OFFER: VERTICAL OF 3 TOP BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO RISERVA
2 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Riserva 2013, 2 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2015 and 2 bottles of Brunello Riserva 2016 at €395.00 directly to your home...
2 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Riserva 2013, 2 bottles of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2015 and 2 bottles of Brunello Riserva 2016 at €395.00 directly to your home...
DUE TO THE SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITIONS OF CARLO GARDINI, DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI’S HUSBAND, IT HAS BEEN DECIDED TO POSTPONE THE CASATO PRIME DONNE AWARD
by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
Francesca Colombini e Donatella Cinelli Colombini al Premio Casato Prime Donne 2016
The 2023 edition of the Casato Prime Donne Award, scheduled for September 16TH , was dedicated to Francesca Colombini Cinelli, whom I would like to remember here with you.
The initiative was born with the name Premio Barbi Colombini thanks to my mother, in 1981, to bring the interest of the press on Montalcino and Brunello, but also to create new contacts, in the belief that the relationship with great cultural personalities would open minds and would stimulate new energy in the whole territory.
Over the years it has given a boost to the growth of Montalcino and, in 1999, the Award was transformed into a promoter of female talent, and since last year it has added to its previous activity that of incubator of young talents.
To rest, get a tan but also to discover masterpieces of art, play sports in the midst of breathtaking views, see where Brunello and extra virgin olive oil are born...
Donatella Cinelli Colombini rejoices for the excellent 94/100 and 94/100 ratings for her Brunello 2018 from Canada and for the Cenerentola Doc Orcia 91/100 from Austria
Cenerentola 2018 Doc Orcia FALSTAFF TROPHY
When a wine producer sees his work rewarded by the judgment of great experts and the market, it is always a great joy and Donatella has many of these moments. Here you will find the description of her Brunellos by two super Canadian journalists. They tasted Brunello 2018 as a preview in November at the event organized by the Consortium. The ratings are excellent, 94/100 and 94/100, and the descriptions are wonderful.
Below follows the presentation of the Brunello Riserva 2016 by the LCBO, the very powerful Ontario monopoly based in Toronto.
And finally, the 91 points for Cenerentola Doc Orcia 2018 from Falstaff which, with its 144,000 copies, is the largest German-language food and wine magazine.
It is a long-awaited harvest for the cellars on the northern part of Montalcino because after some formidable vintages this one that stands out for its grace . The reality is just exactly that, warmth and exceptional liquidity. Everything works and works wonderfully. A multifaceted expressiveness, perfumes, concentration, integration and if there is wood (and there is some) you do not notice it. Everything plays and works authentically, with kindness and honesty. Clarity is above average. Incredibly fine tannins. To drink from 2024 to 2032
7-10th April 2023 Easter mini break with nature, masterpieces of art, traditions and great wines in Tuscany to regenerate and enrich with new knowledge
Pasqua panina di Pasqua, con uovo benedetto
Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s county inn is different from all the others and offers unique experiences. You’ll wonder what makes it so special. Great red wines with international recognition are born there, it has 430 years of noble history behind it and allows tourists to live inside this history, to eat it, to smell it, to touch it …. All of this with the frame of panoramas that have remained intact over the centuries and of an ORGANIC BIO nature in which to walk among olive groves, vineyards and woods.
For this reason, spending the long Easter weekend at Fattoria del Colle regenerates the body and mind even if perhaps it leads to a few interruptions in the diet and a few more during the tastings of Brunello. But if you are a wine lover, do not miss the opportunity because a tasting of 6 wines from the barrel and of 5-star Brunellos does not happen easily.
Vasca vinoterapia e sala per il massaggio di coppia Fattoria del Colle Toscana
James Suckling, as always, is the first of the great international critics to publish his judgments on Brunello, and he rewards those by Donatella with 93 and 94 points
by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
James-Suckling-with-ErikaRibaldi-DonatellaCinelliColombini
He was born in Los Angeles in 1959 and lives between his home in Borro (Arezzo) and Hong King but is also an honorary citizen of Montalcino.
After his studies in political science and journalism at the Universities of Wisconsin and Utah he began to write and from 1981 for the new born magazine Wine Spectator. In 1984, he followed his passion for wine by making his first trip to Europe and the following year he became the European correspondent of the Wine Spectator, a role he held until 2010.
