Donatella Cinelli Colombini Tag

Brunello Prime Donne 2016 in preview

2016 was the vintage of deep red wines. Brunello Prime Donne by Donatella Cinelli Colombini expresses her philosophy of a return to the origins of this designation

Montalcino: fermentation room of Brunello at Casato Prime Donne

In the spring of 2016 the vines budded 15 days sooner than usual, but the grape harvest took place at the beginning of October, more in line with the traditional calendar. For the first time in the last twenty years Donatella Cinelli Colombini saw her grapes ripen in the old way. The accumulation of sugar in the grapes proceeded more slowly than the ripening of the polyphenols and everything happened very gradually thanks to the sunny days (only one storm on September 18^th) and to the cold nights. When harvest time arrived the ripening was perfect both in the skin and in the grape pulp.
Sangiovese grapes able to produce long lasting, deep and complex wines. Very elegant wines with silky tannins and a great harmony. Wines that are similar to those that Donatella learned to love as a young woman with her grandfather Giovanni Colombini and that, now in fact, are vinified like long ago; in small unlined concrete vats, using autochthonous yeasts and punching down the caps with the plunger.

Brunello Prime Donne 2016 Donatella Cinelli Colombini

BRUNELLO PRIME DONNE SYMBOL OF FEMALE TALENT IN WINE

The Brunello Prime Donne is the symbol of the first winery in Italy to be all female staffed, Casato Prime Donne on the North-West slope of Montalcino. Three female winemakers work here – Barbara, Sabrina and Giada – plus an external consultant, Valérie Lavigne. The decisions regarding the selection, the ageing and the blending among various barrels, involve a panel of 4 female international super wine tasters: a wine store owner, a sommelier, and two Masters of wine: Astrid Schwarz, Daniela Scrobogna, Rosemary George MW with now the addition of the Swedish Madeleine Stenwreth MW.

9 December 2020

FOR DONATELLA’S CLUB MEMBERS the extraordinary Brunello IOsonoDonatella

For the first time we are proposing to our Club of wine lovers the Brunello 2013 ultra premium, IOsonoDonatella, a signature edition of only 1000 bottles with the crest in gold and display box

Brunello Io Sono Donatella 2013

An exclusive “Fine wine”, a collector’s Brunello and an investment, limited to just 1000 bottles. Perfect for presents and special occasions.
Each bottle is packed in a single box upon which is reproduced the medieval Tuscan cloth called “tela di Pienza”. Opening the fan shaped box the bottle appears, decorated with a ring- shaped glitter design surrounding Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s crest in gold. This Brunello tells the story of Donatella Cinelli Colombini, descendant of a noble family from Siena in Tuscany, who before being a wine producer like her ancestors had studied the history of art. After having worked for years in the family winery, in 1998 Donatella created the estate that bears her name. Her parents gave her two properties, in Tuscany, that she has restored. In Montalcino, Casato Prime Donne has 17 hectares of vineyard and from where she produces some Brunello greatly appreciated by wine critics all over the world and exported to 39 nations. Among these the selection IOsonoDonatella is the most exclusive and precious Brunello. It was created starting with the 2010 vintage when Donatella understood that her dream of producing a great wine of international success had come true. It was later produced with the Brunello 2012 and 2013.

4 December 2020

6 VINEYARD ANIMALS

Let’s start from an article by Lucy Shaw for The Drinks Business regarding 10 animals mostly used in the vineyards around the world, and then I will propose my 6 vineyard animals for Italian wineries

Vineyard Animals: bees in Montalcino at Villa I Cipressi – Hubert Ciacci

The English portal as always is a source of inspiration, I advise you to consult it often. The Drinks Business proposes 10 animals that, somewhere around the world, help mankind to keep the vineyards in perfect equilibrium.

