Sangiovese Tag

ROSA DI TETTO IGT Toscana Rosato 2019

Rosé wines are extremely trendy in the new millennium. The appreciation of the consumers increases and with it the request for wines richer in personality, finesse and quality

Rosa di Tetto 2019 IGT Toscana – Donatella Cinelli Colombini

A project that at Fattoria del Colle, begins with the Sangiovese grapes and its specificities such as the particular aroma of violets, that in the Rosa di Tetto, blends with that of apples and cherries.
The BIO (organic) vineyards are cultivated by hand with obsessive care; the grapes are picked by hand, vinified, and refined under the observant eyes of the three estate winemakers, Barbara, Sabrina and Giada. These give origin to some small series of “family wines” wines made on the estate. In this case it is a production of only 2.000 bottles, real jewels destined to wine loving clients.
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 the farm form her father Fausto Cinelli in 1998, she decided to change it into Rosa di Tetto and to put on the label the flowers from the old climbing rose that covers the facade of the 16th century villa.

Rosa di Tetto 2019 IGT Toscana – Donatella Cinelli Colombini

The 2019 harvest quality wise has been considered one of the best in the last 50 years. It was abundant and with grapes never seen before. For this reason it was decided to begin with this vintage a change of style for the Rosa di Tetto, aiming at a type of rosé that is more complex, important and structured and where the Sangiovese imprint is very evident. A wine to drink “with the whole meal”.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ROSA DI TETTO IGT 2019

TYPE: rosé
PRODUCTION AREA: Tuscany, Trequanda, Fattoria del Colle, Cenerentola vineyard.
CLASSIFICATION: IGT Toscana Rosato
VINTAGE CHARACTERISTICS: mild and dry Winter. In the Summer the hot days were interrupted by great storms, there where vast temperature excursions between day and night, and this favoured the synthesis of the aromas.

26 March 2021

3 Brunello from 5 star vintages for celebrations and collections

A treasure chest with three bottles of Brunello from the best vintages for your collection 1997, 2007 and 2012 together with a set of Riedel glasses apt for tasting them

Brunello di Montalcino from 5 star vintages offer: 1997, 2007, 2012 together with 6 Riedel crystal glasses

Three TOP vintages, nearly legendary ones, for those who love Brunello and want to have some bottles for special occasions:

1997: like many great vintages it didn’t start well; there was a spring frost that reduced the number and dimension of the clusters;

2007: a year without winter and with a cool summer that produced a deep Brunello, apt for long cellaring;

2012: a hot year with a perfect September for the ripening of the grapes.

Wines that have been highly rated by the international wine critics and able to surprise and thrill. These will arrive at your home in a wooden crate apt to be cellared, together with 6 Riedel Performance glasses so as to taste them in a perfect way.

OFFER FOR MEMBERS OF DONATELLA’S CLUB

3 bottles wooden crate containing:

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 1997, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2007 and Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2012 + 6 Riedel Performance crystal glasses

SPECIAL PRICE FOR MEMBERS: 339 Euro (instead of 399 Euro) offer valid until April 2nd, 2021

Brunello di Montalcino from 5 star vintages offer: 1997, 2007, 2012 together with 6 Riedel crystal glasses

For those who wish to double the offer, so two times a 3 bottles crate with 12 glasses, the price is even more convenient: 660 Euro

The price includes shipping in Italy, and a 15€ discount for those abroad.

OFFER FOR ALL OTHER WINE LOVERS

3 bottles wooden crate containing:

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 1997, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2007 and Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2012 + 6 Riedel Performance crystal glasses

SPECIAL PRICE: 369 Euro (instead of 399 Euro) offer valid until April 2nd, 2021

The price includes shipping in Italy, and a 15€ discount for those abroad.

Would you like to become a member of Donatella’s Club?

Write to vino@cinellicolombini.it to access the personalised customer service!

Being members of the Club gives you the possibility of receiving special offers like preview wines or older vintages at advantageous prices and a special welcoming in the wineries at Casato Prime Donne and Fattoria del Colle, in the ToscanaLovers stores in Siena, Bagno Vignoni and Cortona, in the restaurants and in the country inn belonging to Donatella Cinelli Colombini.

24 March 2021

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 “20^th century style”, with great aromatic richness

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 “20^th 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

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.

5 February 2021

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

22 January 2021

in Forum: News and lifestyle

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

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

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.

21 December 2020

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

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.

15 December 2020

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.

27 October 2020

OFFER CENERENTOLA DOC ORCIA 2016 AND PREVIEW OF 2017

12 bottiglie a casa vostra; le primissime bottiglie di Cenerentola DOC Orcia 2017 e le ultimissime di 2016. Vino per grandi occasioni e momenti romantici. Lampada di Cenerentola per la cantine dei Wine lovers ...

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.

1 October 2020

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

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.

4 September 2020

in Forum: News and lifestyle

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

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.

9 June 2020

A vertical of Brunello Riserva together with its glasses

3 historic 5-star vintages of Brunello Riserva 2004, 2007 and 2012 with two bottles of each in a wooden case, together with 6 crystal Riedel glasses invented to exalt them...

27 April 2020

in Forum: News and lifestyle, Vines and wines