Subsequently his activity as a taster continued with an online magazine that bears his name and that organizes splendid events all over the world. He was among the first to understand the potential of digital communication and is on the podium as one of the strongest wine influencers in the world.
Suckling is internationally regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and influential critics for wine and vintage cigars. His sophisticated style is known in life as in tastings. For example, Suckling has always tasted only with his glasses and now uses a line of crystal goblets created especially for him.
Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s first BIO Brunello. Eight years of waiting: the first three in conversion and then the harvest and the long journey of the wine in the cellar, up to the bottle
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A great Brunello born in an “old-style” harvest.
The BIO rules do not allow the use of systemic chemicals and in 2018, a very rainy year, the winemakers of Casato Prime Donne had to work hard and very promptly to defend the vines from powdery mildew and downy mildew, but they succeeded.
An “old-fashioned” vintage with a cold and rainy summer, very slow ripening and harvest on the normal dates of late September.
Very rainy winter and spring (16 rainy days in January, 16 in February, 20 in March, 11 in April and 18 in May). Summer alternated with peaks of heat and thunderstorms. In September, the sunny days and cold nights allowed a slow and gradual ripening of the grapes with a progressive decrease in the size of the berries and an excellent synthesis of aromas.
“Old vineyard makes good wine” says the proverb but only by following three main rules: replace failures, maintain the structure, renew the cordon
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by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
“The old vines do not make grapes” say many producers and so they uproot it. But it is a mistake. By doing so, they will never produce excellent wines and there is also a way to keep them well. The more the years pass, the more failures increase and the more problems arise related to viruses, damage caused by cultivation tools or neglect in maintaining structures, or errors in soil management. This is especially true for those who use chemicals that reduce the vitality of the earth or heavy tools that compact the soil and asphyxiate the roots. Practices that push the root system of the vines upwards also have similar effects, making them vulnerable to water stress.
Bruce Sanderson, Wine Spectator tasting director explains the 2017 harvest and rewards Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s Brunellos with two 93/100
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It is wonderful to see your wines in the Wine Spectator Insider. A weekly preview of Wine Spectator that reaches wine lovers and collectors from all over the world. It is like seeing your jewel in the Cartier window on Place Vendome in Paris, that is, in the city of fashion and in the most visible spot for the most glamorous millionaires.
There are two 2017 Brunellos made by Donatella Cinelli Colombini in the Wine Spectator Insider and both with 93/100. Excellent result that our USA Importer immediately relaunched on social networks.
Bruce Sanderson’s description of the 2017 harvest is masterful in terms of synthesis and effectiveness << The winter was mild and rainy until March, when temperatures increased, leading to an early bud break. In mid-April, a frost occurred which caused some damage. However, the biggest impact was the drought from May to August, with high temperatures in July and August…. The rain in mid-September refreshed the vines and revived the grapes>>.
Robert Parket-Wine Advocate rewards the new Brunello’s by Donatella Cinelli Colombini with excellent ratings and also the Rosso di Montalcino with 90/100
Brunello-Prime-Donne-2017-Robert-Parker- 94/100
It is always a great pleasure to receive positive reviews regarding one’s wines and when there are many it is truly a feast. Wineries generally notice that a good rating has been published thanks to the arrival of orders. In this case, Violante Cinelli Colombini, sales manager, received a substantial booking from Canada and shortly after another from the USA, “a good score must have come out”, she said with a smile. Shortly after she read the good news on the Wine Advocate-Robert Parker website: 95+ for Brunello Riserva 2016. 94/100 for Brunello 2017 “Prime Donne”. 93/100 for Brunello 2017 and a nice 90/100 at Rosso di Montalcino 2019. This latter is perhaps the most spectacular result because it concerns a wine that is not part of the Montalcino oenological Olympus but rather part of the younger and less expensive ranks.
All these wines come from Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s cellar in Montalcino, Casato Prime Donne which has been certified BIO since 2018.
Brunello-2017-Donatella-Cinelli-Colombini-93/100-Robert-Parker
Let’s see one by one the reviews and descriptions written by the talented Monica Larner, editor for Italian wines of Wine Advocate – Robert Parker and an excellent journalist with an exploratory nature.
Silky and refined, it also shows the power and intensity that characterize the climate of this classic vintage. The tannins of the wine, the freshness, the flavour of the fruit, rich and harmonious, ensure that no element dominates the other. There is a crunchiness or a tension on the finish that underlines the quality of the Sangiovese of this vintage.