In succession find geese, bats, Babydoll sheep, dogs, pigs, horses and mules, bees, armadillos, birds of prey and chicken.
Let’s ignore the bats, that after gifting us with the Corona virus I find even more off-putting. I feel it is best not to help them proliferate and most of all keep them away from human beings.
Dog too I fear are not a good idea. In Spain they use terriers to hunt the mice and rats. Here we could use the Maremma Sheepdogs to scare off wild boar and roebuck. The only problem is the aggressiveness of these dogs, which without a fence, might also attack people. But, once fenced off the vineyards it would be useless to get a dog to protect the grapes as the ungulates wouldn’t be able to get in anyway.

Vineyard Animals – geese

We shall also exclude pigs. In Australia they use a spurred cordon method that keeps the plant high so the small Kunekune pigs cannot reach the grapes, but the Italian breeds of pigs would be perfectly able to reach them. Regarding the armadillos, we shall not even consider them, apart from the problem in finding them; they also like to eat grapes.

So here is my list of 6 animals for the Italian vineyards:

GEESE IN THE VINEYARDS

In Chile the Cono Sur winery has geese and in total 1.000 birds in the vineyards to eat the parasites.

6 November 2020

Covid: wineries and restaurants, who wins and who loses

Wine sales grow but the financial reports of small wineries do not. Will Covid19 bring the small wine producers and restaurateurs to sell up to larger ones?

Restaurants-wine-and-covid-how-change-and which-are-the-new-perspectives

There is a solution to the problem which I am about to address: transform restaurants into places where one can discover wine and food. Give new perspectives to the wine and food artisans of their territory. Is this a dream? No it is an opportunity for everybody.

HOW DOES WINE BUYING AND CONSUMPTION CHANGE WITH COVID

In US, the consumers buy more bottles (57%) and the large wineries earn bigger shares of the market at the expense of the smaller, which register a decrease in business.

Research done by the Sonoma State University and published by Wine Searcher regards the US, but in fact resembles greatly what I hear from Italian producers.

The analysis done in the US firstly emphasizes the increase in the price of wines bought by retailers. We are talking about only 0,70 Dollars, but in view of the general economic situation it is something noticeable. It is also noticeable that the segment of the most sold bottles is that of those between 20 and 25$.

Consumers buy more expensive wines and the premium bottles move indoors? Maybe that is so.

Restaurants-wine-and-covid-how-change-and which-are-the-new-perspectives-Ravioli-stuffed-with-pecorino-cheese-and-LeoneRosso

ON LINE AND DELIVERY, THIS IS WHERE COVID HAS GIVEN A HAND

Wine ordered directly from wineries online has greatly increased. But the average price has decreased by 10$ with respect to last year and the bottles over 150$ have become unsellable. Another important element: small wineries have had difficulties also with this sales channel, and their stocks in the warehouses is increasing.

All leads to the impression that there will be acquisition by the large wine brands of great slices of the market, while small wineries struggle because of less visibility online and on store shelves.

According to experts, the Americans have had more economic availability during the pandemic maybe because they were forced to stay indoors. This situation has increased their shopping figures, and for some goods such as Champagne the prospect is of a particularly florid period. Less rosy are the perspectives for restaurants that will now have more difficulty in marking up wines like they did before, because clients are now used to buying online and they know how much bottles cost.

30 October 2020

Tuscan Onion Soup

There are two versions of the Tuscan onion soup. I prefer the one that comes from Arcidosso a sort of forefather of the “acqua cotta”, but of course there is also the Carabaccia

It must be said the best Tuscan onion comes from Certaldo; it has a delicious taste and is more easily digestible with respect to normal onions. The Carabaccia is practically homage to the Certaldo onion but those of us from Montalcino are bonded to Monte Amiata, the volcano from which the soils in our vineyards come from. So the zuppa di cipolle from Arcidosso is my favourite. A medieval soup from which the acqua cotta soup descends. In the original version it is prepared with strigoli, a type of wild grass usually found in the chestnut woods on the Amiata but we will use the more domestic and easily found spinach.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE AMIATINA ONION SOUP

For 4 people

Ingredients-onion-soup-Fattoria-Del-Colle-Tuscany

BROTH: one small onion, one carrot, one stick of celery, one ripe tomato, black pepper and salt

SOUP: 5 onions, one stick of celery, 500 g of spinach, 500 g of ripe tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, 300 g of ricotta, salt, chili pepper, toasted unsalted bread.

