Extra virgin olive oil, too many frauds and not enough : buy it in the countryside

3 restaurants out of 4 do not respect the rule of using closures against top ups, there is a 278% increase in products confiscated because adulterated, or false oils

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By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Information regarding frauds and advice for those who want at home an extra virgin olive oil to exalt the taste of food and is good for your health.

Frauds are destroying the wonderful reputation Italian extra virgin olive oil had. Prestige that had taken years and years of work and investments to get qualified olive groves, olive mills and employees. A million hectares of olive grove, the most olive oils with an appellation (44) in Europe, and the largest number of olive varieties in the world with  395 cultivar (see Cronache di Gusto).

On September 28th, the day dedicated to olive oil, that took place in Florence, became a court case, with Coldiretti on the defensive and 10,000 angry farmers who arrived in the city on their tractors.

Extra-virgin-olive-oil-Fattoria-del-Colle-Bruschetta

Frauds have quadrupled; with in prime position the sale of foreign oils as if it were made in Italy and even sunflower seed oil labelled as extra virgin olive oil. So Roberto Moncalvo President of the Coldiretti asks for names <<of the companies where the oil from abroad is destined>>. This is in fact what is most scary for those who bring in tankers full of oil of dubious provenance and quality; Let us know their names.  29,5 million euro of sequestered goods,  58 people reported to the authorities have not in fact been sufficient to stop this ever growing scam: I buy oil abroad, I bottle it in Italy, and I sell it as if it came from our olive groves.

Social media wine's virtual grapevine

Blog, newsletters, social media, reviews portals, local searches, OTA: the many forms of online wine grapevine that creates an image and turnover

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By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

The virtual wine grapevine is the major instrument for the growth of wine tourism. Up until 2013 it was a human chain mouth to ear, today the viral action that takes place on the web among wine lovers who publish images of their visit and comment the experience, wine bloggers who write posts that then get shared … A procedure that must be cared for and fed and in so doing you create a community with whom there is a daily dialogue. One of the most efficient instruments for this scope is the creation of a newsletter to be sent via internet every 15 days always the same day and time) to those who have visited the winery or who have made contact through the web site. It should contain offers reserved for faithful clients (events, special releases) ..the next few appointments and some news. The client becomes a friend –follower and is regularly updated with what is happening on the estate, so as to become aware of the daily goings on. The newsletter is also useful to sell courses, tastings, shopping to a particularly attentive and faithful clientele.

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Obviously the mother of all news is the blog or the news section in the web site. Many wineries have a blog but only Marilena Barbera, of the Sicilian Barbera wineries has been able to get into the first positions in the international ratings as wine blogger. Each producer has their own style. There are those like myself who write about everything that makes me curious even out of the estate and then there are those who rigorously write only about their own wines and tourism proposals. All techniques are right if they bring visibility and clients.

Few days left to participate in the Casato Prime Donne award 2015

An award that wishes to thank  those who divulge the territory and open new horizons for women. An award born in Montalcino in the first winery in Italy with an all female staff

Casato Prime Donne Award 2014 Jury and winners

There are still a few day left to be able to take part in the Casato Prime Donne 2015 award with photographs , articles, and TV and radio material regarding the wonderful Montalcino territory and Brunello, published between June 15th 2014 and June 1st 2015. Before the 15^th of June your entries must reach the Award Secretariat  (Casato Prime Donne 53024 Montalcino SI- casato@cinellicolombini.it).

Art, landscapes…. But most of all people from a land made famous by the excellence of its wines. As a prize there are bottles of prestigious wine as well as money (respectively 1.000 and 1.500 €) and the possibility of spending a week in an agritursimo apartment in this enchanted countryside.

