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The War of the Great Selection

The Chianti Consortium approves the Great Selection and the Chianti Classico Consortium, which created this type in 2014 is angry

 

di Donatella Cinelli Colombini

I must say that I have vineyards of Chianti both at the Fattoria del Colle di Trequanda and at Casato Prime Donne di Montalcino. I am therefore involved in the dispute “Gran selezione” with a clear advantage to produce this premium type with my grapes.

GREAT SELECTION OF CHIANTI CLASSICO FROM 2014 TOP OF THE QUALITATIVE PYRAMID

Putting aside the personal interest I try to look at the whole affair objectively, noting how risky it can be and in some respects counterproductive for Tuscan wine, which is going through a complicated period with declining sales and starving exports.
For years I have been witnessing with regret the difficulties of dialogue between the Chianti and Chianti Classico consortia. I had hoped that with the constitution of the IGT Toscana consortium led by the very good Cesare Cecchi and the equally capable director Campatelli, the reasons for friction were overcome. All Tuscan consortia meet in AVITO and also have a body with which they collectively organize participation in Prowein.

 

Expectations affect the perception of wine

Wine looks good or bad, white or red depending on how the taster sees it or expects it. There is no objective judgment if not blindfolded

DI Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Do you remember in school when good students got high marks even in the case of mediocre performances? We have all seen cases of this kind.
And it does not depend on the

professor having a favourite student but on the expectations that condition those who express the judgment.

 

THE UNCONSCIOUS  SENSORY PROCESSES

In wine it is the same: the good ones are always good and the mediocre ones are always mediocre. Regardless of the objective quality of the bottle.

It is not a criticism of the critics but a fact that Vincenzo Russo, professor of
neuromarketing at IULM in Milan and Italian expert on brain processes related to perception explains us with crystalline clarity. Objective perception only exists in a tasting without images, sounds, smells, … and even tactile sensations that interfere.

In fact, 50% of brain cells serve visual informations. Seeing the label of a wine that pleases affects the other senses but even less is  necessary to obtain an alteration of the gustatory perception like being in an environment illuminated by red or green light, listen to music dominated by serious or acute sounds… to alter the taste.

CONTAINS SULPHITES

Also in wines with the inscription “Does not contain sulphites added” there are sulphites and those who are allergic should not drink them. Some clarification on a rule that confuses

Di Donatella Cinelli Colombini

All wine contains sulphites.
Sulphites are naturally present and therefore writings like “Does not contain sulphites” on wine bottles are incorrect, forbidden and even dangerous because those who are allergic to sulphites might be led to think that they can drink Bacchus nectar, but that is not the case. Sulphites are always present in small quantities.

NO WINE MAY BEAR THE WORDS “CONTAINS NO SULPHITES”
However, most sulphites arrive in wine during its production. In winemaking practices, sulphur dioxide or potassium metabisulfite are used with antioxidant, preservative and antiseptic functions. When such additions increase the amount of sulphites in the wine to above 10 milligrams per litre, which means almost always, the bottle must bear the phrase “Contains added sulphites” in the language of the country in which it is marketed. For this reason, most labels have this indication in many different languages.

Pinot Noir to make a good impression

Put aside the clichés that the good Pinot Noir is always very expensive, that the best New Zealand wine is Sauvignon … here are 9 amazing but affordable Pinot

Di Donatella Cinelli Colombini

The name itself evokes elegance: Pinot Noir, like the black velvet dress to wear at a gala dinner.
The word that is automatically associated with Pinot Noir is Burgundy and immediately after the most famous and celebrated winery Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Hence another association of ideas: Pinot Noir equals high price. Of course, if we think about the one just mentioned, the figures are astronomical: 20,600 dollars a bottle of average. Half a case costs as much as a house.

 

THE NEW TERRITORIES OF PINOT NOIR

But perhaps, coming out of these clichés and above all exploring the new producing regions it is possible to taste splendid Pinot Noir without emptying the account: New Zealand, Oregon, Chile, Australia, Germany, Argentina…
From Wine searcher comes the list of Pinot Noir with the highest quality and the most affordable price. It derives from a simple division between the average of the critical scores and the average of the sales lists.