A program with 2 Tours with itinerant tastings, vertical tasting of 6 Brunello, lesson on typical cakes, photo safari for Easter 2022
Tuscany-Fattoria-del-Colle-winery-corten-steel-rail
Fattoria del Colle reopens its doors for Easter. In the splendid scenery of the most intact Tuscany, where the great red wines for ageing are born, tourists will be able to live four days full of engaging and exciting experiences. Returning home, they will discover that they have learned so much about the history, the wines – Brunello, Orcia, Chianti Superiore, Supertuscan – the foods and even the traditional herbs of Tuscany.
The long Easter weekend – from Good Friday to Easter Monday – allows you to regenerate with “landscape therapy” BIO -organic vineyards and olive groves, three equipped parks, paths where you can go trekking or stop to enjoy views of extraordinary beauty.
Tuscany-Fattoria-del-Colle-restaurant
The Fattoria del Colle is like a small rural hamlet with a chapel and a villa built in the 16th century surrounded by farmhouses. They have been transformed into apartments and rooms for tourists while maintaining the intimacy of the past thanks to the furnishings of authentic local antiques.
There is a restaurant, the old barn with the banquet hall, the cooking school and the natural wellness area where wellness lovers can enjoy massages and wine therapy for couples.
The informal elegance of the Tuscan countryside for those who dream of a unique wedding enlivened by great wines. At the Fattoria del Colle: history, nature and joy
by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
Getting married in Tuscany, among the Chianti and Orcia DOC organic vineyards, in the “most beautiful wine in the world”. In front of the wonderful landscape of the Crete Senesi and Valdorcia. It looks like a movie, but instead it’s reality.
In a 16th century farm that has remained intact over time, with historic gardens, monumental halls, winery and restaurant. Almost a small rural hamlet where the old farmhouses have been transformed into rooms and apartments for tourists (106 beds) and are furnished with authentic antiques that transmit warmth and intimacy.
Weddings-in-Tuscany-great-wines-like-photo-set-for-the-newlyweds-at-Fattoria-del-Colle
The wedding at Fattoria del Colle is for those who love nature and fine wines. For those who want a romantic and Tuscan-style wedding party. For those who want something elegant and informal at the same time, where everyone is comfortable.
For those who love the taste of typical cuisine but also refined things and then want to dance, go wild or let themselves be lulled by the magic of summer nights in the countryside ….
In the summer of 2022 some midweek dates are still available while the 2023 calendar is almost entirely empty. Obviously the weddings organized from Monday to Thursday have the advantage of a lower cost (10% or more off both the party and overnight stays). Not a bad choice, Donatella Cinelli Colombini got married on Thursday too!
At the Fattoria del Colle civil ceremonies, non-Catholic religious rites and symbolic ceremonies are possible.
In the wonderful 2016 harvest, 5 stars, the best Brunello Riserva ever produced at Casato Prime Donne, apt for long cellaring
Montalcino-fermentation-room-for-Brunello-Casato-Prime-Donne
There is a magic, a mystery, a beauty … in nature, which must be understood and enhanced. In 2016 in the vineyards at Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino one of these wonders took place in the Sangiovese grapes for Brunello.
Every year, to produce grapes, the vine performs a vegetative cycle similar to the pregnancy that gives birth to babies.
For women it lasts nine months, for the vine six.
Two months from budding to flowering, two months from flowering to veraison, which means to the change of colour of the clusters and the last two months until harvest.
With climate change when it is very hot the budding takes place, often, 15 days sooner and therefore also the harvest generally takes place in advance compared to the traditional calendar.
Instead, in 2016, the vegetative cycle, so the pregnancy of the grapes began early and ended late because in the last phase the climate slowed down the ripening.
Brunello-di-Montalcino-Riserva-2016-Donatella-Cinelli-Colombini
This has created an authentic masterpiece in the vineyards at Casato Prime Donne. The perfect grapes that produced a very elegant and satisfying Brunello, silky like very thick velvet, deep and able to defy time.
Casato Prime Donne is a property of 40 hectares of which almost half are vineyards of Sangiovese variety. The cultivation is organic, certified since 2018. Donatella Cinelli Colombini‘s estate already belonged to her ancestors in 1592. It is located in the northern area of Montalcino where the climate is cooler and the soils are colder and rich in clays.
