Vines and wines

Montreal is a city for gluttons and for Cenerentola

A real ovation for Cenerentola Doc Orcia wine which has actually stole the show from Brunello in the Quebec capital

Montreal is the city which, in the whole world, has the highest density of restaurants per inhabitant, and wonderful restaurants they are too, and what wine experts!!! So many sommeliers and an expertise regarding the wines from all over the world. Montreal unites American organization qualities to French tastefulness. The result is out of this world, a beautiful city, easy to live in and a glutton for nice food. Because the high rated restaurants are smaller and reasonably priced than those in New York, but have such a high quality level in the service and in the kitchen. The preparation of food is “ a vista” so quite visible, in quite small kitchens with respect to the number of meals prepared and the amount of dishes on the menu. Apparently everything is done on the spot with fresh ingredients.

Montalcino puts out its flags for the Sagra del tordo event

The last Sunday in October, so this year on the 28th, Montalcino always relives the era of when it was a rich medieval centre with dames, knights and archers [caption id="attachment_7346" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Montalcino-Festival of the Thush-historic-cortège"][/caption] The Sagra del tordo (Festival of the Thrush) is for the inhabitants of Montalcino a festivity to be spent with the family. The 4 Quartieri (quarters) into which the village is divided - Borghetto, Pianello, Ruga and Travaglio- are active all year round with dinners, event for the elderly and children, exhibitions, trips and other activities for the members. With two fixed dates, in October and in...

Brunello wine conquers the Council of Europe

An event in Strasbourg presents pictures and tastes of Val d’Orcia to the delegates of the Coucil of Europe: town of art, Brunello wine and pecorino cheese

If the European Union is the politic and economic brain of our continent, the Council of Europe is the birthplace of its values. The place where the local autorithies get together to share principles to be spead all over the countries.
Strasbourg is the best place for this kind of institution, the german border is only 10 km far away and the city is a multicultural one and a mixture of the perfect german organisation and the french sense of beautiful with its gothic cathedral with the stained glass window, the pinnacles and the arches. The building of the Council of Europe is the modern version of the same architectural shape. An harmonius complex of huge spaces realized to satisfy their functions.

Italian dessert wine: Vin Santo del Chianti D.O.C. 2005

Donatella Cinelli Colombini’ s Vin Santo cellar is under the roof of the 16th century villa in the centre of Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda in southern Chianti

Two rooms which are warm in the summer and cold in the winter where the amber sweet wine ages slowly in barrels of various ages and sizes: from 50 to 200 litres. The visitors can visit these rooms going up a staircase at the end of the wine cellar. Here one can see the old Vin Santo from Fattoria del Colle labels designed by Vittorio Zani, the graphic artist also designer of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena logo. On the walls of these rooms are splendid photographs by Giuseppe Cucco which develop a study regarding the image of food carried out by Vincenzo Pagano. The 2005 vintage had a variable climate which however permitted the production of fan excellent harvest whose distinctive characteristic was the very high acidity of the grapes. Traditionally every year the Vin Santo clusters are picked before the rest and are chosen one by one. Put into crates, which are piled one on top of one another, the grapes get moved every day according to the sun the humidity and the aeration. A very time consuming job possible only thanks to the passion that Barbara Magnani the cellar master has for sweet wines.

Grape harvest is finished and we are waiting for the 5 star

The 2012 vintage has been incredible; Donatella Cinelli Colombini went from pure terror because of the drought to full scale enthusiasm for the extraordinary Brunello grapes picked.

A cold winter, with snowfalls which blocked people in their homes for a whole month, but also a dry winter where even the snow left very little humidity in the soil.

So, the 2012 summer has been preceded by a long period of about 12 months of dryness with rare showers, and that means with half the usual amount of 700 mm of rainfall which we usually get in this part of Tuscany. This is where it starts to get interesting! From June onwards 3 months without a single drop of rain with temperatures above average but most of all a sky that was always so clear, so the hours of sunlight were always very many every day. This type of situation has greatly troubled the grape growers. The trimming of the shoots were modest and the leaves nearest the clusters were left to protect them from the sun. The vineyard was hoed so as to maintain the humidity underground, the clusters were thinned out twice so that in the end there really were very few.

95, 92, 90 the scores for the Brunello wines of Donatella Cinelli Colombini

In addition to the 95 points for the Brunello Riserva 2006 and being on top of the Highly Recommended list, the "Wine Spectator" also highlights and rewards the Brunello wine and the Brunello Prime Donne 2007 [caption id="attachment_7269" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Brunello_Riserva_PrimeDonne_DonatellaCinelliColombini"][/caption] When Donatella Cinelli Colombini opened the "Wine Spectator" dated 30th September she found that her Brunello Riserva 2006 is the top of the "Spectator selections". This is her dream come true. Every manufacturer hopes to see her wine in that magical place at least once in her career and Donatella has now achieved it. But there was also other good news, a...

