Vines and wines

Brunello 2012 Prime Donne, satisfying and enduring

The 2012 vintage has been rated 5 stars in the Montalcino territory and it is the first great Brunello Prime Donne in the new millennium style.

The high summer temperatures and the drought that lasted fifteen months gave us Mediterranean and satisfying wines. The Brunello 2012 Prime Donne is extraordinary now and will also be long lasting.

Brunello-Prime-Donne-2012

That year the winter was cold and dry and even the abundant snowfalls did not irrigate the soil. The summer 2012 began with 12 months of previous dry weather and was dry an very hot even during the night. In those extreme conditions the vines demonstrated a surprising adaptability producing few clusters, small in size and most off, during the colouring of the grapes abandoned part of the fruit that remained green and were removed by the pickers during the green harvest. Nature moves in mysterious ways that mankind must watch with respect, that is why it can give exceptional results even in difficult conditions. The vineyards at Casato Prime Donne situated o the North side of the Montalcino slope, the cooler side, in 2012 well resisted the hydro stress also thanks to the clayey component of the soil  and to the continues hoeing that kept the soil soft. The 2012 harvest is consequently a memorable one with all the clusters healthy and perfectly ripe.

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The  Brunello 2012 Prime Donne is chosen by a panel of 4 female expert tasters from all of the Donatella Cinelli Colombini production,  and it distinguishes itself because of its heavier structure and its traditional style. The tasters meet once or twice a year and are the English Master Wine Rosemary George, the German wine shop owner Astrid Schwarz, one of the best Italian sommeliers Daniela Scrobogna and the Italo-American Pr Marina Thompson. In some years the tasters have decide not to produce a Brunello Prime Donne, but when they do, as in 2012, they always create small masterpieces that obtain excellent ratings from the most important international press.

Brunello 2012, five stars, a dream of a wine

Great vintage for Brunello and for Casato Prime Donne where the vineyards give their best when the weather is really hot

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The Casato Prime Donne winery belonged to Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s ancestors already at the end of the 16^th century when they were paying taxes for the cultivation of the land. It was used as a hunting lodge and for honeymoons, and for 4 centuries it has never been sold but has been passed down from one generation to another.

Since 1998 it is the first Italian winery to be staffed only by women: the cellar staff, the sales staff and the reception staff all are girls. The Casato Prime Donne wines are exported into 34 nations around the world and receive excellent ratings from wine critics all over the world.

This Brunello comes from 16 hectares of vineyard – pruning, cleaning, tying green harvest and harvest – all done by a team of 8 expert grape growers. Casato Prime Donne is on the northern slope of Montalcino, the cooler area that has had the most benefits from the  surrounding the winery where only Sangiovese is grown. The vines are reared, pruned tied harvested all manually by a team of 8 expert grape growers. Casato Prime Donne is on the northern slope of Montalcino the cooler area that has had most benefits thanks to the global warming and particularly in the hot dry vintages such as 2012, is where absolute excellence is created. In the Brunello territory the 2012 vintage is considered a top year with 5 stars. 

Type: dry red.

Production area: Tuscany, Montalcino, Casato Prime Donne

Where does Donatella and Violante's dove fly?

A new video for the  Cinelli Colombini winery but no change in the protagonist, Violante Gardini, together with a dove that flies through the Brunello and Orcia vines

This year too our estate video is out of the ordinary! Two and a half minutes to talk about the  all female staffed estates  belonging to Donatella, Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino and Fattoria del Colle in southern  Chianti, a quick rhythm of images of the vines, the barrels, the vats, the grapes and bottles….with a lively rhythmical music , like a music box. The novelty, for the very traditional Italian world of is the presence of a cartoon dove that comes out of the Brunello “IOsonoDONATELLA” label and accompanies us in the discovery of the first wineries in Italy to be staffed by only women.

The- dove-s at-Casato-Prime-Donne

It flies along the vines with curiosity during the harvest, it goes into the fermentation hall where the bare concrete truncated cone shake vats are decorated with images, real, and painted, of Montalcino, it peeps in at the wine tasting organized for the  Brunello Prime Donne with the Master of Wine Rosemary George, the sommelier Daniela Scrobogna and the wine shop owner Astrid Schwarz who blind taste while the wine maker Valerie Lavigne  and the cellar master Barbara Magnani try to combine the wine from different barrels looking for the perfect balance.

Rosso di Montalcino 2015: will it be a repetition of the 2010 vintage?

