Forum: News and lifestyle

OFFER: LEONE ROSSO 2019 DOC ORCIA – 5 STARS

A unique opportunity for the friends of Donatella’s Club. Personalize three of the twelve bottles of Leone Rosso DOC Orcia purchased to be able to donate them to friends with a special label

Donatella-and-Violante-Cinelli-Colombini-present-the-Leone-Rosso-DOC-Orcia-2019

We present the 2019 vintage, classified 5 stars, of this Doc Orcia that comes from a small and exclusive production born in the vineyards, vinified and aged in cask at Fattoria del Colle, in Tuscany. Born on the hills 400 meters above sea level near Montalcino, Montepulciano and Cortona.

The Leone Rosso Doc Orcia wine is a very versatile wine that can accompany the entire meal. It is also particularly suitable to match with cold cuts and young cheeses. It adapts well to intense and even spicy foods.

Exclusively for you, 3 bottles with 3 labels to customize to celebrate a dear friend or an anniversary. For example, if Francesco invites you to his birthday, you can take a bottle with a bespoke label.

12 bottles of Leone Rosso Orcia DOC 2019

3 customizable labels

3 shopping bags with logo

SANGIOVESE WITH MERLOT FOR A BLEND OF ELEGANCE AND SOFTNESS

This wine contains Sangiovese and Merlot grapes resulting in a typically Tuscan elegance and silky softness.

Much appreciated for its drinkability by wine lovers and by the wine critics of Wine Spectator, James Suckling and Wine Enthusiast who, in recent years, have given excellent ratings of 90/100 and even higher.

8 April 2022

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

VINITALY 2022 UNDER THE BANNER OF WOMEN

Two years of Covid stand still and a super Vinitaly full of exhibitors and foreign buyers. The real protagonists are women: Donne del Vino… and not only

Vinitaly 2022-backstage-of-the-stand-Violante-and-Debora-with-Donatella-Cinelli-Colombini’s-wine-bottles

Obviously there are the masks, the access limits to the stands …. But Vinitaly restarts stronger than before and pleasantly different with a greater use of electronics in the intersection between wineries and foreign buyers. 4,400 companies, 19 nations, 700 top buyers, 17 pavilions, 30 conferences, 76 tastings.
We like it!

VINITALY 2022 FOR MY WINERIES – HALL 6 STAND D4

I have an invitation to the wonderful inaugural show dinner dedicated to La Grande Bellezza with dishes by Davide Oldani!

1 April 2022

If you believe it you will win

How the belief that you can succeed helps you sell more. Vincenzo Russo explains with neuroscience how a positive attitude increases the chances of success

If you believe it you will win-self-confidence-key of success

It has been known for some time in sport as well as in work. If you believe it, you will win.

Who hasn’t seen the coaches talking to the players in the locker room before the match and convincing them that victory is within their reach?
Who hasn’t envied the self-confident colleague who manages to get more results than those who are better than him?
For this, awareness of one’s skills and talent are very important. <<Neuroscience has shown that thinking of being able to do it creates neural connections that produce a synergy of thought by formulating ideas or proposals>> Vincenzo Russo explained to Trebicchieri Economic weekly by Gambero Rosso. << Thinking instead of not succeeding, reduces the thinking activity and enlarges the perception of the problem by pushing the subjects to look for good reasons to give up>>.

22 February 2022

Donatella Cinelli Colombini, puts into practice new wine tourism

Donatella Cinelli Colombini, once again innovator, offers “tailor-made” wine experiences to satisfy the different types of wine tourists post-covid

Wine-tourism-2022-Trekking-in-the-vineyards-Donatella-Cinelli-Colombini

WINE TOURISTS ARE NOT ALL THE SAME AND DO NOT ALL HAVE THE SAME DESIRES

Donatella Cinelli Colombini, who invented the Cantine Aperte event and teaches wine hospitality in master courses, also knows that wine tourists are a small army made up of people with different profiles and expectations: there are those who are just intrigued, true enthusiasts and Brunello lovers , there are the insatiable eager for extraordinary exclusivity, but there is also those who want to spend their free time learning in a playful way. Wine tourists have changed compared to 2019, when no one knew about Covid, and above all they now want different things. Today, those who arrive in the wine territories are hunting foe emotions and want to immerse themselves in a pesticide-free countryside, cultivated by those who are passionate, traditionalists but also willing to share.

