Forum: News and lifestyle

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

SAN QUIRICO D’ORCIA THE INLAYS THAT CHARMED FEDERICO ZERI

FEDERICO ZERI, ONE OF THE WORLD’S LEADING EXPERTS, STUDIED HISTORY OF ART IN THE COLLEGIATA OF SAN QUIRICO D’ORCIA IN FRONT OF A MASTERPIECE THAT IS STILL THERE

Antonio Barili San Quirico d'Orcia tarsie del coro della Collegiata

Antonio Barili San Quirico d’Orcia choir inlays in the Collegiata

As you know, I produce wine but I did not study oenology but rather the history of medieval art. I consider it a privilege to have dedicated years to the study of paintings, sculptures and minor arts but I also feel the privilege of living in Tuscany, a region that resembles an immense widespread museum, full of great works of art.

FEDERICO ZERI IN SAN QUIRICO D’ORCIA

Here I’ll tell you about one of them: the inlays by Antonio Barili in San Quirico d’Orcia, 30 km from Fattoria del Colle. During the last Orcia Wine Festival I met Marco Torchi who told me about Federico Zeri, one of the greatest Italian art historians and critics, who decided his destiny while he was in San Quirico d’Orcia.

11 July 2024

in Forum: News and lifestyle, Vines and wines

Leone Rosso 2021 Organic Orcia Doc

Leone Rosso 2021 Doc Orcia was born in a harvest of excellent quality, 5 stars, but scarce quantity due to a serious frost at the beginning of April...

20 June 2024

RED WINE SERVED COOL: WHERE WHEN & WHY

CLIMATE CHANGE, HEALTHIER MEALS AND THE DESIRE FOR NOOVELTIES ARE INCREASING THE CONSUMPTION OF RED WINE SERVED COOL AND SEEING IT IN THE FRIDGE IS NO LONGER SURPRISING

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

Red Wine served cool with strawberries

Winters so warm that you can have lunch outside, very hot and then very cold spring days… a truly crazy climate that also brings changes to menus and wines. The consumption of white wine increases and the serving temperature of red wine decreases.

If once it was said to bring bottles of red to the table at “room temperature”, now the specification of 16-18°C is written everywhere. Refrigerated cabinets for red wines are in every good restaurant and there are many more red wines to drink cool.

WHICH RED WINES ARE THE MOST SUITABLE TO BE CONSUMED COOL?

It is an effect of the new climate and the new attention to well-being deriving from food: more vegetables, less meat, more lightness, less cooking. Uncorking a cool red wine becomes trendy but which wines are suitable for reaching the table at 8-12° centigrade?

13 June 2024

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.

6 June 2024

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>>

24 May 2024

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

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

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.

16 May 2024

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.

9 May 2024

MAY 3^rd to 5^th 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

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.

11 April 2024