Forum: News and lifestyle

EXTRAVIRGIN OLIVE OIL: TRUE AND IMPORTED

ONLY 28% OF THE EXTRA VIRGIN OIL SOLD IN ITALY IS PRODUCED IN OUR COUNTRY. OUT OF 900 THOUSAND TONS OF CONSUMPTION AND EXPORT OF EVO OIL, 600 THOUSAND ARE IMPORTED

Solo il 28% dell'extravergine consumato o esportato dall'Italia è veramente italiano

Only 28% of EVO oil consumed o exported from Italy is really Italian

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestination, Casato Prime Donne

The data on EVO oil are impressive and reveal a bleak panorama. On one side, the Apulian olive groves destroyed by Xylella and the hilly ones abandoned due to lack of manpower. On the other side, a market unwilling to pay remunerative prices for Italian extra virgin olive oil made to the highest standards while the shop shelves are full of low-priced extra virgin olive oil from intensive olive groves in foreign countries.

The RTO Telematic Oil Registers show a stock of 190 thousand tons consisting of 71% EVO oil which is increasingly less Italian.

The Italian EVO oil production crisis does not seem to be stopping: plant diseases, adverse climate, abandonment of olive groves… the reasons are numerous but the results are devastating.

OUR NATIONAL PRODUCTION OF EVO OIL IS 28% OF WHAT WE NEED

Even the Italian olive harvest last autumn marked a drop of 90 thousand tons compared to the previous year. The production deficit is increasingly marked: we produce barely 240 thousand tons, that is 28% of what we need. Every year we need 850-900 thousand tons of which 550 for domestic consumption and 350 thousand tons for export. For this reason, agri-food industrialists source from Tunisia, Spain, Greece and other countries. Puglia in the South and Umbria in the Center are the nerve centres of storage.

7 August 2025

FROM TOSCANA LOVERS COFFEE BECOMES FLOWERED

A POP WAY OF USING MATERIALS, TOSCANA LOVERS’ RESIN COFFEE CUPS SHOW ARTISAN CREATIVITY AND BRING BEAUTY TO OUR HOMES

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestination, Fattoria del Colle Trequanda, Casato Prime Donne Montalcino

tazzine da caffè e altri oggetti in resina da Toscana Lovers

coffee cups and other resin objects from Toscana Lovers

Coffee cups are not glass, not ceramic, not crystal, not amber, and most importantly, not plastic! These are handmade resin objects, each one different, but all crafted with the creativity and craftsmanship typical of Tuscan master craftsmen.

Almost artists, highly creative and gifted with extraordinary manual skills… these artisans share the same mentality as those who, during the Renaissance, filled Florence with masterpieces. Therefore, taking home a unique piece made by them means owning an authentic piece of “Tuscan genius,” even if it doesn’t cost as much as a Benvenuto Cellini sugar bowl.

TOSCANA LOVERS RESIN COFFEE CUPS

Tuscan essences are playfully yet elegantly incorporated into resin. Ears of wheat, flowers, chili peppers, spices, citrus fruits… a nature magically “suspended” to become “eternal.” It’s precisely this playful transgression that makes these cups so pop. Extraordinary craftsmanship, creative thinking, and outstanding compositional skill, but also a sense of lightness, as if the cups were saying, “Use me every day because I’ll put joy in your coffee.”

“The combination of natural elements and a special resin creates objects where every colour and shade reflect natural cycles, and leaves, flowers, fruits, and shells become fossilized amber,” explains Ilaria Perilli from the Toscana Lovers store in Bagno Vignoni, showing off a wide range of resin trays, tureens, and bowls. “They are available in a variety of colours and shades to match each customer’s table, making their table setting unique and original.”

31 July 2025

PINZIMONIO WITH HUMMUS

A FRESH, HEALTHY, VERY PLEASANT TUSCAN-MIDDLE EASTERN MIX FULL OF MULTI-ETHNIC SUGGESTIONS: THE VEGETABLE GARDEN AND TUSCAN PEASANT BREAKFASTS WITH ARAB SNACKS

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestination, Fattoria del Colle Trequanda, Casato Prime Donne Montalcino

A fresh, healthy, pleasant Tuscan-Middle Eastern mix full of multi-ethnic suggestions: the vegetable garden and Tuscan peasant breakfasts with the flavour of Arab snacks

To be honest, the idea is not mine, I tasted this delicious appetizer in Campiglia d’Orcia during “Bianco di sera” an event organized by Elena Salviucci, president of the Strada del Vino Orcia, in one of the most panoramic and beautiful spots in Tuscany.

