CHIANTI SUPERIORE 2018 FROM FATTORIA DEL COLLE

Chianti Superiore 2018 is a family wine, hence a wine that is born in Fattoria del Colle, that was founded in 1592 by Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s ancestors. This estate has a history more than 400 year old, in the vineyard and in the wines.

This region in Southern Tuscany, at 404 m above sea level, in a territory particularly apt for the production of red wines. It borders with the Chianti Classico, Brunello and Vino Nobile wine regions. The soils are of neo-quaternary origin composed of sand and marine clays. These vineyards were planted on the top of the hills, because well ventilated and well exposed to the sun.

The 2018 vintage was a scarce one because of the frost during the previous year and because of the rainfalls that during the spring disturbed the flowering. In the month of May the showers were particularly frequent and there was also a cloudburst that flooded the winery.

Luckily in September the climate was ideal for the production of great wines, with its cold nights and sunny days, so the grapes size was reduced, and as a result increased the synthesis of the perfumes of the grapes and finally in the cellar we received sound and ripe clusters with a good content of extractable polyphenols

The Chianti Superiore is a type of Chianti of higher level, because of the quality of the wine and because of the provenance of the grapes from vineyards that do not produce much.…

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by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

My memories go back to the years between 1975 and 1985; I was a young woman and was living between Montalcino and Siena. This was a very middle class existence and however decidedly provincial. I was used to meeting with intellectual and famous people because my family had always associated with that type of person, but Federico Fellini was surely out of range

That man was quite a myth. A worldwide recognized genius with 5 Oscars. His fame was so big that it would have daunted even those more equipped than I. In front of him I was consequently very nervous. My hands were sweaty I was unable to sit still and most of all I was able only to say a few polite sentences but was unable to have a proper conversation. I thought I didn’t have anything that would be interesting to say. What a shame!!

Federico Fellini and his wife Giulietta Masina would come to Tuscany for the Chianciano thermal waters. From there they would come to Montalcino for a break during the sessions, and maybe even for a gluttonous escape. Often they would come with Mario Guidotti or sometimes with the young Fabio Carlesi.

FEDERICO FELLINI AND GIULIETTA MASINA IN MONTALCINO

Fellini was always untidy as though he hated to have his clothes ironed.…

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By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Some, like Alessia and Sara, have for years been the smiling faces and the kind voices of Fattoria del Colle. Often tourists who come to spend a few days on holiday, visit the wine cellar or just to taste the wine and eat want to meet them because they have talked to them by phone or met them on previous trips. Others arrived last year and perhaps you are more curious about them, they are Carolina and Silvia. Let’s get to know who welcomes tourists at Fattoria del Colle

CAROLINA VITOLO THE FATTORIA DEL COLLE SOMMELIER

Carolina is from Sinalunga, only 10 km away from the Farm, but her ancestors are a mix of different

origins: Istria, Austria and Sardinia. Her studies in law and social studies lead her to work in Brussels in Emma Bonino’s projects on international integration. She is sommelier AIS and in the past has worked on wine tours. In fluent English she comments the wines  in the videos on the  YouTube channel by Donatella Cinelli Colombini.

Hence it is Carolina that  guides most of the wine cellar tastings that will soon expand to the master class on Sangiovese in which she teaches tourists wine lovers why and how this grape gives rise to masterpieces like Brunello.…

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By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

The tasting with 9 exponents of the new generations of Italian wine– among them my daughter Violante Gardini, Bernardino Sani and Dominga Cotarella- took place in the most multi-ethnic and social area of Veronafiere, the reign of Stevie Kim and VinitalyInternational. This is an environment that inspires creativity, with its painted ceilings, trendy interior design… But young people were very much “in the role” with little lightness and much determination. In front of them, Bruce Sanderson, one of the world’s most popular wine gurus, tastes Burgundy, Piedmont and Tuscany for Wine Spectator and, in my opinion, tastes the best!

WINE2WINE IN VERONA TO DISCOVER HOW READERS OF THE WINE SPECTATOR SEE ITALIAN WINE

It takes place in Verona, during Wine2Wine, the workshop on the most important wine business in Italy and to present Opera Wine the tasting that every year precedes Vinitaly.
An opportunity therefore  to reveal the results of the Wine Spectator survey on its readers. Here are the best treats, inviting you to read the rest in Alessandro Regoli’s WineNews.
The survey among the readers of Wine Spectator, reveals the opinions of a target of wine lovers that are qualified and, presumably , above all, wealthy. Brunello is the most loved wine by those over 50 (48%) while Barolo is the favorite wine for wine lovers under 30 (24%).…

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by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

10,700 threats to the Chianti brand identified in the first six months of 2019 by fraud hunters of Griffeshield, a company specialized in new technologies.

