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The 10 best jobs in wine

Wine critic, wine shop owner, brand manager, journalist, wine educator, organizer of events, wine maker, and buyer: these are the 10 best jobs in wine

 

Paolo-Basso-world champion-sommelier-atl Casato Prime Donne

Paolo-Basso-world champion-sommelier-atl Casato Prime Donne

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Brunello, Casato Prime Donne

Many start working in wine by changing a passion into a profession but everybody ought to know that before the shiny world of parties, elegant clothes, travels and starred meals, there really is a lot of hard work.

The Drinks Business has tried to list the 10 best wine professions, here I summarize just a few notes, but the article is great fun and I suggest you read it. As you will note among the 10 top professions “wine producer”does not appear, those who grow grapes and transform them into wine to sell it. Maybe this is the hardest job, but in my opinion, the best.

 

10 best jobs in wine-Viviana-Vecchione-buyer

10 best jobs in wine-Viviana-Vecchione-buyer

BUYER Spends most of his time in front of the computer, checking stocks and sales, marketing plans and emails. But he does travel and gets to know wine regions and gets to taste a lot too. The best thing about this job is the possibility to get to know many wine areas and many producers.

WINE MAKER – WINERY DIRECTOR Hard job but also fascinating and is always different because every harvest is a new story. To be successful you need to travel and work in other nations.

EVENT ORGANIZER Apt only for those who can handle  stress well. This alternates a preparatory job made up of meetings and contacts with some moments where you run night and day.

WINE EDUCATOR This is a new profession that is growing fast, you need to be competent but also have a great ability in communication, and one must be engaging

The most expensive whiskey in the world

These are two  bottles of The Macallan Scotch Whiskey from 1929 sold in Dubai for 1,2 million dollars, these are the most expensive whiskeys in the world By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Montalcino, Casato Prime Donne [caption id="attachment_12484" align="alignright" width="275"] Whisky più caro[/caption] These have been sold by the Le Clos wine store in the  Dubai airport, a store that sells wine excellence from all over the world to a public of travelers but most of all of millionaires. I remember that my daughter stopped in this famous wine store on a trip to Asia and was surprised by the number of bottles with...

The life of a wine producer: Donatella and her time

Donatella’s race with time, wine producer, wine blogger, president of various associations with an ambition to enjoy the wonderful territory where she lives

Donatella- University- of Pisa-teaching -wine-tourism

Donatella- University- of Pisa-teaching -wine-tourism

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Fattoria del Colle – Trequanda, Casato Prime Donne, Montalcino

The worst day is Monday, and the most frenetic periods are those before and after trips abroad. Very long days with one interruption after another.

The arrival of internet has worsened the situation multiplying contacts and making holidays practically eclipse. I receive around 80 emails a day and I send off about 30. I have a very small portable computer that goes everywhere with me a, so I reply to the post even when I am away and have one wine tasting after the other and one appointment after the other. In fact when I am on the other side of the world some people seek my attention like a child pining for its mother and they write to me constantly, and in the end I reply quite curtly. After I am sorry and it takes me days to get the rapport back to normal, but I hate it when people deprive me of time when I want to think , sleep, and do things….. making me feel trapped.

Donatella-Cinelli-Colombini-Malta

Donatella-Cinelli-Colombini-Malta

This is how my holidays on my beloved isle of Gozo get reduced to three hours a day, because there is a problem, that to be solved from there takes lots of time. It is practically impossible because in the countryside there is no tradition in making appointments. Cellar staff, grape pickers, sales and tourism staff all come into my office and demand immediate attention, especially my lovely husband and volcanic daughter Violante.

Excellent ratings for Brunello from Robert Parker – Wine Advocate

Brunello Prime Donne 2013 – 95,  Brunello Riserva 2012 – 93, Brunello 2013 – 92, Brunello 2012 Io sono Donatella 91 from Monica Larner – Robert Parker-Wine Advocate

Ratings Wine Advocate 18By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Casato Prime Donne

Monica I love you!

It is easy for a wine producer to love a wine critic who appreciates their wine. But it is even easier to love a wine critic who appreciates the wine and sees mirrored in it the producer’s personality. For this reason I really adore Monica Larner the Italian reviewer for Robert Parker Jr- Wine Advocate .When she wrote <<….because of her steadfast dedication to all things Tuscan and wine-related, she is one of the figures I admire most in today’s world of vino italiano>>  I nearly fainted.

Monica-Larner-and-Robert-Parker

Monica-Larner-and-Robert-Parker

Monica was born into a family connected to wine and cinema. Her father Steven Larner, of whom she writes with great love, has been director of photography for very successful films and TV productions, while her brother is wine maker in the family estate in the Ballard Canyon, in Santa Barbara, California and has passed the last few months living the nightmare of the California wildfires.