This is a pinzimonio, a typical peasant snack made with celery, fennel, cucumber, carrot, to be eaten after having dipped them in extra virgin olive oil. The novelty is the addition of chickpea hummus that is placed in the pinzimonio cups together with the oil.

24 July 2025

POLPETTE AVVOLTE OR CABBAGE ROLLS

AN OLD AND TRADITIONAL DISH FROM THE TUSCAN COUNTRYSIDE. NOT VERY CHOREOGRAPHIC, BUT VERY TASTY, IT NEEDS DECORATED TABLEWARE TO SHOW IT AS BEAUTIFUL AS WELL AS GOOD

In Montalcino, “pulpette avvolte” are the traditional sandwich for the “festa dei Bianchi”, namely of the Misericordia, the last Sunday in August. In reality, they are very tasty rolls, while the real polpette avvolte are a humble but tasty dish that is prepared in spring and autumn when the cabbages are ready in the garden.

It has the advantage of being able to be prepared the day before and heated up at the last moment, bringing an ancient and intense flavour to the table

INGREDIENTS OF TUSCAN WRAPPED MEATBALLS

Ingredients for cabbage rolls – Fattoria del Colle, Trequanda – Tuscany

For 4 people: 15 cabbage leaves, 500 g of minced meat, 100 g of salted pancetta, 1 egg, 50g of Parmigiano cheese, half

a glass of white wine and half a glass of milk, two slices of bread, salt, pepper, a sprinkling of nutmeg

8 July 2025

REGENERATE AND HELP REGENERATE WITH TOURISM IN TUSCANY

TOURISM AS A SOURCE OF WELL-BEING FOR YOU AND FOR THE TERRITORY WHERE THE JOURNEY TAKES PLACE WITH EXPERIENCES AND NOT VISITS, IN NATURE AND LOCAL CIVILIZATION

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestination, Fattoria del Colle, Casato Prime Donne

esperienza turistica enologo per un giorno Fattoria del colle Trequanda Toscana

Winemaker for a day experience at Fattoria del Colle Trequanda Tuscany

Regenerative tourism is a new trend that reflects the awareness of being in the privileged 10% of the world’s population that, however, produces half of the greenhouse gas emissions. Along with this sensitivity, the need to rediscover oneself by listening to one’s body grows. A need that generates the desire to take care of one’s physical and psychological well-being threatened by a growing sense of uncertainty and insecurity.

So the journey no longer includes just visits but experiences of what is natural, different and to be preserved. Regenerative tourism is not the cure for all the ailments of contemporary mankind but responds to his needs. It restores value to the territories and ecosystems where the journey takes place. Also it does not consume the territories it visits but helps their survival. It proposes a more minimalist and sustainable style in direct contact with nature and local life.

Fattoria del Colle, in Trequanda in Southern Tuscany, fully embodies this approach, offering experiences that enrich both visitors and the surrounding environment.

AUTHENTIC IMMERSION IN THE TERRITORY

Fattoria del Colle is a miraculously intact sixteenth-century hamlet, surrounded by 336 hectares of vineyards, olive groves, crops, woods and truffle reserves. Guests can stay in rooms, apartments and villas created from old peasant homes where the furniture is made of small local antiques and it feels like living in the house of your Tuscan grandparents. The farm also offers a traditional cuisine restaurant where everything is handmade. There is a cooking school, a natural wellness centre and outdoor activities such as 4 trekking routes, 3 swimming pools and 3 parks that allow for total immersion in nature.

7 July 2025

ALUMINIUM IN THE KITCHEN: BETTER NOT

WE HAVE KNOWN FOR YEARS THAT ALUMINUM PANS CAN RELEASE TOXIC COMPONENTS INTO FOOD BUT ALUMINIUM FOIL IS ALSO DANGEROUS WHEN COOKING AND IN CONTACT

cottura corretta in forno con carta da forno a contatto con l'alimento e foglio di alluminio all'esterno

correct cooking method in the oven with baking paper in contact with food and foil on the outside

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestnation, Fattoria del Colle, Casato Prime Donne

I love super housewives more than starred chefs, but in this case, we can learn from them. They avoid contact between aluminium foil and food both in the oven and during storage because acids such as lemon or pickles could generate contamination. Check their recipes and you will see.