An anticipated grape harvest for Brunello and Doc Orcia

In Donatella Cinelli Colombini vineyards the clusters are scarce and it will have to be further diminished with the “green harvest” so as to help the thirsty vines [caption id="attachment_7144" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Fattoria-del-Colle-inspection in the vineyards-Valérie-Lavigne"][/caption] To be sure this grape harvest with be anticipated and scarce! What is still to be seen in the level of quality which will depend on the rain foreseen for the end of August. The vines are thirsty. Especially where there is more soil skeletal and a better position. So the change in climate is completely turning over the classification of best vineyards and in 2012...

Brunello wine at the Olympic Games

Brunello wine from 49 wineries inMontalcino in Casa Italia in London, in front of Westminster Abbey for the Olympic Games [caption id="attachment_7085" align="alignleft" width="299" caption="Foil-Olympic Games-London-2012"][/caption] In the splendid building where the Italian Olympic champions are celebrated there were also bottles of Brunello accompanied by Stefano Campatelli director of the Consorzio del Brunello. The Montalcino wine has taken part in this Olympic kermes in the space occupied by the Enoteca Italiana through the Ministero delle Politiche agricole. The extraordinary wine from Montalcino has brought good luck to the women's team foil quartet – Valentina Vezzali, Elisa Di Francisca, Arianna Errigo and Ilaria...

Decanter recommends Brunello 2007 Prime Donne

“Decanter” puts Brunello Prime Donne 2007 among the Highly Recommended and Master of Wine Rosemary George chooses it among her three favourites

 

The prestigious English wine magazine “Decanter” called “the world’s best wine magazine” and is esteemed and consulted by buyers and wine lovers al lover the world. In its August edition it has published a beautiful article regarding Brunello di Montalcino 2007 choosing 117 preferred labels. The tasters who worked on the Brunello are three great experts Richard Baudains Italian correspondent for the magazine, he knows the Montalcino territory very well and come at least once a year, Jane Hunt and Rosemary George are two Masters of Wine who know and love Italian wines. Our Brunello 2007 Prime Donne has been inserted among the 42 highly recommended and has obtained excellent ratings especially from the two women -respectively 18,5 and 17 out of 20- quite foreseeable in fact as this wine is produced by, chosen by, and dedicated to women.

95/100 from Wine Spectator for the Brunello Riserva 2006

Donatella Cinelli Colombini is exited by this excellent rating obtained by her Brunello wine Riserva 2006 from Bruce Sanderson of the Wine Spectator [caption id="attachment_7042" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Brunello-2006-riserva Wine-Spectator"][/caption] The news arrived with the “Wine Spectator Advance” which anticipates via internet the best ratings which a few days later will arrive with the real magazine. The Brunello Riserva 2006 is the first among the “Highly Recommended” which is in fact the first and most important list, after which come the selections “to collect” “intelligent buy” “best rapport quality-price”. <<Well, to see your wine top of the list after the words Wine Spectator is a...

Josefa Idem our Prima Donna now at Olympic Games in London

In 2008 Josefa Idem won the Olympic silver medal and the Casato Prime Donne award where she promised that she would take part in the next Olympic Games in London, and she will be there [caption id="attachment_7024" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Casato-Prime-Donne-award-Josefa-Idem"][/caption] She is 48 years of age, an age that for agonist sport is quite prohibitive. Yet she is preparing her Olympics with the determination of those who want to get on the podium. Fantastic Josefa! She is an emblem for those women who are scared of the passing of time. She has two sons and a husband Guglielmo Guerrini with whom she celebrated...

The Sommelier and feminine intuition

There are many female Sommeliers, they are courageous and are coming to be relied upon more and more: Karina Tholin President of the Swedish Sommelier association

Do not be surprised if, in a restaurant with a high star rating,  it is a woman who explains and recommends wines on the wine list to the customer, and a woman who conducts the tours of the wine cellars and production areas of top wine growers from around the world with confidence and competence. Women Sommeliers have finally arrived and are growing exponentially.

Amongst the Donne del Vino 9% of the members are sommeliers, a lot less than the percentage of wine manufacturers members, who are the heart of the association, but although they are a small percentage they are still a considerable number of individuals who are extremely authoritative on wine. The growth in numbers (among the Ais Sommeliers, they are ¼ of the total) and the qualitative component of these pink “priests” of the wine, is very noticeable due to the number of awards and premiums received by this group which increases each year.

Beautiful vineyards, dry soil and hot weather for the Brunello

The seasonal pattern this year resembles that of 1997, when wonderful Brunello wine was produced following a very hot summer and dry winter. [caption id="attachment_6915" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Vineyard-Sangiovese-Bonella Ciacci"][/caption] Hopefully the same will occur in 2012 for the vineyards of the Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino and Fattoria del Colle in the Chianti and the Doc Orcia areas. The vines are in good health, but the incredible heat of June has already parched the arid land. After an autumn and winter of poor rains and heavy snowfall but at the same time a surprisingly dry period, we had poor spring rains and...