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

In Montalcino, as in Barolo, there are many wine producers born into farming families who have become international winemaking stars. I’ve always wondered whether this growth was the result of production spurred by innovation or commercial insight… or whether it arose from the ability to interpret the gifts of the land like a sculptor does with marble.

BEING A GREAT PRODUCERS MEANS PRODUCING GREAT QUALITY OR GREAT NUMBERS

How does the transformation from grape grower to successful entrepreneur happen?

Obviously, the great winemakers—and I’m thinking of people like Bepi Quintarelli, Alessandro Mori from Il Marroneto, or Elena Fucci—raise attention to their territory with their splendid wines, setting an example and opening the market to other producers as well.

Their success seems to be tied to their personal talent and their ability to make it visible.

Then there are the successful producers who transform from grape growers into great entrepreneurs, and this is what I’d like to focus on.

In books, the transformation from artisan to entrepreneur is described as the shift from making things to managing production and planning long-term strategies, “from working in the lab to working on the lab.” Translating this concept to wine, we could say that a wine producer becomes an entrepreneur when he stops thinking only about the vineyard and begins to think in terms of project, market, and value.…

L'articolo WHAT TURNS A GRAPE GROWER INTO A GREAT WINE PRODUCER? sembra essere il primo su Cinelli Colombini.

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

Do you know what dyslexia is? It’s a neurodiversity, meaning a different way of processing information, resulting in emotional, sensory, and cognitive perception in relation to the environment that differs from that of “normal” people.

In other words, I and other dyslexics don’t have a deficit, but we are different. My mother was dyslexic, I am, and so is my daughter Violante. Dyslexia is hereditary.

THE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY DYSLEXIA

When I was little, dyslexia wasn’t widely known in Italy, and I was considered a bit stupid because I read and wrote worse than my classmates. With my proverbial tenacity, I began to frantically read two books a week, and this practice helped me enormously in school.

In addition to the well-known difficulty distinguishing left from right, whereby d-b p-q e-a are the same letters for us, dyslexia has other drawbacks: where driving is on the left, we dyslexics become dangerous drivers. We don’t hear the sequence of sounds, so I only understand music after listening to a song dozens of times. But even the sounds within words and the sequence of words are difficult. This is why many dyslexics, and I among them, learn foreign languages ​​with enormous difficulty.…

L'articolo I AM DYSLEXIC sembra essere il primo su Cinelli Colombini.

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini, winedestination 

Wine tourists flock to our wineries at Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino and Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda from April to November, but the peak season is September and October. However, the wineries are open even in winter, though reservations are absolutely essential as the reception service is by request only.

The few visitors we do have have tangible advantages. They are pampered, and if they want to stay a few more minutes, they aren’t pressured by le next tourists.

IN JANUARY YOU CAN BE THE FIRST TO TASTE THE NEW BRUNELLO

For us Brunello producers, the new vintage begins on January 1st, so wine lovers who visit my cellars in the first month of the new year can sample and take home an exclusive new wine to offer to friends, since only a few journalists have already tasted it. Typically, at this stage, Brunello is still slightly closed, like any wine destined for long aging, but it has greater energy, offering a beautiful tasting experience for those who drink it.

FROM NOVEMBER TO JANUARY, NEW BARRELS ARRIVE IN THE CELLAR

The winter months are the time for racking. The old barrels leave the cellar and the new ones move in. It’s a bit like moving house!…

L'articolo WHAT A WINE TOURIST SEES IN MY WINERY IN WINTER sembra essere il primo su Cinelli Colombini.