Wine-tourism-2022-Casato-Prime-Donne-winery-in-Montalcino

<< To this diversified multitude the vast majority of Italian wineries offer only one type of experience: visit between vats and barrels with an explanation of the production processes and tasting >> says Donatella << This is wrong>>.

FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE: 4 EXPERIENCES FOR TOURISTS IN BRUNELLO

Here Cinelli Colombini moves from theory to practice and instead of just writing manuals on wine tourism, has decided to lead by example by designing 8 experiences for visitors in her wineries Casato Prime Donne in Brunello and Fattoria del Colle, in Chianti and in the Doc Orcia. Many of the tastings are accompanied by small samples of pecorino, extra virgin olive oil from the farm and unsalted Tuscan bread, therefore without salt.
4 proposals for those who arrive in Montalcino driven by different curiosities: some know little or nothing about wine and know Brunello almost only by hearsay. In this case, there is a simpler experience at a lower price. Then there are two proposals for wine lovers always looking for new emotions and new knowledge about Brunello: the first more focused on tasting – from the barrel to the great vintages – the second more unusual was studied by the Sommelier musician Igor Vazzaz, an itinerant tasting associated with music. Finally, there is something truly unique where Donatella has decided to personally participate. It includes the tasting of her most exclusive limited-edition Brunello, accompanied by cheeses that have won international awards.

18 February 2022

in Characters and places, Forum: News and lifestyle

OFFER: BRUNELLO PRIME DONNE 2017 TO TASTE, TO GIFT AND TO PAIR

Brunello di Montalcino Prime Donne is produced only in the best vintages. It is a small selection of about 3,000 bottles destined for high-level restaurants and wine bars around the world

Offer-Brunello-Prime-Donne-DOCG-2017-recipe-booklet-and-apron

BRUNELLO PRIME DONNE: THE FIRST BRUNELLO PRODUCED AND DESIGNED FOR WOMEN

In fact, the winery that produces it, Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino, is the first in Italy with an all-female staff, including winemakers, and is the first long cellaring red wine that is followed, from birth to bottling, by a panel of 4 very expert international tasters: a winemaker Astrid Schwarz, a sommelier Daniela Scrobogna, and two Masters of Wine Rosemary George and Madeleine Stenwreth. It is they who choose the wine from the different Sangiovese Brunello vineyards, decide the type of oak barrels and finally the blend of the wine from several wooden casks.

Obviously, Brunello Prime Donne is also very popular with men and has excellent ratings in the main international press. This is a gastronomic wine that should be accompanied with important dishes such as large pieces of roast meat, aged cheeses, and game.

The 2017 vintage was characterized by two climatic events: a frost at the end of April that hit almost the entire European vineyard, leaving Montalcino miraculously unharmed, and a very hot summer with 10 consecutive days in August with a temperature of 43 ° C. The latter event also touched the Brunello vineyard.

6 BOTTLES OF BRUNELLO PRIME DONNE 2017, DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI’S RECIPE BOOKLET AND APRON DELIVERD TO YOUR HOME

Furthermore, on this occasion, the Fattoria del Colle wants to become part of your kitchen. Especially for you, an apron made of Tuscan fabric. Wearing this you will prepare dishes that remind you of the delicious typical Tuscan cuisine. Speaking of which, we also include a booklet with 16 recipes that will allow you to cook traditional and modern Tuscan dishes, such as baccalà alla fratina, pinci, panforte and latte in piedi.

9 February 2022

Wedding among the Tuscan vineyards

The informal elegance of the Tuscan countryside for those who dream of a unique wedding enlivened by great wines. At the Fattoria del Colle: history, nature and joy

Getting married in Tuscany, among the Chianti and Orcia DOC organic vineyards, in the “most beautiful wine in the world”. In front of the wonderful landscape of the Crete Senesi and Valdorcia. It looks like a movie, but instead it’s reality.

In a 16th century farm that has remained intact over time, with historic gardens, monumental halls, winery and restaurant. Almost a small rural hamlet where the old farmhouses have been transformed into rooms and apartments for tourists (106 beds) and are furnished with authentic antiques that transmit warmth and intimacy.

WEDDING AMONG THE VINEYARDS FOR THOSE WHO LOVE NATURE, HISTORY AND FINE WINES

Weddings-in-Tuscany-great-wines-like-photo-set-for-the-newlyweds-at-Fattoria-del-Colle

The wedding at Fattoria del Colle is for those who love nature and fine wines. For those who want a romantic and Tuscan-style wedding party. For those who want something elegant and informal at the same time, where everyone is comfortable.