Hong Kong, James Suckling, China and Brunello

In Hong Kong with the 100 Italian wineries chosen by James Suckling. In China with Brunello among the skyscrapers of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzen, Guangzhou, Zhuhai

 

Di Donatella Cinelli Colombini

After the very rainy Italian autumn Hong Kong looks like paradise. Spring temperatures, sunshine and a glittering city where shop windows overflow with luxury products. The city is a huge luxury shopping centre along the streets and inside the skyscrapers connected by covered walkways. From the bay the night show astonishes, it seems to be inside a gigantic cartoon with hundreds of skyscrapers coloured with drawings and lights.

HONG KONG THE PARADISE OF LUXURY AND THE DAMAGE OF PROTESTS

My husband Carlo Gardini and I, do not see the students protagonists of the protests of which the media around the world have spoken, but we meet groups of policemen in riot gear and we see in the newspapers the damage they have done: 85 of the 94 major damaged metro stations and 62 of the smallest. Destroyed 1800 turnstiles 1100 ticket machines, 1200 surveillance cameras and 170 between escalators and elevators. If these are the visible damages, the most disastrous ones are the damages to the Hong Kong economy where tourism has literally collapsed. In October the decrease of the arrivals has been  43.7% less than the same month of 2018. The effects on the restaurant industry have been very heavy: 300 restaurants closed since last June. For Italian wine is a disaster because importers do not sell and therefore do not buy.

Wine searcher: interest in Italian wine grows

In 2018 users of Wine searcher, the portal with the prices of all the wines in the world, have made 151 million searches: 47% on the French and 16% on ours

 

Di Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Wine searcher is a huge portal, based in New Zealand, which brings together the commercial proposals of the best retailers in the world. People that want to know the price of a certain wine can search for it using the name or a picture of a wine label. They will receive the list of prices and shops where to buy it including e-commerce. Then they can give their opinion.

WINE SEARCHER THE PORTAL WITH THE PRICES OF ALL THE WINES OF THE WORLD

The countries where Wine searcher is most used are the United States, from which one third of all wine searches comes, followed by the United Kingdom, China, Hong Kong and France. Note that 30% of the American population does not drink wine while the use of Wine searcher corresponds to 10% of the inhabitants evidencing a strong habit to verify on line their choices or, as Don Kavanagh hypothesizes, an almost obsessive relationship with wine. This is particularly true in Great Britain, where 12% of the total population are users. However the most enthusiastic about Wine-searcher are the people of Hong Kong. In fact, the inhabitants of the former British colony are only 7.5 million people and research on the New Zealand wine portal is equivalent to 80% of them.

Is there a war against wine influencers?

Nothing stated but the limits imposed by Facebook and Instagram to those who sell or talk about wine as well as new algorithms make life hard for influencers

Di Donatella Cinelli Colombini

What is happening in the world of social network ? As the number of people constantly connected and obsessively connected to their mobile phones increases, the pressure from those who fear for the mental health of digital natives increases.
The result is that a kind of war has begun against influencers and especially against wine influencers

9,000 INFLUENCERS IN THE WORLD WITH A TURNOVER OF 10 BILLION DOLLARS
There are about 9,000“occult persuaders” active online on wine and spirits around the planet and their turnover has reached 10 billion Dollars.

Instagram-e-Facebook-contro-gli-influencer

Many wineries have relied on them to increase their image and business. This is the case of the famous organic company Domaine Bousquet who has built its fame on Instagram using influencers with 10,000 followers or so and now produces over six million bottles.
Maybe the two social media giants Facebook and Instagram are thinking of putting in their pocket the money earned by influencers?

Violante Gardini Cinelli Colombini President of AGIVI

November 29th 2019 AGIVI the association of young Italian wine producers elected Violante Gardini national president for the next three years.
She takes the place of Federico Terenzi and will have at her side, as vice-presidents Martina Varvaglione and Enrico Gobino. The AGIVI board is also composed by Emanuela Tamburini, Nicola Guidi, Silvia Franco, Matteo Magnabosco, Vittoria Rocca, Ernesto Rocca, Anna Maria Surricchio, Giulia Goretti.