The President of the Consorzio del Chianti (Chianti Consortium) Giovanni Busi points out that in the overwhelming majority these are violations of the brand of the denomination but also the sale of counterfeit Chianti wines and counterfeit Chianti labels.

CHIANTI: THE SCALE OF THE FRAUD

The main fraud is represented by the so-called wine kits, that are the packages containing chemical preparations for making wine at home. Unfortunately the wine “DIY” achieves a remarkable success thanks to the imagination of the fraudsters who also propose the blueberry Chianti. In fact, around 6,000 such proposals have been identified and removed. Another 3,000 offences concern cases of false Chianti sold for real and 2,000 counterfeit labels.

THE MARKETING OF COUNTERFEIT WINES TAKES PLACE ONLINE

Chianti powder and blueberry Chianti. The marketing of this rubbish is done online through sites like Italian Chianti Style or Original Chianti and Vintners Reserve Chianti or World Vineyard Italian Chianti followed by the main e-commerce channels e-bay and Amazon.
In a jungle-like business scenario with wild beasts and threats everywhere. For this reason the Chianti Consortium has decided to continue monitoring and in the third quarter 2019 Griffeshield has identified other 4,852 new violations. …

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By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Refined music drives you to buy expensive wines, relaxing music decreases the frustration of those queuing in front of the register, whereas a very well-known music distracts you from buying.

So, the rhythm accelerates consumer movements between the shelves and decreases sales. Here, in a nutshell, how sounds can change the attitude of wine lovers inside a wine bar or in the shop of the cellar.
That’s why spreading the sounds of an opera helps an Italian winery to sell more and more expensive wines.

THE NEUROMARKETING OF VINCENZO RUSSO AND THE USE OF MUSIC TO SELL WINE

Professor Vincenzo Russo, the most experienced Italian neuromarketing expert,  teaches us, through Trebicchieri – economic weekly by Gambero Rosso, how  sounds influence the purchase of wine.

It should be assumed that hearing has an “adaptive function” because it is closely connected with three parts of the brain. We have the limbic system in which emotions reside, the prefrontal Cortex that makes us feel pleasure and motor Cortex that, as the name says, commands movement. The first two are the real pleasure centers in all of us, in fact they are the parts of our brain that react “euphorically” when we eat food that we like, and consequently when we  have sex or we use drugs.…

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Wine intelligence, the mega agency of analysis on wine market, based in London, highlighted how women are growing among consumers also in the segment of premium wine, consequently those over 15€ per bottle.

MEN CONSUME 64% OF PREMIUM WINES IN USA.

THE FUTURE OF LUXURY WINE IS FEMALE

So, to turn this trend into business, producers and retailers need to believe and increase the female segment with the same commitment as for the Chinese market and towards  young people because it seems the opportunities for growth are similar.
In the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, China and in Australia likewise, women buy less expensive bottles than men. Only 35% spend more than 20 Dollars while for males this share rises to half of those who usually consume wine.

Furthermore the report “US Premium Wine drinkers 2019”, tells us that almost 64% of wines over $15 per bottle are purchased by men. Out of 22 million US premium wines consumers only 8 are women.
Women have lower incomes as well highlighted by the gender gap, but also less confidence in their choices for which they are cautious, even in spending.
Finally there is also the component of the habit whereby sommeliers and maitre’s give to male customers the list of wines at the restaurant.…

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Di Donatella Cinelli Colombini

The colossus of Wine Intelligence marketing surveys, excellently commented by the Italian WineMeridian, takes stock of the 5 elements that are changing the wine sector. I’ve added some comments.

CHANGE OF THE CLIMATE

The vineyards go north and go to the mountains. Everything becomes excessive: heat, typhoons, fires, floods…. But in spite of this, the number of good harvests and the quality of the wines is constantly growing also in the historical areas.

DECREASED VOLUMES INCREASED VALUES

Regular consumers are less and less, while those who taste wine only on social occasions increase, but their choices focus on more expensive bottles. More attention to health, more variety of labels and territories “to discover”, more availability of small sizes… Wine competitors such as cannabis drinks and craft beers play an important role.

BREXIT

The problems seem to be averted, at least for the time being. We all hope for a new referendum in which the UK people will decide in the light of increased awareness of the effects of leaving Europe, effects that were perhaps underestimated at the time of the first vote.
Other political disturbances are the US tariffs which now benefit Italian wines but could penalize them in the near future.