For those who love the taste of typical cuisine but also refined things and then want to dance, go wild or let themselves be lulled by the magic of summer nights in the countryside ….
In the summer of 2022 some midweek dates are still available while the 2023 calendar is almost entirely empty. Obviously the weddings organized from Monday to Thursday have the advantage of a lower cost (10% or more off both the party and overnight stays). Not a bad choice, Donatella Cinelli Colombini got married on Thursday too!

CIVIL, SYMBOLIC OR RELIGIOUS BUT NOT CATHOLIC WEDDINGS

At the Fattoria del Colle civil ceremonies, non-Catholic religious rites and symbolic ceremonies are possible.

28 January 2022

DIVERSIFYING WINE EXPERIENCES: PRICE AND TARGET 12

The definition of the new wine tourism experiences and their prices takes place within January because the tourist activities “are first sold and then produced”

harvest-weekend-2021-Fattoria-del-Colle-Masterclass-about-Sangiovese-by-Leonardo-Taddei-Price-and-target

Wine experiences must be presented on the web site, to the press, on portals and to agencies by February, before the start of the season, even though fairs such as BIT in Milan or ITB in Berlin are suspended.

The wine tourism experiences by cellars must be declined with different prices and targets such as:

groups and families,
wine tourists,
lovers of food and wine,
great experts or VIPs eager for exclusive moments.

The profile of the visitors to the winery can help the construction of the tourist proposals by orienting them, for example, on the culture if the visitors are mainly women and on sport if the prevalence is male.

DIVERSIFY PROPOSALS BY PRICE AND TARGET

tourists-experiences-segmented-by-price-and-target

Obviously, the creation of more sophisticated experiences also corresponds to a different cost that goes up to around € 100, in Italy, for the “premium” proposals that often involve the wine maker . The segmentation of proposals and prices is very present in American wineries that reach peaks of 6,000 Dollars per person for truly exclusive experiences. In principle, the demand and the price of the activities in the cellar have grown in all wine-growing areas around the world during the past two years.

All production companies can create unique and exciting tourist proposals, starting from their own characterizing elements.

16 December 2021

WINE DOGS: THE IMPORTANCE OF ANIMALS IN WINE HOSPITALITY

Having a winery dog increases the attractiveness of tourist wineries and wine tourists with a leash are definitely multiplying. In half of the Italian houses there is an animal, often a wine dog

Fattoria del Colle Violante Gardini in front of the Cancello Nero vineyard

Wine dog Felix with Violante Gardini Fattoria del Colle

A few years ago books on wine dogs began to come out and then those on wine cats becoming a real trend. The pioneer was the Australian photographer Craig McGill to whom we owe a sort of encyclopaedia of dogs from wineries around the world.

Together with his wife Susan Elliott, he has published books and posts about wine dogs and cats. The second edition of the book on dogs from Californian cellars contains over 120 portraits of the faithful furry friends – from thoroughbreds to mutts – along with short essays by Robert Parker Jr, Nick Ryan, Eve Bushman, Sam Neill and Max Allen. A true celebration of the role of dogs in wine production.

PUBLICATIONS AND REPERTOIRES ON WINE DOGS

In addition to books and calendars, there are Instagram accounts and Facebook pages about wine dogs. In California there are rankings of the most dog friendly wineries. A bestiary so numerous as to suggest that all US wineries have a dog and that it is almost more famous than the wine maker.

The Wine Spectator column has consecrated a liaison between four-legged furry friends and wine lovers. In 2021 subscribers to the famous American wine magazine received this announcement <<In the March 31 issue, on sale next week, we will highlight one of the best parts of the wineries that can be visited: their dogs>>. Well in November 2021 the dog section of the Wine Spectator already contained photos of 1570 readers’ dogs.

4 November 2021

Ryanair and Prosecco

An alliance that promises great things becomes a test bench to re-launch tourism by focusing on low cost flights and on food and wine attractions

Alliance-Ryanair-Treviso-Prosecco-to-relaunch-tourism-in-Veneto

If it works, and we all hope so, it will prove that wine is really the locomotive of the Italian tourism recovery especially in the inland areas and in the low season months.
The Ryanair and Prosecco alliance aims to use online communication on art, gastronomy, shopping, outdoor sports and of course wine, to restart the flows directed to Treviso and the surrounding area. The project started in September and will last until the end of November, involving 11 countries: Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Poland, Denmark and Latvia.

