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

The most cautious opinion comes from Michael Godel, a great connoisseur of Brunello and Tuscan winemaking in general, who tasted the 2019 Orcia Doc Cenerentola in November 2024 when it was “better to continue waiting” as he himself wrote.

ORCIA DOC, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WINE IN THE WORLD

The other tastings were conducted in March 2026, and the score rises to 93-94 points. David Lawrason has words of high praise: “The nose is extraordinary, very expressive, with complexity from maturation and a mix of red and black fruits… It’s full-bodied, with pronounced acidity and a notable warmth from the 15% alcohol. The tannins are quite firm and drying, but not green. The length is excellent, verging on exceptional.”

Wow, what a beautiful comment.

Sara d’Amato—an ecologist, writer, and highly experienced sommelier—also delivers a thrilling description. “The result is elegant and generous, both in aromas and on the palate. The oak is expertly integrated, allowing fruit and spice to unfold harmoniously. The tannins are ripe and enveloping, in line with the growing sensation of warmth provided by the 15% alcohol in the finish, which offers excellent length.”

The 94/100 rating comes from John Szabo, Canada’s first Master Sommelier and author of the book Volcanic Wines, which helped the world rediscover the uniqueness and charm of wines born near smoking mountains.…

L'articolo CENERENTOLA CHARMS CANADA sembra essere il primo su Cinelli Colombini.

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini #winedestination

Wine Align is a rating agency like Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s. These evaluate the banks while Wine Align judges the wines.

Obviously the experts are highly competent and completely independent: David Lawrason, John Szabo MS, Michael Godel, Sara d’Amato, Megha Jandhyala, S.J.D. and Janet Dorozynski, DipWSET, PhD who are the new entries in the group joined by Jason Solanki. Next to the profile of each taster there are the numbers of wines passed or failed which, roughly speaking, are a third of the total. So sending your bottles to Wine Align is a risk because criticism is very frequent but, when the opinion is positive, it has a tonic effect on the Canadian market and specifically in Ontario where Wine Align is based.

In this case I propose the 5 tasting results published on my Brunello di Montalcino 2018. All the critics gave similar scores, three of them 94/100 and two 93/100. The descriptions, however, are different and denote a certain difficulty in framing an “old style” harvest played more on elegance than on power. A vintage which, in my opinion, will be very long-lived but which many find extremely satisfying even now.

94/100 BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2018 THE OPINION OF MEGHA JANDHYALA, S.J.D.

Megda grew up in India and has a background in academic studies in law.…

L'articolo Brunello 2018 according to canadian tasters sembra essere il primo su Cinelli Colombini.

LCBO, a monopoly of the state of Ontario, is one of the most important buyers in the world, with very large stores in Toronto and other cities. In March 2024 it puts the spotlight on the women of wine, spirits and beer. Celebrating their talent and stories

THE CASATO PRIME DONNE WINERY IS A SYMBOL OF FOR WINE IN THE WINE WORLD

In the LCBO newspaper there is a photo of Donatella and Violante and the story of the first Italian winery, with an entirely female staff. The episode that marks the birth of Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino dates back to 1998, when her parents entrusted Donatella with two portions of the family properties, in which to give birth to her new project and, they gifted her  a small quantity of Brunello in barrels, to allow her to start her own commercial network.

For her, this wine was very important and so to take care of it Donatella needed an oenologist, so she called the oenology school in Siena, asking for the name of a good student to hire. They tell her no, there is a lot of demand and wine technicians must be booked years in advance. But when she asks for a female cellar manager the answer is different, they have a whole list because good cellars don’t want female managers.…

L'articolo THE CANADIAN MONOPOLY LCBO CELEBRATES WOMEN WITH BRUNELLO sembra essere il primo su Cinelli Colombini.