Vines and wines

Luca tells us about Detroit, its cuisine and its wine market

The Car Capital of U.S.A is a place of extremes: From incredibly dangerous neighborhoods to areas with top chefs and Michelin-starred restaurants

Our departure from New York was distressing particularly for a dog which ran onto the runway and would not go away. The officials tried to capture him for 35 minutes and then they shot it. The result, because of the poor dead dog, was that we were kept waiting for almost an hour in the plane on the tarmac and arrived in Detroit only 15 minutes before the beginning of the tasting.

Detroit, the US car city is the American version of Turin, in fact, the link between Fiat and Chrysler has brought several senior Fiat executives to the area, with Marchionne currently heading up the company. Detroit has suffered various crises from 1960 up until present day. It originally was a metropolis with a population of 2 million people which has reduced down to only 700,000 today, this has created veritable ghost neighborhoods, which are completely uninhabited and dangerous. These areas are currently being studied by social scientists and security experts because of the incredible escalation of violence which has taken place there. Despite the crisis, Detroit still has some positive aspects and desirable areas in which to live. There is a galaxy of small towns and safe residential areas which can be found across the city which in some cases are very beautiful areas in which to reside.

Enoteca Italiana: let’s take a peek in a high society lounge of Italian winemaking

The Enoteca Italiana is the Institute borne in 1933 to promote typical Italian wines and since the nit has taken the best Italian wines around the world, and especially now, with great success

I have been Vice President of the Enoteca Italiana for the past 4 years and now that the role as administrator is about to finish I would like to show you something on the inside. I was nominated among the administrators by the Mayor of Siena so as to be able to keep an eye on the annual accounts. The economic situation of the institution was in fact critical. However regardless of a decrease in public financing (reduced to a twentieth of what used to be the amount received) regardless of the international financial crisis …regardless of everything, the Enoteca has worked well and has a list of successes. Under the guide of the President Claudio Galletti and the Director Fabio Carlesi the Enoteca Italiana is experiencing a new life.

Gozo the Island that bewitched Ulysses, Sarkozy and Donatella

Here Calypso kept Ulysses for seven years. She offered him immortality but he preferred to return to Penelope and set off on a raft [caption id="attachment_6614" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Malta - Gozo - Qala - panorama from our terrace"][/caption] Sarkozy came here to regenerate after his first presidential campaign. My husband and I come here often, and we have a house here. In some place the Island is still the uncontaminated paradise seen by Omero's hero, other places; unfortunately see new constructions and decadent older buildings ruin the landscape. However on the whole Gozo is a magic place. Plus, it is unrivalled: where else...

Chinese Haute Cuisine for Drago wine

On Saturday March 31st, at the Green T Chinese restaurant in the heart of Rome, Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s “Il Drago e le 8 Colombe” 2007 was served [caption id="attachment_6529" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Roma-Green T restaurant- Toasting with Il Drago e le 8 Colombe"][/caption] This was a family party reserved to a few friends of Donatella and her husband Carlo Gardini. Friends with a refined palate such as Giacomo and Yan Rech owners the “Green T” restaurant. They prepared 24 spectacular Chinese dishes chosen to be matched with rosato 2011 “Rosa di Tetto” and most of all with “Il Drago e le 8 Colombe”...

Vinitaly business also at the table

Vinitaly means wine tastings, sales contracts, journalists, conventions but not only….. in the evening there are dinners and even the opportunity to dance In the day time everybody works in the stands where operators, especially those from the new markets have arrived in great numbers, but in the evening the restaurants and buildings in the historic centre of Verona are busy with new appointments, sometime more profitable than those in the morning. Dinners with importers, gala evenings, and dinners with a ball, like the one organized by the young members of AGIVI (giovani imprenditori vitivinicoli italiani). [caption id="attachment_6502" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Women in...

Here we go Vinitaly! Great exhilaration on the first day if the fair

First day of the fair in Verona with loads of people, many from Asia, many journalists and many operators with a renewed interest in Tuscany.

 

Pavilions brimming over with guests on Sunday the first day of the Vinitaly 2012 fair, that this year has changed calendar and begins in fact on a Sunday. Enough people to fill s stadium, which has diluted the commercial contact but which has created an exhilarating atmosphere and prepared the producers for great results. During the inauguration ceremony, in front of the entire Italian wine world the Minister Mario Catania spoke freely, listing all of his convictions: more resources for promotion abroad, a definite no to liberalising planting rights, distinguishing clearly the actions for a responsible consumption of wine form the campaigns against alcoholism. Practically a clear introduction without impossible promises and full of punctual references.