PROSECCO RYANAIR TO RELAUNCH TOURISM IN VENETO

The marketing strategy to bring tourists to Veneto passes through attractive “calls to action”, content, e-mails and links to pages dedicated to Treviso and its surroundings, including articles in the “Try Somewhere New” platform connected to the Ryanair website which has over 600 million visits a year. An articulated mechanism of social and traditional communication that can count on an endless database of customers who will be offered to book flight and stay in an area rich in culture and food and wine pleasures with Prosecco as a world-famous “testimonial”.

WINE, GASTRONOMY, CULTURE, OUTDOOR SPORTS AS A PROPOSAL TO TRAVELERS FROM 11 COUNTRIES

The collaboration between the Municipal Administration of Treviso, the Consortium for the Protection of Prosecco DOC and Ryanair focuses on the Antonio Canova airport which, before Covid, had a transit of 3.2 million travellers and is now almost deserted.

However, the project does not only concern the municipality of Treviso but has the ambition to reactivate the autumn flows on all 9 provinces of the Prosecco denomination: from the Dolomites, to the Upper Adriatic from the Karst to the Euganean Hills.

22 October 2021

TOP WINE FOR THANKSGIVING 2021

October offer: 6 bottles of Brunello 2015 Riserva five star vintage. A great wine with which to celebrate autumn with friends and with the Thanksgiving roast turkey

Offer-Brunello-Riserva-2015-Donatella-Cinelli-Colombini-with-wineskin

The Brunello di Montalcino 2015 Riserva is a fine red apt for long cellaring that can be stored for decades for an important occasion but also opened now to match with the Thanksgiving roasted turkey. Its velvety, powerful and refined character transforms autumn lunches into special occasions to always be remembered.

DON’T MISS THE OCCASION TO CELEBRATE WITH A FINE WELL-RATED WINE BY THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS

The Brunello Riserva 2015 has obtained exceptional rankings from the major international wine critics:
95 Wine Spectator
94 Wine Advocate – Robert Parker
94 Vinous – Antonio Galloni

Brunello-riserva-2015-Donatella-Cinelli-Colombini

93 James Suckling
92 Wine Enthusiast

A SMALL PRESENT FOR THOSE WHO WILL BE TRAVELLING BY PLANE AND WANT TO TAKE A BRUNELLO WITH THEM TO CELEBRATE

Together with the 6 bottles of this wine, we will put into the case a wineskin, a sealed bubble wrap sachet that permits travelling with the bottles in your suitcase during flights, protecting them from damage and saving your clothes in case your suitcase is really badly treated.

FOR THE MEMBERS OF DONATELLA’S CLUB 6 BOTT. BRUNELLO 2015 RISERVA – WINE CELEBRATION BOX

Offer for Memebers 378,00 Euro (instead of 450,00 Euro)

For Club members who wish to double the order the deal is even better: 12 bottles of Brunello 2015 Riserva 736,00 Euro (instead of 900,00 Euro)

The price includes free shipping in Italy or 15 Euro discount for shippings abroad together with 1 wineskin

14 October 2021

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

The most expensive Italian Wines

Barolo Monfortino, Amarone Quintarelli, Barbaresco Roagna, Brunello Case Basse, here is the list of the most expensive Italian wines from 1287$, downwards

Miani-Most-expensive-Italian-wines

There are a fine number of rich consumers who buy wine just because it is very expensive. The price is a simple message, clear but with many symbolic components such as exclusivity, prestige, luxury … perhaps intrinsic quality.

THE MOST EXPENSIVE ITALIAN BOTTLES DETECTED BY WINE SEARCHER

Sometimes it is enough to determine the choice of bottle, especially when they are to be gifted.
Italian wine offers a huge range of prices, types and quality levels. The winning element is the relationship between the intrinsic quality and the sales tag, which is better than bottles from the rest of the world. Italy knows how to create millions of small wine masterpieces, within everyone’s reach and in recent years has been able to increase the international reputation of denominations and individual brands arousing the interest of collectors and investors: Brunello, Barolo, Amarone, Sassicaia, and Masseto …
From this new interest of the richest segment of the market towards Italy comes the WineSearcher ranking regarding the most expensive wines present in the huge portal that brings together the price lists of all the major retailers in the world. The list is published every year and shows us a rather stable situation highlighting how collectors are fond of some brands and continue to buy them.