PREPARATION OF THE AMIATINA ONION SOUP

Prepare the broth by putting in a pan, the washed and roughly diced celery, carrot, onion and tomato, covered with two litres of water. Salt and bring to the boil, simmer for a couple of hours over a low flame.
To prepare the soup: parboil and peel the tomatoes. Wash and chop the carrots, and onions, and celery and stir fry in a pan. Add salt and chili pepper. Wash the spinach and put them in the pan once the mixture is dry. Shortly after add the peeled tomatoes roughly chopped. Continue to cook over a low flame for about an hour, with the help of the vegetable broth.

21 October 2020

Cenerentola Orcia Doc 2017 DONATELLA CINELLI COLOMBINI

2017: the most Mediterranean harvest ever in Tuscany that has produced very sensual wines that are warm, powerful and able to give their best in youth, Cenerentola Doc Orcia is one of these.

THE 2017 CENERENTOLA DOC ORCIA HARVEST

Cenerentola-DOC-Orcia-Sangiovese-and-Foglia-Tonda-grapes-variety

This wine comes from the maddest vintage since the beginning of the century: at the end of April there was a spring frost that hit the whole of Europe. Our hills remained miraculously unharmed while in Spain or Sicily the young buds on the vines were burned.
But another danger was in stall: after a winter with few showers an African summer began, that at the beginning of August made the thermometers rise to 40°C. Bushes, hedges, streams without water and hoards of thirsty wild boar that ate the grapes still unripe to quench their thirst.
Those, who like us, practice an organic regime in agriculture, have had less problems of hydro stress in the vineyards because the vines, solicited to react spontaneously to the climate, have maintained an equilibrium abandoning part of the clusters that remained green and were later removed.
At the end the 2017 harvest has been the scarcest ever.
While the Sangiovese, main Tuscan variety, has suffered thirst and heat, the Foglia Tonda a local rare variety, carried out one of its best performances.

CINDERELLA FROM THE FAIRYTALE TO THE WINE

However there is a reason for this funny name, it is the similarity between the Cinderella fairytale and the Orcia Doc wine region. This appellation was born in 2000 among the high hills between the Brunello di Montalcino and Nobile di Montalcino wine regions. It would seem an adverse situation with two stepsisters who are older and more famous and who get invited to royal banquets, while the young Orcia DOC gets ignored. But this situation is one that also incites to combactivity and creativity.
So , in conclusion, with a lot of courage and a pinch of magic the Doc Orcia region challenges the sisters.

7 October 2020

CLUB OFFER: BRUNELLO 2015 – 3 BICCHIERI GAMBERO ROSSO

12 bottles of Brunello 2015 awarded TRE BICCHIERI by the Guida dei Vini del Gambero Rosso, directly at your home for special meals and gifts

We are honoured to announce that the Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2015 by Donatella Cinelli Colombini has been awarded by the Vini d’Italia 2021 guide by Gambero Rosso with the Tre Bicchieri. This great wine has received excellent reviews also from the main international wine critics: 94/100 Wine Advocate Robert Parker, 94/100 Wine Spectator, 95/100 James Suckling.

OFFER OF 12 BOTTLES OF BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO DOCG 2015 “TRE BICCHIERI”

FOR MEMBERS OF DONATELLA’S CLUB

2015 Brunello di Montalcino DOCG at €39,00 (price per bottle) – buy 11 bottles and you get one free

Brunello di Montalcino Casato Prime Donne 2015

Brunello di Montalcino 2015 offer

Free shipping within Italy, for those buying from abroad a discount of 20,00 Euro is foreseen

FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT YET MEMBERS OF DONATELLA’S CLUB

2015 Brunello di Montalcino DOCG at €39,00 (price per bottle)

Free shipping within Italy, for those buying from abroad per a discount of 20,00 Euro is foreseen

FREE SHIPPING IN ITALY AND DISCOUNTED ABROAD

Shipping is included for orders in Italy and there is a 20 Euro discount for shipping abroad.