Cultivation and harvesting are manual. Shortly before full ripening, the grapes are tasted to divide the vineyards into small parcels with homogeneous characters and to decide the harvest calendar. The area with the greatest qualitative potential is destined to the production of Brunello Riserva.
October offer: 6 bottles of Brunello 2015 Riserva five star vintage. A great wine with which to celebrate autumn with friends and with the Thanksgiving roast turkey
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The Brunello di Montalcino 2015 Riserva is a fine red apt for long cellaring that can be stored for decades for an important occasion but also opened now to match with the Thanksgiving roasted turkey. Its velvety, powerful and refined character transforms autumn lunches into special occasions to always be remembered.
The Brunello Riserva 2015 has obtained exceptional rankings from the major international wine critics:
95 Wine Spectator
94 Wine Advocate – Robert Parker
94 Vinous – Antonio Galloni
Brunello-riserva-2015-Donatella-Cinelli-Colombini
93 James Suckling
92 Wine Enthusiast
Together with the 6 bottles of this wine, we will put into the case a wineskin, a sealed bubble wrap sachet that permits travelling with the bottles in your suitcase during flights, protecting them from damage and saving your clothes in case your suitcase is really badly treated.
Offer for Memebers 378,00 Euro (instead of 450,00 Euro)
For Club members who wish to double the order the deal is even better: 12 bottles of Brunello 2015 Riserva 736,00 Euro (instead of 900,00 Euro)
The price includes free shipping in Italy or 15 Euro discount for shippings abroad together with 1 wineskin
Obsessive care in the choice of Sangiovese grapes: here is how the 2021 harvest is giving us small absolute excellences of Brunello apt for very long ageing
2021-Grape-Harvest-Tuscany-Donatella-Cinelli-Colombini-Brunello
by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
For years, vinifying a “single vineyard” has been a happy memory. The search for quality in grapes has become so maniacal that the harvest has become a patchwork that brings together small quantities of clusters of the same variety but with similar or completely opposite characteristics to balance each other.
<<Take the grapes from this corner, put them together with those from the vines from the central area of the vineyard next door and then move three parcels further on to take the rest to be vinified in the same vat>>. Barbara Magnani, the senior oenologist of my cellars, has the map of the harvest plan in her mobile phone so as not to miss the complicated collage.
They are all Sangiovese grapes from our vineyards. The new thing, compared to the past, is that they come from different areas and even from different sides of the espalier. The harvest has become similar to a treasure hunt where you use your mouth to select the grapes and the scales to weigh them in order to fill the vat in a single day exactly with the most homogeneous grapes.
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In the end we realized that winemaking vats over 100 hl no longer serve us and we will have to sell them to fill the fermentation hall with many small containers with a capacities of 20, 30, 50 hl but not larger. Visually it will be like the “house of the seven dwarfs” with many pot-bellied dwarfs. Something very different from the beautiful fermentation rooms in the past, with containers all the same size.
The “collage harvest” is very slow and very accurate <<to pick the grapes in this way it takes twice as long>> grumbles the head of the vineyards Efisio Luche struggling with the lack of staff that characterizes 2021.
<<So you tell me that from June to now there have been only two rainfalls for a total of 31 mm of water I believe it, but the vineyard does not seem to have suffered thirst, because it is very well>> said our oenologist consultant Valérie Lavigne arriving on September 21 in the vineyards at Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino and ordering us to suspend the harvest of the Brunello grapes for a week. According to her, the quality of the 2021 grapes is higher than that of previous years and this has given us enthusiasm once again.
In Montalcino we are generally the first to pick while this year we will be the last. A choice that depends on the distance of about 20 days between the budding of the first buds and that of the last caused by a cold spell. The frost at the beginning of April is the main reason for the only major problem with the 2021 harvest: the scarcity of grapes. The secondary reason is the dry climate that has led to small bunches and berries. In the end there are few bunches and they have little juice so the yield in wine is below average.
In the grapes there is a beautiful high acidity almost all tartaric and this will give us very vertical and structured wines to the delight of lovers of Brunello for long aging. In fact, when the ripening phase lengthens in a period with cold nights, as has happened this year, we have Brunello of extraordinary aromatic richness and able to defy time. During the harvest the daytime temperature was close to 29 ° C, while at night it fell by 15°C.