Montalcino. Enough take a bite and run tourism

Enough of this tourism that consumes a lot and leaves little: Montalcino could be the first innovative sustainable, social, and even sophisticated wine district   [caption id="attachment_6486" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="View of Montalcino"][/caption] Tourism pollutes, not only exhaust fumes from the cars and busses, it pollutes by destroying the true soul of places; where there was a haberdashery shop for the residents opens up s souvenir shop, dishes are full of typical recipes never tasted before, the furniture in the restaurants is substituted with chairs and tables with the same design as those found in Capri and Cortina. Slowly the residents begin to feel...

Gold at Vinitaly for Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Brunello producer, flagship for wine tourism and women in wineries, Donatella Cinelli Colombini receives the Premio Internazionale Vinitaly

In the splendid frame of the Palazzo della Ragione in Verona, on Saturday March 24th Donatella Cinelli Colombini received the Premio Internazionale Vinitaly 2012 directly from the President of Veronafiere Ettore Riello and from the General Director Giovanni Mantovani.

The woman who for first and with most Energy divulged wine tourism in Italy, creating the day called “Cantine aperte”, Wine day, expressed her joy upon receiving this important prize.
<< Having chosen me, a small Brunello wine producer, after personalities such as Corinne Mentzelopoulos from Chateaux Margaux, Robert Mondavi or Pablo Alvarez from Vega-Sicilia signifies believing in the contribution that every producer can give to the future of wine making when they decide to get involved with courageous and innovative projects like wine tourism or women in wine making >> said proudly Donatella Cinelli Colombini owner of the first wineries Italy with an all female staff, at Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino and in Fattoria del Colle in southern Chianti.

His royal highness the prince of Montalcino 2010

Here is the Rosso di Montalcino 2010 by Donatella Cinelli Colombini. Five stars (the top) but it actually deserved seven, like the new extra-luxury hotels.

The harvest went perfectly, like the one all grape growers dream of. An easy harvest too: the soil was well hydrated, sunshine at the right time and a final vegetative phase characterized by an accelerated maturation. The bush of leaves had aged too soon and so we had vines with grapes not completely changed in colour, from green to blue, and with autumnal leaves. It is something which is very positive in truth but also very rare. The acceleration in the biological processes took place in fact both in the leaves and in the grape skins.

Donatella Cinelli Colombini receives the Premio Internazionale Vinitaly 2012

She, the paladin of wine tourism in Italy, is the winner of the Premio Internazionale Vinitaly for her commitment and contribution towards the promotion of wine.

This prize was created in 1996, and is awarded every year to an Italian or foreign personality or institution who have particularly distinguished themselves in the wine world. The awarding will take place during the Gala dinner at Vinitaly in the beautiful Palazzo della Ragione directly from the President Ettore Riello and the General Director of Veronafiere Giovanni Mantovani.

An award which signifies recognition for women in wine, this 2012 prize, which in its motivation emphasizes the contribution given by Donatella Cinelli Colombini in favour of women and wine tourism, sectors where she has held important roles.

2011 a surprising vintage! Sanchimento and Rosa di Tetto

Surprising and controversial harvest in 2011, with high peaks in quality and profound delusions: from Fattoria del Colle arrive Sanchimento and Rosa di Tetto

This is a record vintage: the hottest August, the fewest grapes, the earliest harvest…..Other than this a new geography of the quality of areas usually more performing in great difficulty, and younger allotments at their productive peak. On the whole the vineyards at Fattoria del Colle have suffered because of their calcareous soil which has dried out in August, when the thermometer was around 40°C by day and night.

Cenerentola grows up: the little sister becomes a princess

Donatella Cinelli Colombini presents the 2008 vintage of the main wine from Fattoria del Colle, Doc Orcia Cenerentola, a new princess in red.

A great wine to be consumed straight away or to be kept for years. Cenerentola Orcia DOC has now become the Princess that Donatella Cinelli Colombini has dreamed of since 2001, when she decided to produce a new wine bringing back into use an old Tuscan grape variety called Foglia Tonda. That had been abandoned for nearly a century.

A dream that has taken for than 10 years of work, to understand the grape variety which tends to be over productive, and transfer her into the ideal companion for the Sangiovese, He is elegant and austere, she is very likeable. Ten years of work in the cellar to work out the most apt barrel and wood and to understand the duration of the ageing. And finally here she is, Cenerentola, sumptuous, elegant, modern and Tuscan.

The new label for our Brunello Riserva Docg 2006 arm in arm with its older sisters

As an exclusive offer for the Club members find the three bottles in a wooden case, this is the offer that Donatella Cinelli Colombini has chosen as the March offer before the presentation at Vinitaly 2012.

The Riserva variety is the one that is most congenial to Brunello, an important red wine especially because of it aptness for long ageing.
The selection destined to become Brunello Riserva reaches excellence and is the most apt to be kept for important moments in life such as weddings, births, degrees ….those happy days which are rendered more solemn with a toast.
We are living you the opportunity to compare three vintages of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva  DOCG 2004, 2005 e 2006.
Three great vintages, very different one from the other and for this reason making the comparison more interesting and curious.