This is a valuable lesson that everyone should learn and bring into the kitchen. An article by Eugenio Marini in Gamberorosso Notizie goes into detail with plenty of examples.

3 July 2025

92/100 AWARDED TO ROSSO DI MONTALCINO 2022

EXCELLENT RATING OF 92/100 FROM WINE ENTHUSIAST ON THE ROSSO DI MONTALCINO 2022 BY DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI WHICH IN THE MOUTH RECALLS CRISPY AND FRESH WILD BERRIES

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestination

The Rosso di Montalcino 2022 was born in a very hot year with no rain for seven months. The winemakers at Casato Prime Donne saw grapes arrive in the cellar with berries as small as peas that were then transformed into wines full of noble substances and especially tannins.

A WINE BORN WITH KINDNESS

To obtain silky wines from such a rich must, it was necessary to vinify with extreme delicacy, then extend the maceration in contact with the skins and then bring forward the placing in the barrel to November.

The result is a small masterpiece of harmony: a powerful but elegant and fresh wine thanks to the perfect acid content of the grapes.

1 July 2025

TOPINI FROM MONTALCINO

MEAT-STUFFED ZUCCHINI FLOWERS TRADITIONAL IN THE FARMHOUSES OF MONTALCINO, KNOWN AS TOPINI BECAUSE THEY ARE ROUND AND HAVE A TAIL

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestination, Fattoria del Colle, Casato Prime Donne

Until fifty years ago Montalcino was a poor town where families ate little meat and lots of vegetables because everyone had a vegetable garden. For this reason, the little beef was often boiled, which was mixed with sausages and rigatino to then be stuffed with onions, artichokes, courgettes, potatoes … depending on the season of the year. Housewives had in fact managed to invent delicious dishes that fed even the largest and poorest families. Today stuffed zucchini flowers or topini, as they are called in the Montalcino lexicon, are a delicious rarity. In fact, although they are delicious to eat and can be prepared in advance and then served after heating them in the oven they require a long preparation time. This circumstance discourages young people with very little time available.

26 June 2025

Super offer with Rosa di Tetto 2024 and Brunello 2020!

Do you want to receive this offer made of 100% Sangiovese wines at €154.90 directly at home?

Dear friends, we have prepared for you an unmissable opportunity for true Sangiovese lovers! Two masterpieces from amazing vintages. The Rosa di Tetto IGT Toscana 2024, in preview, and the Brunello DOCG 2020.

🎁 together with the bottles you will find: two blue shopper bags, two sheets of tissue paper (to give a touch of elegance to a gift you will give to your friends) and the package sealer

What’s special about this offer?

This is a special opportunity to receive 2 different expressions of Sangiovese from the Donatella Cinelli Colombini farms. For the first time, part of the grapes used for the Rosa di Tetto 2024 come from the Casato Prime Donne vineyards in Montalcino. Donatella’s vineyards are grown organically and with great commitment.

🍇 Offer of the Month – For Members of Donatella’s Club

3 bottles 0.75L Rosa di Tetto IGT Toscana 2024

3 bottles 0.75L Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

two blue shopper bags, two sheets of tissue paper and two package sealers, all with the logo of the Donatella Cinelli Colombini wineries

🎯 Special price: €154.90 (instead of €184.20)

🚚 €10 discount on shipping

💡 Want to double?

12 bottles for €289.00 (instead of €368.40) with the same advantage on shipping.

19 June 2025

RIVOLTI OR CRESPELLE DELLE CRETE SENESI

THESE ARE THE ANCESTORS OF FRENCH CREPES AND ARE AMONG THE OLDEST AND MOST VERSATILE POOR RECIPES FROM SOUTHERN TUSCANY

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestination, Fattoria del Colle, Casato Prime Donne

When I was young, the gastronome of Sienese cuisine was Giovanni Righi Parenti (1923-2006). Pharmacist, poet, painter and historian of local gastronomy. He was an example of that interdisciplinary and nonconformist culture that flourished by taking root in its territory. A pleasant conversationalist, an open and creative mind, a generous soul … Giovanni Righi Parenti was for decades a point of reference for cuisine enthusiasts, placing himself in the ranks of those pioneers who combined cultivation with culture: Soldati, Veronelli, Buonassisi ..

