Vines and wines

Gozo Island for Ulysses Calypso and Donatella

[caption id="attachment_6861" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Brunello – Doc – Orcia – Cenerentola – Gozo - Malta"][/caption] An evening at the beach with Brunello, Chianti and Doc Orcia Cenerentola at the restaurant called Porto Vecchio in Gozo, Malta where they even serve wild boar   Gozo, an Island from time way back where the winter does not exist and where Donatella Cinelli Colombini too spends here holidays. Here, on the [caption id="attachment_6862" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Carlo Gardini – Abraham Said – Marco Vella – Chris Cassar"][/caption] balcony over the sea of the Porto Vecchio restaurant, 60 wine lovers tasted 22 dishes and 5 wines among which a fantastic Brunello...

Brunello at the seaside? Why not!

Gozo, Malta, magical atmosphere, on the balcony of the Porto Vecchio, a young chef with great ambitions, and in the glasses my wines Doc Orcia and Brunello [caption id="attachment_6855" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Chris Cassar – Donatella Cinelli Colombini – Carlo Gardini"][/caption] This is the official debut of my wines on Ulysses and Calypso’s isle, an old and beautiful place. Here my husband Carlo and I have a house and feel very much at home. The new importers Attard – Abraham’s Suppliers have begun di distribute my wines in September and are very enthusiastic. Chris Cassar, the owner of the restaurant is now in...

Women, Cars and Brunello at the Tuscan Rewind

The charm of car rallies in the 80’s and 90’s was revived in Montalcino with the classic car Tuscan Rewind rally which made a ‘refuelling stop’ at the Casato Prime Donne [caption id="attachment_6814" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Chantal Galli-Casato Prime Donne"][/caption] Chantal Galli, Italian Rally Champion from 1986-88 years is a beautiful blonde lady, she is only tiny but she is fullof energy. She is Swiss but she does not embody the typical staid Swiss personality and instead expresses a joy in her life-style which is purely Latin. We asked her what is the allure of an event like Tuscan Rewind, which is based in...

Wine prices: new information and new protagonists

The Italian economic crisis forces wine producers to export. Here are the average prices of our wines abroad compared to those of the cleverest of the all: the new Zealanders.

In Italy the main sales of wine come through department stores: 571 million litres old in 2011 and 62% of the habitual total acquisition. In the supermarkets business tied to 0,75 lt. bottles is the main business and it has increate by 4,5% compared to a contemporary contraction of bottle sizes which are more economic.
It seem that retail sales are moving in on wine stores while the decrease in amount spent on food by the consumer is beginning to have an effect also on cheaper wines.
The average price of wine in a carton is 1,14€. This is a small sum, practically like mineral water. Wine in a 0,75 lt. bottle increases to 4,28€ but we are still a long way of the amounts that make it remunerative to cultivate vineyards, which is where about ¼ of the price paid by the consumer goes.

The Montalcino pilgrimage to Riga

The Brunello wines, myself and all the other producers from Montalcino arrived in Riga on Monday evening at 10.30pm after a day of wine tasting in Vilnius and a 4 hour bus journey. [caption id="attachment_6723" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Riga – the Brunello producers - relaxing"][/caption] We were very tired following a very busy day but we had been invited to a pub to celebrate the birthday of Alessandra Mililotti Ciacci, an important member of the Mocali wine producer family. How could we say no! So we went en mass! The Mocali company was established in 1950 by Dino Ciacci, who was one of...

Identikit of female wine consumers, who they are and what they want

They have modified the importance of aromas, the bottle aesthetics, the styles of shops and they have created a boom in bubbles

Young women are a sector of wine consumers in growth and they have begun a sort of revolution forcing producers and sellers to look upon them with respect and with some preoccupation because among their many good aspects there is one defect which is quite worrying: they are unfaithful.

Let’s take a closer look at the new protagonist of the wine market, the female consumers. The prevalence of habitual drinkers in Italy is male, 58% against the 41% of female consumers.
Among the occasional consumers there is equilibrium among the genders.
As if to say: women drink less frequently but maybe in a more careful way as they use wine as a socializing instrument and even as a means of emancipation.
More and more often women choose the wine at the restaurant and taste it before the waiter goes ahead to serve it. Female consumers have stopped being embarrassed, and among the gentlemen, there are even those who find them sexy.