Monica has had on-hand experience regarding grape growing, including the pruning process. She has in other words a past as a pure journalist with collaborations with La Repubblica, International Herald Tribune and Corriere della Sera, but at the same time a real “grape grower”. In 2003 she began working for Wine Enthusiast and judging Italian wines and getting famous for her great nose able to discover emerging wines from regions such as Etna.

Corks and wine oxidation

Maybe corks are more magical than we thought, and as they change in time they preserve the wine. UC Davis University will study them for 100 years

Cork - Fattoria del Colle infernotto-

Cork – Fattoria del Colle infernotto-

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Montalcino, Brunello, Casato Prime Donne

<<An experiment that maybe will last more than life on earth>>commented  W. Blake Gray while talking to Wine searcher about the study going on in the major US agriculture university, the awesome UC Davis from where the majority of great American winemakers come out from.

To carry our an experiment that lasts 100 years is in fact something very difficult to understand in our society based on rapidity and now. It actually quite reminds one of the empiricism of the 18 hundreds, but that might be why it is well suited to a type of closure, that in the XVIII century, was perfected: the closure for glass wine bottles .The experiment starts from a mystery: why the oxygen that penetrates through the cork, one milligram per year, does not oxidize the wine?

cork-and-old bottles

cork-and-old bottles

We might think that it is the sulphur dioxide that gets inserted in the bottle (generally 20-25 milligrams per litre) that protects the wine, but it is in fact the oxygen that uses it up during 5-6 years, and so 10 years and more later there is nothing left to defend the nectar, as explained by professor Andy Waterhouse author of this intrepid research project regarding cork closures and wine oxidation.

The meaning of colours on wine labels

Women prefer blue, purple and green but not brown or gray. Men are attracted to blue, green and black, but avoid purple brown and orange.

Psychology of Design: Colour and wine labels

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Brunello di Montalcino , Casato Prime Donne

wine-lables-colour-packaging

Lets go back to the subject of messages given by colours so as to continue on the subject of wine packaging, started a while back

Below you will find an explanation regarding colours so that we may try to understand which are most apt for each type of wine

PURPLE: This expresses sadness. It must be used sparingly

BLUE: is a cold colour that expresses elegance and seduction but also solidity and because of this is chosen by many banks. It refers to an aristocratic and elite culture which is well associated with traditionally made wines produced in historic locations such as castles, villas or medieval hamlets. Better still if the wine as a male target.

Donatella Cinelli Colombini presents herself part 2

In 1998 when I left my family’s estate (one of the oldest and most prestigious producing Brunello) to create my own, that bears my name, it really seemed a “mission impossible” By Donatella Cinelli Colombini [caption id="attachment_10091" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Donatella Cinelli Colombini Cavaliere della Repubblica"][/caption] Again like in my other troubled chellenges I had no money, in fact with debts much superior to the income and two wineries with buildings to be renovated, vineyards to be replanted, cellars to be built and more importantly no sales network.. Now we sell wine to 31 foreign nations.  I have in the meantime understood that it...

All the winners of Casato Prime Donne Award 2012

The Casato Prime Donne Award 2012 was given to Maria Carmela Lanzetta, Giorgio Dell'Orefice, Luciano Ferraro, Montalcino News and Gianfranco Bracci [caption id="attachment_7260" align="alignleft" width="275" caption="Journalists of Montalcino-News"][/caption] Monasterace is a town where a pharmacist married with two children, a normal woman, has become a modern hero. She is a mayor who has remained in place despite attacks and personal threats thereby becoming a symbol and a shining example for all women. This is our Prima Donna 2012, the star of our ceremony in Montalcino, which is taking place on Saturday, September 15th at 5pm in the Astrusi Theatre, together with Giorgio...

Grape harvest weekend in Tuscany

Take part to the grape harvest of Brunello wine and Chianti in the vineyards, in the cellar and sit at the table of Donatella Cinelli Colombini restaurant [caption id="attachment_7225" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="grape harvest at Fattoria del Colle"][/caption] An unique experience to discover how the great tuscan red wines such as Brunello, Chianti Superiore and Doc Orcia are  produced. You will meet new friends, you will sleep in the houses of the ancient farmers and you will live a funny day between vineyards and cellars during the grape harvest with technical wine tasting and tasty dishes from Crete Senesi and Val d'Orcia. Sunday, before...

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 [caption id="attachment_6458" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Rosso di Montalcino 2010 Donatella Cinelli Colombini"][/caption] 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...

                                                                       
Cinelli Colombini
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