The cost of shipping abroad varies from nation to nation and will be quoted upon receiving the order.

We have some interesting conditions for shipments to the US, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

1 October 2020

2020 Grape harvest is heading towards another 5-star double-win

2019 and 2020 grape harvest, like identical twins, but different: both worthy of the highest rating but also to be understood in their diversity like 2015 – 2016

Brunello-2020-Grape-Harvest-Casato-Prime-Donne-the-two-young-winemakers-Giada-and-Sabrina

It is always difficult to shine next to a great star: it will be difficult for those running 100 meters after Usain Bolt, it has been difficult for all mathematicians after Albert Einstein and it is difficult for all entrepreneurs comparing with Jeff Bezos from Amazon.

It will be the same for the 2020 vintage. It cannot shine after a masterpiece of a vintage like 2019 even though it is one of the best vintages picked during the last 20 years, without doubt worthy of the 5 stars given to the best vintages in Montalcino.

THE 2020 COVID GRAPE HARVEST

Let’s go in order, by telling you in detail the harvest in the Covid year. The first with facemasks and the necessity to keep at a distance however had had contact, even indirectly with those found positive. It has been terrible to say to two grape pickers to because their kids class was in quarantine <<go home and you can’t come back until you have a negative swab>> and it has been difficult to say to our consultant wine maker Valérie Lavigne << if you cannot have a swab done before leaving France you must renounce in coming>>. The risk of contagion has created as lot of worry, many problems and however a much less joyous atmosphere than usual.

CLIMATE: 2020 GRAPE HARVEST FROM VERY DRY TO VERY RAINY

2020-Grape-Harvest-Montalcino-Casato-Prime-Donne-Violante-and-Enrico

There has been a frost during the budding (18-23) at the end of March. To begin with the vineyards seemed unharmed but then we saw that the grapes were decidedly less than usual.
The winter has been very mild and dry. In spring we underwent an attack of powdery mildew in the Fattoria del Colle vineyards and the tractor drivers had to get up really early to spray the vineyards with sulphur before dawn.

In June finally the rainfalls arrived, a really rainy month. The torrid summer began halfway through July and lasted until halfway through September practically without rain except for a nice rainfall at the end of August. Luckily the difference in day and night temperatures has always been great.
The veraison took place at the end of July and the last phase of the grape ripening took place in the heat, especially in September when the daytime temperatures stayed over 32°C. The vineyards were not de-leafed so as to protect the grapes from the sun that did however do some harm.
The problem has been that the rainfall arrived exactly during harvest time and the constant risk of rain forced the grape pickers to an accelerated job, with great anxiety and an occasional prayer.

25 September 2020

Sugo bugiardo for the poor farmers

The proverb says <<virtue out of necessity>> and also <<farmers have big shoes and sharp brains>>, the sugo bugiardo dressing born in the poor countryside demonstrates it

The sugo bugiardo or “pretend” was made by the poorer Tuscan families who could not buy meat to put in their sauce and had studied a recipe that resembled the traditional one but, in reality was made with pork and vegetables.

Sugo-bugiardo-Tuscany-Fattoria-del-Colle

Up until fifty years ago the harder summer jobs, like reaping and threshing regarded an “exchange in labour” among the Tuscan farming families. In other words people went to help their relatives or neighbours with one or two people and got the same help back. Naturally a large number of hungry people had to be fed and this meant two or three lunches, with antipasto, broth, pasta, and meat in a stew, roasts and a dessert.

Sugo-bugiardo-Tuscany-Fattoria-del-Colle

Not everyone could buy beef so the vegetable garden was of upmost importance. The poorer dressing was born form this necessity. It is a very tasty sauce that seems a regular ragu but in truth is not because it contains only some salted rigatino and in some cases is all vegetarian.