VIOLANTE GARDINI A LITTLE GREAT WOMAN

35 years old from Tuscany Violante Gardini is the commercial manager of the wine estates of her mother Donatella Cinelli Colombini (casato Prime Donne in Montalcino and Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda) a degree in Business Economics at the University of Florence and a Master OIV in Paris that led to a visit to all the wine-growing regions and the main wine markets of the world.
In the professional and human history of Violante associationism has always played an important role: in 2008– 2009 she was  the Tuscan president of Leo (young Lions) in June 2013 she was elected Tuscan President of Wine Tourism Movement, bringing her region to be the most numerous in Italy. She is Vice-President AGIVI from 2016 and now has decided to devote all her free time to this association renouncing any other office.

“I believe very much in teamwork” said Violante after the  election that happened unanimously by acclamation at Mondodelvino -Wine Experience of Priocca, “and I intend to apply in AGIVI that method of deciding and working in a group that in previous experiences allowed me to increase members and organize important initiatives”.

Do not trust the taste, among the senses is the most maneuverable

Sight is the strongest sense, then hearing. They are able to alter the taste and change the choices: Lafitte effect, listening to Mozart you‘ll choose more expensive wines

Di Donatella Cinelli 

Colombini

Vincenzo Russo professor of neuromarketing at IULM in Milan, publishes on the economic weekly of Gambero Rosso “Trebicchieri” science pills extremely useful to those who sell wine but also to those who buy it because they reveal how not everything is as it appears.

NEUROMARKETING: SIGHT IS MORE IMPORTANT THEN TASTE

In our brain cells assigned to the sight are approximately 50% while those assigned to the taste only 1%. As a consequence the taste is a less “strong” sense than the others and suffers the influence of sight, hearing and tact.
That is why the same drink coloured in red is perceived sweeter by up to 10%.

NEUROMARKETING: SOUNDS, PLEASANT TACTILE SENSATIONS MAKE THE WINE LOOK BETTER

Not only does sight alter gustatory perception, but also hearing and touch.

 

Charles Spence the professor of gastrophysics at the University of Oxford did taste the same wine listening to sweet sounds at high frequency and touching a placemat of white plush then repeated the tasting listening to sharp sounds at low frequency and touching sandpaper.
The first wine was judged much but much better. Likewise, hearing the sound of the corkscrew creates a quality expectation that makes the wine look better because the cork is unknowingly associated with the finest bottles.
With smells the question is even more complicated. They are not perceived as such but filtered by the memory like the madeleines of Marcel Proust. The aromas make a long journey in the brain, pass from the olfactory bulb and then from the olfactory cortex where they are recognized on the basis of previous experiences. Only at the end the information reaches the frontal orbit cortex, becomes conscious and takes a name. This is why the judgment on aromas is not objective and very evocative.

NEUROMARKETING: CHATEAU LAFITE EFFECT

Pleasant music promotes the release of the dopamine hormone that activates the limbic system of the brain (as during sexual intercourse) and this creates a feeling of pleasure. Adrian North of the University of Leicester discovered “l’effect Chateau La

fite”: by spreading Mozart’s music in a luxury restaurant the collection increased dramatically because the customers were in tune with the refined image of themselves created by the music and consequently ordered the most expensive things.

Without getting to the point of creating artificial situations maybe tasting your own wine listening to a music of Brahms, Chopin or Schubert could be a good idea.

Case history: wine turism in Conegliano Valdobbiadene

Finally an in-depth analysis of the development potential triggered by wine tourism! Comes from CISET and concerns the district of Conegliano Valdobbiadene

di Donatella Cinelli Colombini

CISE, International Centre of Studies on Tourist Economy, the centre that study tourism at the University of Venice Cà Foscari, can count on an authentic genius like Mara Manente whose analyses prefigure the future with precision allow to orient the political choices like a radar. The area covered by the CISET analysis is that of the Prosecco registered in the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019.