Roagna-Crichet-Paje-Barbaresco-wine-Most-expensive-Italian-wines

TOP 5 – THE MOST EXPENSIVE ITALIAN BOTTLES IN INTERNATIONAL WINE STORES

The first names on the list are:

Giacomo Conterno Monfortino, Barolo Riserva 1.287$
Giuseppe Quintarelli Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Selezione 1.265$
Roagna Crichet Paje, Barbaresco 918$
Case Basse di Gianfranco Soldera Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 911$
Masseto Toscana IGT 910$
Then there are the wines from two wineries that you do not expect, perhaps because they are small, alternative, developed as great challenges: Barolo Cappellano Otin Fiorin Pie Franco-Michet, (740$) and Miani Refosco Colli Orientali del Friuli (709$).

29 September 2021

Crazy climate in the vineyards

2021 will be remembered by winemakers for frosts, floods, fires and Covid. A series of disasters and the obvious need to commit to defending the earth

2021-cray-climate-floods-in-german-vineyards

The crazy climate is there for all to see: heat peaks even in Canada, immense fires and floods, frosts that run through Europe like tsunamis. If we fail to reduce the greenhouse effect and rebalance the climate, the earth will become a desert.

2021 VINTAGE WITH A CRAZY CLIMATE HITS ESPECIALLY THE FRENCH VINEYARDS

In the vineyards a first calculation of the damage is made.

The grapes are not yet all in the cellars and therefore anything can still happen but apparently the European wine region most affected by the meteorological excesses of this crazy 2021 is France.

The frost of 7-8 April also did damage to us in Italy, but in France it seems to have been of an impressive violence and, as in 2017, it hit most of the prestigious areas from Bordeaux to Burgundy, from the Rhone Valley to Champagne.

2021-crazy-climate-heat-peaks-and-fires-in-californian-vineyards

FROSTS, FLOODS, HEAT AND MOULD: A VARIETY OF PROBLEMS IN FRENCH VINEYARDS

But there were also other problems because the heavy summer rains caused devastating floods and the high temperatures favoured the spread of mould forcing winemakers to fight every day to defend the grapes. The data of the Parisian Ministry look like a war bulletin: in Champagne half of the bunches have symptoms of late blight, in Alsace there have been attacks of both late blight and powdery mildew.

The “Service de la Statistique et de la Prospective” says that in Beaujolais, the Loire Valley, Charentes and the South-West there have been developments of “powdery mildew and sometimes black rot or botrytis depending on the Region”.

Provence, Languedoc and Roussillon, as in central-southern Italy, the vineyards have suffered from drought so the size of the bunches and berries is below average.

12 August 2021

90/100 for Rosso di Montalcino and 92/100 for Leone Rosso

Two excellent scores reward the Rosso di Montalcino 2018 by the Wine Spectator and the Leone Rosso Doc Orcia by James Suckling

Not only Brunello gets great ratings from the international wine press, but also the younger reds produced by Donatella Cinelli Colombini.

Leone-Rosso-Doc-Orcia-2018-James-Suckling-ratings-92/100

The manual care, the organic certification, the maniacal selection as keys to success

Her vineyards at Casato Prime Donne and at Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda are now adult and, also thanks also to organic cultivation, they are sending to the cellar grapes of extraordinary quality: healthy, well balanced in maturation and with berries of very small caliber.
The production of grapes is scarce, in the 30 hectares of the two wineries. The largely manual cultivation and the entirely manual harvest allows to divide the grapes according to quality and maturation. In the cellar, human intervention are very limited and mainly concerns the autumn and spring racking, the wine matures the large barrels and 5-7 Hl smaller barrels at a temperature of 18 ° C.

10 wines over 90/100 with peaks of 97/100 for Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Rosso-di-Montalcino-ratings-90/100-by-Wine-Spectator

Rosso-di-Montalcino-ratings-90/100-from-Wine-Spectator

All cared for and manually done in the manner of our grandparents.

The result is amazing: 10 wines with scores of 90/100 from the international specialized press and peaks of 97/100.

A success that excites because it concerns the whole range, from Brunello to be cellared to young reds. This is a sign of great respect for customers and of a small winery with an increasingly great brand.

2 August 2021

Wines to be gifted

How men and women choose the gift bottle. Some useful advice depending on the recipient: environmentalist, glamorous, expert, experimentalist

Wines-to-be-gifted-Dom Pérignon Brut-the-ten-most-desired-Champagnes