We owe him the rediscovery of a very poor dish from Southern Tuscany, the rivolti. According to him, they originated from the Crete Senesi and from there they emigrated to Florence where they began to fill them richly. They arrived in France with the chefs of Caterina de Medici when she married King Henry II in 1547. In Paris they took the name by which we know them today: crepes.

12 June 2025

ROSA DI TETTO 2024 IGT TOSCANA ROSATO BIOLOGICO-ORGANIC

ROSA DI TETTO 2024 MARKS A RETURN TO THE OLDEST TUSCAN TRADITION OF ROSE’ WINE, THAT OF THE COLOURFUL WINES THAT FARMERS MADE IN SECRET

Rosé wines intense enough to accompany the entire meal and soft enough to be drunk cold.

Fattoria del Colle has been producing rosé wines for over forty years but in 2024, for the first time, part of the grapes for this wine come from the Montalcino vineyards of Casato Prime Donne. A circumstance that gives greater structure to the Rosa di Tetto.

ROSA DI TETTO IGT TOSCANA

The choice to produce a more structured rosé stems from the international success of this type and the demand for rosés with greater personality and aging capacity. A change that coincided with a return to the origins, inspired by the “acquati” produced by Tuscan farmers since time immemorial. Those of a century ago were fragrant but poor-quality rosés obtained by stealing a part of the must at the beginning of fermentation or by refermenting the marc. They were therefore poor wines.

3 June 2025

BRUNELLO 2020 CHOSEN BY JAMES MAGAZINE

DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI’S 2020 BRUNELLO IN THE JAMES MAGAZINE SHOWCASE IS AMONG PAOLO VALENTE’S FAVOURITES-HE DESCRIBES IT IN HIS ARTICLE

James Magazine il Brunello 2020 di Donatella Cinelli Colombini in vetrina

James Magazine Brunello 2020 by Donatella Cinelli Colombini showcased

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestination, Fattoria del Colle, Casato Prime Donne

James Magazine is an online magazine directed by journalist and wine critic Bruno Petronilli that draws inspiration from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s maxim “beauty will save the world”. A concept that is expressed in <<luxury of pleasure, including champagne and great wines, art, restaurants, travel, exclusive resorts, spirits, cigars. James Magazine, or rather passions, unstoppable and dazzling, that dominate the soul, the heart and the mind>>.

THE 2020 BRUNELLOS DISPLAYED BY JAMES MAGAZINE

On the occasion of Benvenuto Brunello, he tasted the 2020 vintage defined by the special panel organized by the Consortium as <<Enticing, brilliant, succulent>> adjectives to which James Magazine adds the words <<versatile and suited for aging>>.

Seeing my Brunello among the favourites for the 2020 harvest is a pleasure and a satisfaction. The three 2020 Brunellos on display are Vigna Montosoli by Canalicchio di Sopra, Donatella Cinelli Colombini and Podernovi di San Polo by Marilisa Allegrini. They are followed by 12 other labels, most of which are selections or single vineyards. My Brunello is instead the classic typology, the one we consider to be more vertical in style, elegant and capable of expressing terroir, vintage and vine variety.

30 May 2025

UPGRADE OF A CORNER OF FATTORIA DEL COLLE

DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI GIVES IN TO GLOBAL WARMING AND PUTS AIR CONDITIONING IN THE ROOMS AND APARTMENTS THAT RESEMBLE THE HOUSES OF TUSCAN GRANDPARENTS

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestination, Fattoria del Colle, Casato Prime Donne

The backs of Tuscan farms were traditionally used for artisanal activities: the blacksmith, the oil mill, the laundry… Fattoria del Colle is no exception and on the ground floor, behind the sixteenth-century villa, it had the olive grove, the workshop and the wagon shed and the wash houses. It seems like a more modest part compared to the facades but it is not.

28 May 2025