Our Brunello wines and Violante fly to Vilnius in Lithuania

I should have arrived in Lithuaniaa day early but due to disorganised and delayed flights I arrived in Vilnius very tired and very late, it was actually after [caption id="attachment_6697" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Vilnius-Brunello Tasting - May 2012"][/caption] midnight. The taxi driver joked about the fact that at least now that we are all European there is ‘No Russian Mafia’ to keep me awake. Of course I have very strong memories of all the Lithuanian invasions, mass killings and bloody battlefields which this country has endured during its history, some of which were quite recent! We hope that the future will be much...

Bertarelli: biotechnologies, sailing, wine and Montalcino

The Bertarelli’s are italo-swiss; they are industrialists in biotechnologies with a passion for sailing and wine which brought them to Montalcino [caption id="attachment_6690" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Montalcino - Sant'Agostino – Bach concert offered by the Fondazione Bertarelli"][/caption] Ernesto, the genial leader of this industrial group, was mentioned in newspapers al lover the world because of two spectacular victories in the American Cup, the most prestigious sailing competition in the world, he won with his boat Alinghi. In charge of the wine investments is Ernesto’s uncle (his mothers’ brother), Claudio Tipa with the wineries Grattamacco in Bolgheri, Colle Massari in Montecucco and recently, Poggio...

These are the scores for our Brunello wines in the Wine Advocate – 93,92,90

In the language of the ‘Wine Advocate’ these ratings correspond to great wines with exceptional complexity and character. In short they are magnificent wines [caption id="attachment_6669" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Brunello and Brunello Prime Donne 2007 Brunello Riserva 2006"][/caption] Definitely Antonio Galloni, the super-taster from the ‘ Wine Advocate’, appreciates Brunello: out of 173 he tasted, he awarded 78% with over 90 points. A stratospheric judgment perhaps unequalled in the world. Indeed no other wine, as far as I can see, has achieved such a high average and homogeneous result as the Brunello. On the hills of Montalcino, our soil, the climate and above...

The World of Wine in USA – not exactly as you would expect

Luca Mittica reporting from San Francisco, Las Vegas, includes info on computer expert wine lovers and the shocking spectacle of pigs being slaughtered in public

The two days in San Francisco were very productive. I met the manager of the distribution company who came to Casato Prime Donne di Montalcino three weeks ago. It’s strange to be able to meet the same people within a short period of time in different locations on the opposite sides of the world and to be bound together by the same passion for great wines! This event with our local business associates was a very successful meeting, but I have to say was not organised in the same way as in the other cities- it was possibly more ..’Californian’!  It took place in one of the most fashionable restaurants, ‘A16’, and started with the slaughter and preparation of a pig in front of everyone. It was very graphic and very shocking. Also the venue was quite small and a flood of people arrived for the event which proved quite difficult to manage. There were a lot of buyers from San Francisco, distributors from Seattle and managers from a shop called Tolaini di Winnipeg. Our importer Banville & Jones has proved to be an influential organisation, with a success even beyond our expectations.

Switzerland: the Nation of Brunello lovers

In Switzerland the ratio between the number of bottles sold, and the country’s population is the highest in the world, that is to say that the Swiss are the biggest fans of the Brunello wine in the world

 

For this reason the producers of Montalcino feel very at home in Zurich. Every 3 years the Brunello Consortiumorganizes an important tasting in Switzerland, and it has been a runaway success. In the work shop we had 40 wineries and their wines, this means 1/5 of the wine producers, and about 60% of the total Montalcino production. In the great hall we had 600 dedicated workers together with our Swiss fans. At the 2 seminars, which were conducted masterfully by Christian Eder, we had 160 important decision makers present. So pretty much a turnout which is almost double the number which attend a normal tasting organized by producers. The superb lunch, which was created for 40 guests, started with a multi-sensory experience crafted by Filippo Bartolotta. There were photos, music, detailed explanations, and of course the tasting of the Brunello wines all of which created a very evocative experience which surpassed the guest’s expectations.. Vinum, the most read wine magazine in Germany was a partner and co-organizer of the event.