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Sangiovese Tag

Il Drago e le 8 Colombe IGT Supertuscan 2018

A scarce vintage in quantity but with great quality, 2018 gifts us Il Drago e le 8 Colombe – Supertuscan in a “20th century style”, with great aromatic richness

 

Supertuscan Il Drago e le 8 Colombe 2018 - Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Supertuscan Il Drago e le 8 Colombe 2018 – Donatella Cinelli Colombini

In the vineyards 2018, began by showing the effects of a spring frost the previous year: the clusters were few and small, right from the beginning. An element that on the other hand seemed to be negative instead permitted the grapes to happily survive a very rainy month of May and a summer that alternated heat and big storms. A climate that resembled that of last century, with more clouds than sunshine. The September sunshine was decisive for the quality of the grapes: the size of each grape was smaller and the ripening took place slowly, simultaneously in the skins and in the pulp of the grapes –technological and poliphenolic ripening. Temperatures in the period before the harvest rendered the Il Drago e le 8 Colombe 2018 its distinctive catachrestic: fine, complex and deep aromas.

Finally a small but significant detail, against all weather forecasts, the rain arrived the day after the harvest ended. This is not a small detail, because, interpreting the “20th century style” harvests the best grapes, like those for the Il Drago e le 8 Colombe, were picked for last. A stroke of luck that when drinking this Il Drago e le 8 Colombe is clearly noticeable.

 

THE NAME IL DRAGO E LE 8 COLOMBE

The Il Drago e le 8 Colombe comes from the first all female staffed winery in Italy: our consultant Valérie Lavigne, the wine makers Barbara Sabrina and Giada, the hospitality and sales staff are all women. There are 8 doves, mentioned in the name together with a dragon, the only man present: Carlo Gardini, husband to Donatella Cinelli Colombini, the owner. He too expresses his passion for fine wines by following the procedures for producing small selections of sweet wines.

Supertuscan Il Drago e le 8 Colombe 2018 - Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Supertuscan Il Drago e le 8 Colombe 2018 – Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Il Drago e le 8 Colombe is also born to celebrate men in wine.

 

IL DRAGO E LE 8 COLOMBE 2018

This is a “Supertuscan” wine, a “masterpiece” of a wine IGT Toscana, where the varieties are used following creativity and not tradition. In the Il Drago e le 8 Colombe there is a union of, at the end of their ageing, three different varieties: Sangiovese prince of Tuscany that gives the wine elegance, Merlot (20%) that adds pleasantness and then Sagrantino (20%) that increases the structure. All the grapes are grown, vinified, aged in barrel, bottles and refined on the estate.

 

CLUB OFFER: Brunello Prime Donne 2016 in wooden crate

6 bottles of the highly rated Brunello Prime Donne 2016 delivered directly to your home in the exclusive wooden crate and the possibility of tasting it with Donatella Cinelli Colombini

 

Brunello di Montalcino Prime Donne 2016 and online wine tasting

 

Donatella and Violante Cinelli Colombini will taste the Brunello Prime Donne 2016 online. It will be an exclusive event reserved to those who choose this offer.  The date will be sent out as soon as the wine will have arrived to your home and it will take place during the weekend.

 

The Brunello Prime Donne 2016 went on sale on January 1st 2021 and so this is practically a preview. Some of the major wine critics have tasted it, so we have their enthusiastic ratings for you.

 

 

 

 

BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO PRIME DONNE 2016 RATINGS

  • Robert Parker/Wine Advocate: 96
  • Vinous Antonio Galloni: 95
  • James Suckling: 96

 

We must look at red wine with more attention

Red wine reveals many of its secrets upon visual inspection: alcohol content, consistency, freshness, age … are all evident to the naked eye before reaching the nose or mouth

 

visual inspection of wine: colour

visual inspection of wine: colour

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Each of us during the Sommelier courses listened to the instructions regarding the visual inspection of the wine with a certain condescending air.

Do not deny it; it has happened to all of us.

To begin with it is the aroma and tastes that attract attention because they are a rediscovery of the senses, that for the past century we have all used very little. Our lifestyle and the structure of our brain privilege sight, while the use of the nose and tongue has progressively been reduced to a simple “I like it” or “I don’t like it”. The Sommelier course is often a way to rediscover aromas and tastes because slowly they become understandable messages.

 

SWIRLING THE WINE IN THE GLASS

For this reason the visual analysis is often underestimated whereas listening to people such as the World Champion Sommelier Luca Martini, it is easy to understand how important this is in understanding a wine. His first suggestion is to <<look at how the wine moves in the glass>> the slowness is typical in rich wines while the watery ones with no substance are much faster. Generally filtering worsens the situation.
The legs left on the inside of the glass once the wine has swirled tell us a lot especially the way they descend. More alcoholic components there are (ethanol, glycerol) closer together the legs will be.

