BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO PRIME DONNE 2021 ORGANIC AND SINGLE VINEYARD
DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI’S FIRST “SINGLE VINEYARD” BRUNELLO IS THE PRIME DONNE SELECTION 2021
Sangiovese for the 2021 harvest Toscana Montalcino Casato Prime Donne
The Ardita vineyard is one of Montalcino‘s finest. Every year, in any climate, it produces perfect grapes with small clusters and berries and uniform ripening.
It was planted in 2002 at 225 meters above sea level in a Plio-Quaternary soil with a prevalence of clay and marine sand. It had a slow start and is still not very vigorous; in fact, it almost never requires green harvesting because it spontaneously produces about a kilo of grapes per plant.
Like all the world’s great vineyards, the Ardita vineyard requires very little attention; in other words, it “does everything itself” thanks to a particular terroir. Even in the cellar, the wine produced from the Ardita vineyard requires no human intervention because it is flawless; therefore, it simply needs to be carefully stored in the finest quality barrels.
For this reason, the tasters who choose Brunello Prime Donne through blind tastings of the estate’s entire production often prefer the powerful, velvety structure of the wine from the Ardita vineyard. In the past, they requested it be aged in barrels (15-20 hl), but now they are also fascinated by the character of 5-7 hectoliter tonneaux, especially when steam-bent.
THE 2021 VINTAGE IN MONTALCINO
The 2021 harvest will be remembered as the longest and most expensive because the grapes were selected bunch by bunch in the vineyards. Due to an Arctic current that swept across Europe at the end of April, a large portion of the buds were scorched by the frost, while those that were still closed opened late, several days later. The vines’ growing cycles therefore began at different times, and the grapes therefore ripened at different times.
The bunches and berries were small and beautiful. But to pick them at the perfect moment of ripeness, the harvesters had to select them by hand, moving from one vineyard to another. It was a huge undertaking.
The very long ripening phase of this vintage created the foundation for the wines with excellent structure and with a particular vocation for long aging.