INGREDIENTS OF THE SUGO BUGIARDO

1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick, extra virgin olive oil, 200 g of white beans, 200 g of salted pork rigatino, 600 g of ripe tomatoes, half a glass of white wine, salt and pepper sage, garlic, peperoncino and aged pecorino.

11 September 2020

San Quirico d’Orcia, the Val d’Orcia lounge

10 things to see do taste and buy in San Quirico d’Orcia, the most glamorous, most photographed and most refined small city of art in Tuscany

San Quirico d’Orcia

San Quirico d’Orcia is one of the most beautiful cities of art in Italy (30 km from Fattoria del Colle). This resembles an open air lounge thanks to the beauty of its monuments and the century old history that blend in with the glamour of International VIP visitors who want to own a house here: the last of which is Jennifer Lopez who has been looking for a villa for her holidays.
The village centre dates back to before the year one thousand, along the Via Francigena – from Canterbury to Rome- when this route substituted the Roman Cassia route as it became impracticable because of the Valdichiana bogs. The passage of sovereigns such as Federico Barbarossa, pilgrims, merchants and whole armies. This meant making the fortune of the villages every 20 km along the route. In fact this was just the right distance for those on foot or who had to change horses.

WHAT TO SEE

Collegiate Church of San Quirico d’Orcia

1) PALAZZO CHIGI: built in the 17th century by a family of Sienese-Roman bankers, to accommodate their relative Pope Alessandro VII who in fact never lived there. Inside the hall have frescoes with mythological subjects. Be careful in entering the decorated rooms, you might enter the Mayor’s office.
2) HORTI LEONINI:a splendid example of Italian style garden created by Diomede Leoni at the end of the 16th century.
3) COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF SAINT QUIRICO AND GIULITTA: built on a parish from the 8th century. Magnificent portals from the end of the 13th century. Inside there are some inlays by Antonio Barilli coming from the Cathedral in Siena. The Altarpiece by Sano Di Pietro and the tomb of Enrico di Nassau who died here in 1451.
4) VIA FRANCIGENA: that runs the whole village with the name of Via Dante. Take note of the houses, towers and palaces on both sides of the road. Near the end, facing south, to the left is the “Spedale” built by the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala in Siena to welcome pilgrims.
5) CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA ASSUNTA: dating back to the 11th century in Romanesque style.

7 September 2020

CHRONICLE 2020 IN BRUNELLO VINEYARDS AND WINERIES

In the year of Corona virus the vineyards in 2020 are the only ones who have had an easy year: cosseted regardless the lockdown, never like this year the final objective was a low yield

invaiatura-sangiovese-2020-Violante-Cinellicolombini

Sangiovese vineyards in 2020 veraison – Violante – Cinelli Colombini

In the confusion of the first days of lockdown, while all Italians were shut in their homes, my grape growers continued to go into the vineyards armed with written authorization for travelling by car, and with the first masks on their face. To complicate things, around March 20^th, while the vines were just budding, a frost arrived that burned the young leaves. Not a tragedy we all know that we have to hope for a low yield year because Covid-19 will devastate the markets. Such devastations arrived, even worse than we imagined. For this reason I decide to abandon 4 vineyards in 2020 for a total of 8 hectares. On these areas, which obviously I consider of less quality, we will only do the bare minimum.

SPRING FROST AND SPONTANEOUS REDUCTION IN GRAPE PRODUCTION

So I precede the decisions of the Minister Bellanova regarding the green harvesting.
The 2019-2020 winter was very mild and dry. During lockdown at Fattoria del Colle that was deserted, my husband Carlo and I console ourselves sunbathing at lunch time. Flowering of the vines happened between the end of May (in Montalcino) and the beginning of June (at Fattoria del Colle).