 

Brunello di Montalcino 2016 from Casato Prime Donne

2016 is a vintage like a marathon runner. Born form a very long vegetative cycle of the vines, Brunello 2016 has deep and exiting aromas, in the mouth it is silky and powerful. Apt for long cellaring

 

Montalcino - Casato Prime Donne - Brunello 2016

Montalcino – Casato Prime Donne – Brunello 2016

A 5 star vintage.  Like the gestation period of a human being there is a process that brings the grapes to the day they are picked and it lasts a precise time, and varies only because of the climate, but generally made up of three 2-month phases for a total of 180 days.
In 2016 the budding of the vines took place 15 days sooner than normal and this should have brought forward the harvesting period by 15 days. Instead the biological cycles slowed down and the harvest took place at the usual time.
The ripening was perfect, like every grape grower dreams of. Sunny days, cold nights, only one storm on September 18th. Small clusters with small berries and a parallel evolution between skin and pulp that brought to the harvesting day with a perfect technical and poliphenolic ripening.

 

BRUNELLO 2016 AND DONATELLA RETURNS TO THE ORIGINS

For Donatella Cinelli Colombini and the Casato Prime Donne winery 2016 was a return to tradition, vinifying Brunello in concrete tanks with mechanized punching down of the cap of grape skins. Obviously these are up to the minute French tanks, as is the punch down mechanical system, but the procedure is the same as 500 years ago. The yeast too, that set off the fermentation, was authentically form Montalcino and has been selected at Casato Prime Donne through experimentation lasting seven years.
The return to tradition from long ago has coincided with a picking of the grapes based on a separation of the clusters according to their level of ripening. These are chosen one by one, by hand, in the vineyard as the old farmers used to do. A system that slows the harvesting times but allows the vinification of grapes that are all with the same character and later, the ageing in barrel or tonneaux most apt for the future Brunello. A “tailor made”  job done by master craftspeople who create works of art in a bottle.

 

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

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 18th) 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 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.

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 

 

Offerta Io sono Donatella

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.

 

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

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.

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

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

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

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

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.

 

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-CasatoPrimeDonne

Vineyard’s nutrition – Montalcino – Casato Prime Donne

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

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

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.

 

Organic Chianti superiore 2018 from Fattoria del Colle

This is the first organic Chianti Superiore made at Fattoria del Colle. It is enriched with aromas thanks to the cold nights and hot days in September.

 

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.

Chianti Superiore Bio 2018

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

2018 harvest at Fattoria del Colle

2018 harvest at Fattoria del Colle

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.

 

DESCRIPTION OF THE CHIANTI SUPERIORE DOCG 2018

Type: dry red.
Production area: Trequanda, Toscana, Fattoria del Colle.
Vintage characteristics: the spring was very rainy; the summer was cool with frequent storms. The veraison concluded within the month of August. September was dry with great diurnal temperature variation.

Chianti Superiore and Rosato IGT 2018 organic at your home

3 bottles of Chianti Superiore DOCG and 3 bottles of Rosato IGT Toscana 2018 certified BIO (organic) delivered directly to your home with a little shipping cost

 

Let us continue to drink great wines together. For online aperitifs with friends, or to emphasize a dish after spending time in the kitchen, transforming a regular meal into special moment, as if in a starred restaurant!

2018 vini organici Fattoria del Colle

Chianti Superiore DOCG 2018 Rosa di Tetto 2018 Toscana Italy Donatella Cinelli Colombini

In just a few days the currier will bring 6 very special bottles, right to your front door.
We are proposing two wines in “limited edition” few bottles of what in the USA they call “family wines”. Two special wines: Chianti Superiore 2018 DOCG is a preview; you will taste it before anybody else. It is a BIO certified wine (organic) the same as Rosato IGT Toscana that is quite trendy at the moment. A wine to be consumed cool with cheeses and cold cuts giving a special touch to your aperitif or your brunch.

 

OFFER 3 CHIANTI SUPERIORE DOCG –  3 ROSE’ IGT TOSCANA

THREE 0,75 cl BOTTLES of Chianti Superiore DOCG 2018 – THREE 0,75 cl BOTTLES OF IGT Toscana Rosa di Tetto 2018
The special price reserved for you until April 9th is
39,50€ for Club members
44,90 € for those not yet members of the Club
Shipping in Italy costs 16,00 €
We accept bank draft payments or Visa or MasterCard

 

TO BOOK THE WINE SEND AN EMAIL TO

vino@cinellicolombini.it

This offer finishes April 9th 2020

 

The land of Sangiovese: Chianti Classico and Montalcino

The nature of the soil gives a specific sensory character to the wine, so understanding the soil is crucial to understand the most variable vine: Sangiovese. Today we talk about the land of Sangiovese: Chianti Classico and Montalcino

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini


It is well known that Sangiovese has the highest number of clones (108) and the greatest variability. In short, it is a mutant grape variety which is best expressed in two areas: Chianti Classico and Montalcino.

Brunello 2015 Donatella Cinelli Colombini

A huge five-star vintage of Brunello that began to be celebrated even before entering the market and combines power, elegance and longevity

Vendemmia Brunello 2015 Montalcino

Casato Prime Donne Montalcino Sangiovese harvest

The climatic trend shows the typical characteristics of the best Brunello with rainy winter and spring that have hydrated the soil, very hot July that has blocked a vegetative development determining a reduced size of the grapes, August with thunderstorms alternating with hot days, September with very strong thermal variation between night and day that have favoured the synthesis of perfumes.

A script that repeats itself for all the great vintages of Brunello and seems to show that global warming is an authentic luck for the Montalcino vineyard because it multiplies the five-star vintages and raises the quality level to highs never reached in the past.