[caption id="attachment_11720" align="alignleft" width="300"] Rosso di Montalcino 2015[/caption] Well deserved 5 stars for this 2015 harvest. The Rosso di Montalcino from Casato Prime Donne fills us with enthusiasm. Everybody is asking if the 2015 vintage will be a repetition of the 2010. You will be the first to give your opinion to this Rosso di Montalcino, while waiting for the Brunello that is still resting in the barrels. In 2015 the ripening of the Sangiovese grapes was slow and perfect thanks to the position of the vineyards being on the cooler side of the Montalcino hill. The clusters reached the day of picking...

2015, for the Leone rosso wine, is a roaring year

Leone Rosso: 5 star harvest that many consider identical to 2010 because of the exceptional quality of the grapes and because of the similarity in the climate.

Leone Rosso 2015 veraison-August 4th

In both years the rainy winter was followed by a very hot July and a warm August. The only big difference between these two great vintages is in the quantity of the grapes picked: in 2010 because of the spring showers that disturbed the flowering.

The cool September with cold nights and sunny days brought to a well balanced ripening of the grapes so that the concentration of the sugars and acids proceeded at the same pace with the noble substances – polyphenols – as in the skins.

The DOC Orcia denomination to which the Leone Rosso wine belongs was born on

Leone Rosso 2015 Fattoria del Colle

February 14th 2000 and is produced in 13 municipalities between the areas producing Brunello di Montalcino  and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

Leon Rosso is born at Fattoria del Colle an estate that covers 335 hectares at 404 m above sea level on the crest of hills that face the Crete Senesi. The soil is made up prevalently of sands and sea clays. The vineyards are cultivated according to the organic regime, mainly by hand and with great care.

The name of the wine comes from the Socini blazon, these were ancestors of the present owner, Donatella Cinelli Colombini, and built the estate in 1592.This was them confiscated shortly after because they were members of the protestant reform- Fattoria del Colle was bought back for the family in by Donatella’s great grandfather in 1919, and shehas been running it since 1998..

November 4-8, Merano Wein Festival

In the most exclusive wine tasting in Italy we too will be present with 5 awarded wines among which the two Brunello 2012 previews, each with a gold medal

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini 

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Merano Wine Festival for the last 25 years has been the appointment not to be missed for those who work with or love high quality wines, because those invited to participate are only the best wineries and the best wines. The organizer Helmuth Köcher was born in Merano, he has a degree in Political Sciences taken in  Innsbruck, he often wears black and has a strong personality; he is practically a myth for his unlimited competence regarding wine and food excellencies from all over the world.IT is he together with two friends who have created in 1992 the GourmetClub Alto Adige and the

Brunello di Montalcino 2012 DonatellaCinelliColombini

Merano WineFestival, first Italian event to accept only producers of high quality wines. Today next to the wines are served also oil, grappa and other foods, also from abroad and from 100 Italian high end gastronomy.

The Prime Donne conquer the  NY Wine Experience

Let me take you to the New York Wine Experience by Wine Spectator, this is the most exclusive wine tasting in the world, with the most important wineries in the world

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Montalcino, Casato Prime Donne

Wine-Experience-2016-Donatella-Cinelli-Colombini-seminary

Here one finds Champagne Salon, Chateaux Lafite Rothschild, Chateaux Margaux, Opus One, Chateau d’Yquem, Penfolds… myths from the wine world. IN their midst I feel so excited, like a child. To be invited to the Wine Experience has always been a dream of mine but I really thought it would never be possible, like winning an Oscar or the Nobel Prize. But I am here and after only 18 years from the birth of my wineries.

Brunello-Casato-Prime-Donne-al-Wine-Experience-2016

Angelo Gaja, as always so kind, comes towards me in the Marriott Marquis hall where each producer has a table to pour their wine. He embraces me and says  <<they should have invited you sooner, you deserve this!>>. Among the producers are also Piero Antinori with Solaia and Lamberto Frescobaldi with Masseto but nobody gets the same reaction as a star like Angelo.

The French wineries have shipped all their wines in wooden cases and before the arrival of the guests they decant them. Noblesse oblige! There is a lot to be learned from them, but there are some Italian wineries that do the same, Sassicaia for example.

The Prime Donne at the NY Wine Experience: a dream come true

Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s Brunello flies to the NY Wine Experience, the famous tasting of the 250 top wines selected by Wine Spectator for their prestige and quality

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It’s 18 years old, the young company of Donatella Cinelli Colombini (it was born in 1998) is of age now and it has received the most desired invitation of all, the debutantes’ ball of wine cellars.

The invitation to the Wine Experience, the tasting organized in New York by the prestigious American magazine Wine Spectator. A selection of the 278 best wines in the world selected for thier prestige and quality.