WINE TOURISM IN THE UNESCO AREAS AN IN THE CONEGLIANO VALDOBBIADENE DISTRICT

The economic outlook weighted on the basis of the experiences of the wine-growing districts that received the same recognition before the Veneto region, show an increase of up to 50% of visitors in the 10 years following the Unesco registration.
Two scenarios are proposed: the first, more cautious expects a +12% of visitors by 2029 with an annual growth of 3% of tourist turnover and an occupational rate in accommodation facilities up to 35-37% in 10 years. The optimistic scenario that, however, seems to scare the president of the Consortium aware of the risks of degradation connected to a tourist success too abundant and too fast, regards a +50% of visitors by 2029, with a growth of the tourist business of 6% a year and a rate of employment of accommodation facilities , between 35 and 47% more at the end of the period.
These projections start from the photography of the district Conegliano Valdobbiadene carried out by the Study Centre, the image shows us a reality ready to seize the tourist opportunity conveyed by the Unesco recognition obtained in 2019.

Albiera Antinori, Priscilla Incisa and Cinzia Merli in Bolgheri

Pink triumvirate  for the Consortium of Bolgheri with Albiera Antinori (Guado al  Tasso) president and vice-presidents Priscilla Incisa della  Rocchetta and Cinzia Merli

 

Di Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Finally women gained leadersh

ip of a major wine Consortium! In Bolgheri Albiera Antinori President will be joined by vicepresidents Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta and Cinzia Merli.

THE BOLGHERI CONSORTIUM GUIDED BY THREE WOMEN

Three names of international prestige, three very talented women who put themselves at the head of the currently most performing Italian denomination, Bolgheri. Something is to be expected that will leave everyone amazed and show the world the value of giving more space to women. Albiera Antinori, first-born of Marchese Piero, together with her sisters Allegra a

nd Alessia, heir to the largest and most prestigious Italian wine group with over 200 million annual revenue. An expert in communication and marketing, Albiera has always stood out for her commitment, balance and professional talent. Skills that, together with the simplicity of her behavior, is appreciated as one of the true minds of Italian wine.

New EVO oil from the Fattoria del Colle

We have a real passion for extra virgin olive oil. For centuries, here at Fattoria del Colle the quality of the olives is excellent and we put every care in picking and crushing these delicious fruits. We have 6 hectares of traditional olive grove with frantoio (correggiolo) varieties moraiolo and some olive trees along the paths. Fattoria del Colle is located 400 meters above sea level, in a low rainfall area, with limestone soils where olive trees have their ideal habitat. No chemicals have ever been used in olive groves and even in the last ten years when the terrible oil fly arrived twice the olives were defended with traps and nothing else.

QUALITY OF OLIO EVO: 50% FROM MICROCLIMATE, 25% FROM VARIETY AND 25% FROM HARVESTING AND PROCESSING

 

The microclimate of the olive grove is very important and accounts for 50% of the quality of the oil, another 25% depends on the cultivar that is the variety of the plants. Trequanda is an area renowned for centuries for its excellent oil Fattoria del Colle still preserves more than 20 jars of terracotta, some of which over two hundred years old, that testify to the tradition and the great care with which has always been produced the extra virgin.

The remaining 25% of the oil quality depends on how the olives are harvested and processed. We harvest the olives, in October and November, starting shortly after the harvest, when they are still green. The harvest is manual with the only help of small electric rakes. Every day the olives are brought to Casteluzio in the small Sant’Angelo olive mill managed by a competent and passionate young man, Paolo Bindi. Thanks to a slow process that does not heat the olives Pieralisi plant by Paolo preserves all the fragrance of the fruits. After the pressing, to preserve the perfumes and health virtues of the extra virgin, we at Fattoria del Colle store it at 15°C in nitrogen-saturated steel drums and then bottle it without filtering it.
Almost everything is sold at the farm in the mono-varietal correggiolo (frantoio), moraiolo and in the blend of the two varieties. It is packaged in bottles and small metal cans.