siena, asking for the name of a good student to hire. They tell her no, there is a lot of demand and wine technicians must be booked years in advance. But when she asks for a female cellar manager the answer is different, they have a whole list because good cellars don’t want female managers.

                                                                       
Cinelli Colombini
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