A tasting so exclusive that attracts winelovers from all over because here they are certain to find the best of the best and a lot of new products. The ticket costs 2.495$ and it has a limited number, and the tickets are purchased online until the fully booked. For Donatella Cinelli Colombini there has been another gift: hers is one of the 4

New-York-Wine-Experience-2015

Brunello chosen to be part of the seminar. She will be speaking in front of 1.000 people, telling the story of a country house in ruins that becomes the first Italian winery with a staff of all women; and the story of the Ardita vineyard, a small piece of land about 2 hectars, that produces extraordinary grapes with an extraordinary qualitative continuity in the different vintages. A magical place for the cultivation of Sangiovese.

The Chianti Superiore in the TOP year of Organic

Chianti Superiore DOCG 2014 is old style for Donatella Cinelli Colombini: who appreciates a more traditional and easy to drink Chianti will love it!

Chianti Superiore DOCG – Fattoria del Colle, Trequanda

2014 has been the year of the Organic, and those like us who have chosen this method to cultivate their vineyards, have brought to the winery grapes that were sound and especially apt to produce young wines. 86 days of rain, from April to October and an almost Nordic climate, have favoured the synthesis of perfumes in the grapes and the production of “old style” wines, elegant and easy to drink like those of thirty years ago.
The Chianti Superiore Docg 2014 is a wine with a typical Tuscan imprint, with tannins that are evident but well balanced by the fruit and a remarkable pleasantness that makes it easy to match with any dish: from the chianina ox tagliata to Indian or Chinese dishes.
Donatella Cinelli Colombini‘s Chianti Superiore is produced in Fattoria del Colle at 404 meters of altitude, on top of high hills that surround the Crete Senesi area. The vineyards are on ridges, in a position that is ventilated and well exposed to the sun; they have 5.500 vines per hectare that produce only a little over one kilo of grapes each one. Few grapes and a lot of manual work – both during the cultivation and harvest – they give us an excellent result. Vinification and ageing are carried out in the winery and cellar of Fattoria del Colle that is placed right among the vineyards.

Drago e le 8 Colombe IGT Toscana 2013

The story of Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s Supertuscan dedicated to a man in the all women winery

Drago e le 8 Colombe IGT Toscana 2013

The wine “Il Drago e le 8 Colombe” has a strange name because it has a curious beginning. It is produced in Donatella Cinelli Colombini‘s wineries, where the staff are all women, represented by the 8 doves on the label: Donatella, her daughter Violante who together with Debora takes care of wine sales, Alessia who is in charge of the incoming, Barbara the cellar master with her helpers Antonella and Margherita, and last but not least Valérie Lavigne the wine maker. A formidable team flanked by the men and women grape growers but also by Donatella’s husband Carlo Gardini, who has created a range of sweet wines for this winery. He is the dragon in the label to emphasize a male presence in an all female winery, which is feminine not feminist. Il Drago e le 8 Colombe is a “Supertuscan” a Tuscan wine not covered by a DOC regime. To begin with this type of wine included those of modern style and high quality. It was created in the 1970’s as a reaction to the rules of the appellations that limited the possibility of experimenting. Practically a rebellion against tradition, and this was sustained by the press and by America consumers. Later the Supertuscan became IGT Toscana appellation, and in some cases (such as Sassicaia) they become DOC. Il Drago e le 8 Colombe is an IGT Supertuscan produced at Fattoria del Colle.

Medals in competitions, too many and some for counterfeit wines

English wine competition reward up to 70% of wines with medals while the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles carries out tests to catch those who falsify bottles

The Italian jurt at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Brunello, Casato Prime Donne

A very interesting article by Wine News underlines the excessive number of medals of the English wine contests. According to OIV there should be less than 33% whereas the various contests by  “Decanter” awarded medals to 70% of the participants   and <<“The Drinks Business”, regardless of a jury made up practically of only Masters of Wine, actually awarded in one go medals to 90% of the Champagnes>> state ironically Wine News. A situation that could be connected to the price to be paid for every one of the 16.000 bottles in the first of the competitions mentioned and that was put into evidence by “La Revue du Vin de France”.

Medals from the International wine competitions -International-wine-challenge

The  “Vinalies Internationales” seem to be much more rigorous, they give medals to 29,8% of the 3.500 competitors and the  Concours mondial de Bruxelles gives recognition to  28,2% out of  8.000.

Although the advantages go quite rightly to the sole winners of these competitions every medal, if well used, with commercial actions and with vip clients, can give an increase in wine price between  10-15% and an increase in winery reputation.