Duccio Nacci 2010 Winner

The winners of the journalistic sections are chosen by the jury made up of Francesca Colombini Cinelli, Rosy Bindi, Anselma Dell’Olio, Anna Pesenti, Stefania Rossini, Anna Scafuri e Daniela Viglione. The list of past winners is full of wonderful names from Italian and International wine journalism: the last edition saw as protagonists Anna Di Martino, Daniele Cernilli and Ian D’Agata.

Wine Spectator gives my Brunello Prime Donne 2010 96/100

It is called Insider and it is an email that reports the best ratings on Wine Spectator. Every winery in the world wants to see its wines rated there. My Brunello has been

Brunello PrimeDonne 2010 Wine Spectator

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

How exciting! Only 20 Brunello in the Insider and only 4 in the “hot wines”. Mine is in second position with a splendid rating of 96/100

The ratings by the most read and most authoritative American wine magazine start their journey towards the podium starting from a minimum of  50-74 for the not recommendable wines, then there are the mediocre ones (75-79), the good ones (80-84) the very good ones (85-89). And finally the champions (90-94) and the summit or rather, the classical wines rated between 95 and 100 points.

So, our Brunello Prime Donne 2010 is a vino CLASSICO that would mean an icon such as the works by Raffaello, Mozart, Petrarca … Maybe I’m being a bit presumptuous with these comparisons? It must be aid though that the search for harmony does countersign all my wines but especially the Brunello and this does make the word “Classic” quite apt.

How to make a career out of loving wine

First of all become a Sommelier, then go and work somewhere where you can taste great wine and listen to the opinions of real experts, then take the leap

SWE- corso da Sommelier

Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

There are some expenses but they are not enormous, if there is a real passion for wine, some talent and a real desire to transform a passion into a successful career. In fact the  real investment is one of the AIS, FISAR, ONAV, FIS, ASPI courses …. With a Sommelier diploma in hand, it is possible to proceed with the next phases. In Italy the diploma counts and this first step must be paid.

To go abroad does not allow you to save money, these first steps cost elsewhere also. In Europe there are sommelier associations practically everywhere connected to the ASI and periodically organize similar course to the Italian ones. In Great Britain there is the very prestigious House of Master of Wine, the dream of every wine lover. It proposes very high level courses and certainly not for beginners, to begin with it is much better to go to  WSET, Wine and Spirit Education Trust where recently the royal sister-in-law Pippa Middleton studied. So other than having good teachers it also has high level students! In USA it is possible to address your training right from the beginning depending on what one wants to do: Master Sommeliers for those who want to work in the restaurants, WSET  is more apt for those who wish to work as importers or wine stores, SWE Society of Wine Educators which forms future teachers.

Screw-caps beat corks, at least among young consumers

Easy to open and reclose this convinces the majority of consumers, but only 1 out of 3 would choose the screw-cap bottle between two similar wines

Mollydooker Carnival of Love N° 2 Top 100 Wine Spectator

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Spain, Italy, and France, great nations for wine production still choose corks, but screw-caps are loved more by Germans, Americans and the British. The aluminum closure is preferred mostly by young consumers and particularly by women

SCREWCAPS ARE EASY TO USE BUT NOT CONSIERED OPTIMAL FOR GREAT WINES

The data comes from a survey carried out by IPSOS regarding 6.000 consumers in Italy France, UK Germany, Spain and USA. What surprises is the great distance between the producers decisions and the preferences of those who buy bottles. So in Spain where screw-caps are used only on 10 % of wines, where 43% of consumers prefer them

Less difference in Italy where  59% of consumers still like to use the corkscrew and the  screw-cap’s progress is slow going from 17 to 19% on wine bottles in 5 years. But there is 34% of Italian who with equal prices would prefer the screw-cap for practical reasons, even though the majority of them are convinced that cork maintains the quality of the wine.

Those asking for aluminum closures are the importing countries with Britain top of the list.

It is in these markets that the screw-cap is no longer connected to low quality wines and most of all to wines with low prices. Of course  91% of New Zealand wines and  70% of Australian wines have a screw-cap and the former are also quite expensive .