DRY AND MILD WINTER, RAINY JUNE, TORRID JULY

Germoglio-20 marzo-2020-Fattoria-del-Colle

Before the budding – March 15th, 2020 – Fattoria del Colle

In June after several “drought” months the rainfall finally arrives, allowing us some relief, because regardless of Covid-19 we had succeeded in planting a new vineyard at Casato Prime Donne. If it hadn’t rained we would have had to irrigate it.
But rain has also its negative sides: there are mildew attacks and the grape growers start a real battle to defend the vineyards. To stop the white mold, in an organic winery like ours we had to work during the night and interrupt the sulphur sprays as soon as the sun. Quite an endeavour for the tractor drivers and a disturbance for the first tourists arrived at Fattoria del Colle for a rest after months of quarantine at home. Shame but the vines come before everything else. Decidedly in the vineyards in 2020 the year has been a complicated one for several reasons.

4 September 2020

THE VINEYARD’S DIET

Does the vineyard have “nutritional disorders” such as anorexia or bulimia? No, but it does have something similar and an Australian app helps grape growers keep it healthy

Vineyard’s nutrition – Montalcino – Casato Prime Donne

I heard talk about the “humanized” approach for the first time in the Bordeaux University, about twenty years ago, when the lesson regarding the summer pruning of the vine referred to “the vine sexuality”. In fact it did regard the intervention of man on the equilibrium between the grape grower’s project, who wants to produce grapes for wine, and that of the vine, who wants to reproduce itself.

THE AUSTRALIAN APPROACH TO THE VINEYARDS NUTRITION THROUGH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Suzy Rogiers – Vineyards nutrition and artificial intelligence

In this case the Wine Australia and the Charles Sturt University have gone even further and have forced the National Wine and Grape Industry Center (NWGIC) researchers to create an app for Smartphone to manage the vineyard’s nutritional disorders as if it were a human being. What is curious is that for both man and the vineyard the nutritional problems come from the wrong approach by “parents”. It seems a paradox but the Australian method to the managing of the vineyard helps us to rethink, in a more general way, all of our behaviours, in life like in the wine enterprises. Often grape growers in fact over feed their vines and they mistake the vigour for wellbeing of the plants, just like some mums fill their kids with love by piling their plate until they get obese.

26 August 2020

With the Club, in Tuscany for the Grape Harvest experience

A special proposal for the members of Donatella’s Club in the occasion of the 2020 grape harvest fro Brunello, Chianti and Orcia

Grape Harvest Experience at Fattoria del Colle – Tuscany

In Tuscany, at Fattoria del Colle, for the last two weekends in September and the first two in October to see how fine red wines from Tuscany are born, but also to understand the specificities of Sangiovese with the help of three great wine experts: Leonardo Romanelli, Leonardo Taddei and Franco Pallini.
They will conduct the seminars reserved to the participants, to which we are adding an intense program of experiences in the vineyard – touching the clusters and learning how to taste the grapes – and in the cellar seeing the various phases of the vinification but mostly tasting must, wines, and Reserves. The participants will prepare their own Supertuscan wine by becoming “winemakers for a day” and to conclude they will receive a diploma.

Taking part in the Grape Harvest experience 2020 is a way of making new wine lover friends and to take part in the story of Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s wineries. Most of all it is a way to share with her the effort in reaching excellent quality and respect for nature that have made the wines by Casato Prime Donne and Fattoria del Colle international successes.

An exciting and extraordinary experience, in the peace of the vast spaces of the countryside and in the healthy ambiance of the BIO (organic) vineyards.

Grape Harvest Experience at Fattoria del Colle – Tuscany

OFFER FOR MEMBERS OF DONATELLA’S CLUB

€ 228 per person

FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT YET CLUB MEMBERS

€ 268 per person

TO BOOK

Send an e-mail to : info@cinellicolombini.it or call the number: +39 0577 662108

25 August 2020

Grandma Giuliana’s apples covered with custard and meringue

Delicious, simple ingredients, easy to make, but needs time. “Mele coperte” covered apples with custard and meringue, my grandma’s dessert