CHINA

For the first time since 2014 the volumes of imported wine decreased in 2018.…

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Lafite

This exceptional wine was served by Madame de Pompadour in her private dinners and later Madame du Barry wanted to drink  the King’s wine, as the red from Lafite was called.

Another great estimator of the Lafite wines was Thomas Jefferson, future president of the United States and ambassador of the “Republic of the United States” at the court of Versailles. Before and during the Revolution, Lafite was at the top of the wine hierarchy but experienced a difficult moment with frequent changes in ownership. Regardless of this in 1855 it was classified officially as Premier Grand Cru (First Growth). On August 8^th 1868 Lafite, with his 74 hectares of vineyard was bought by the Rothschild bankers who transformed the castle into an authentic royal palace full of masterpieces and great works of art.

Eric Kohler, winemaker at Château Lafite

What can the technical director, winemaker, cellar master of Château Lafite, one of the greatest wines in the world, be like? His name is Eric Kohler, he is 52, and comes from Arles in Provence. Those who imagine a sort of star from the world of wine, a stage performer… will be disappointed by the simplicity, the humbleness of this gentleman, who talks more about his collaborators than himself.…

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first harvest with organic certification for Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s wineries and first “Rosa di Tetto” rosé BIO. Our vineyards have always been cultivated with manual care but since 2014 we have begun to follow the protocols and we have begun to  be checked on by an external entity that allowed us to obtain the certification and consequently the green leaf, symbol of an organic winery, on the label.

STORY OF A NAME AND OF A FARM WINE

At Fattoria del Colle the production of rosé began more than 30 years ago with the name “Aqua di Tetto”. When Donatella Cinelli Colombini received from her father the farm she decided to change the name because the previous one led to imagine a red wine that had been watered down.

She chose Rosa di Tetto because it recalls the first name buy is also inspired by the climbing roses that grow on the facade of the 16th century villa so high that they get under the roof tiles.

ROSA DI TETTO-FAMILY WINE

The rosé Rosa di Tetto is produced in limited series of 2,500 bottles obtained through Sangiovese grapes from the vineyards at Fattoria del Colle that were picked and vinified on the estate. So this is a “family wine” or as we would say in Tuscany , “Vino di Fattoria”.…

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HISTORY

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

The name comes from Persia, Zaafran .In fact it comes from Asia and the southern coast of the Mediterranean, even though, for many centuries it has also been cultivated in Marche, Abruzzi, Sardinia, Umbria, Toscana and Basilicata.

It is the most valuable of spices.Around this flower there is a legend:  Homer writes that saffron was a comfortable bed for Zeus, the old Romans used the flowers to cover the roads before the passage of prices and emperors.

It was also used for ministers’ headdresses for ceremonies, and for dyeing their robes.

For this reason too, apart from the quotations by Pliny and Ovid we are sure that the Romans knew of saffron, but its cultivation then was lost and began again in L’Aquila thanks to the Dominican Padre Santucci who imported it secretly from Spain.

CULTIVATION

Saffron is a crocus about 5 cm long from which generally three violet flowers with red stigmas. It loves dry climates and a sandy soil such as those in the Val d’Orcia dove where is has been grown since time immemorial.

The type that is most prestigious and desired by those who love good cuisine is the Crocus sativus which is sterile and reproduces only thanks to cloning.…

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 PANES FORTIS

Without panforte Christmas would not be Christmas for Donatella Cinelli Colombini!

The old tradition of this Christmas cake from Siena goes back about a 1000 years . The name PanForte (Panes Fortis) came from the fact that the water in the fruit used to make the cake, kept it soft but at the same time gave origin to moulds which gave and acidic taste to the cake as well.

In 1505 the Panforte began to be a great success thanks Sister Berta, who, worried about the health of the soldiers. She modified the recipe so that is might become energetic for the body and spirit, adding an abundant dose of pepper (Pan Pepato)

During the years the Panforte has not been changed much until 1879 when Queen Margherita di Savoia came to visit the Palio city. Her visit was anticipated by an inspection by her chamberlain who also had the job of choosing the dishes for the “royal palate”. He had a more delicate version prepared for her eliminating the melon and substituting the pepper covering with icing sugar. That is how the Panforte Margherita was born

At Fattoria del Colle the panforte is prepared by the pateisseur and served freshly baked during the Christmas holidays and most of all during the New Years Eve dinner.…

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