Vines and wines

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

Karina Tholin

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...

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

Le Donne del vino in action

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...