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2012 Donatella Cinelli Colombini Fattoria delle Colle ‘Cenerentola’ Orcia, Tuscany, ItalyApril 21, 2016
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2012 Donatella Cinelli Colombini Fattoria del Colle Il Drago e Le Otto Colombe Toscana IGT, ItalyMay 4, 2016
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2011 Donatella Cinelli Comlombini Progetto Prime Donne Brunello di Montalcino, TuscanyMay 6, 2016
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2013 Donatella Cinelli Colombini Fattoria Il Colle Chianti Superiore, TuscanyJune 23, 2016
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Everything you Need to know about Donatella Cinelli Colombini
Donatella Cinelli Colombini is a wine estate located in Tuscany, Italy, and named after its founder.
The project is composed of 2 seperate properties in the Tuscan countryside, South of the Chianti area, between the Crete Senesi and the Val d’Orcia:
- Il Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino
Il Casato Prime Donne is nestled in the hills of around the Montalcino village, among the Brunello vineyards.
It is the first Italian winery with an all female staff, aiming at being a flagship for the new role of women in the wine world.
The name Casato Prime Donne that translates as ‘the little house that hosts the best women’ underlines this intention.
- Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda
Fattoria del Colle is a small hamlet around a villa built in 1592.
Located amongst vineyards, olive groves and farmed fields, it comprises a country inn with rooms, apartments and villas, a restaurant, a fitness centre with spa, a cooking school, gardens and a swimming-pool, in the midst of an unspoilt landscape of.
The winery produces wines from Chianti DOCG, Orcia DOC and Toscana IGT appellations.
Tasting Notes, Wine Reviews & Related Posts
Brief history
Donatella Cinelli Colombini comes from an ancient wine producer family of Montalcino who has been really important in the Brunello history.
In 1998 Donatella left her family estate to create a new project. Her parents have given to her two properties to be converted: the Casato in Montalcino and Fattoria del Colle in the South part of Chianti. Donatella mother gave to her a small quantity of wine to become Brunello and so she needed a cellar master because that wine was very important to start the business and pay the renovation works.
Once Donatella phoned to the wine makers school in Siena asking for the cellar master there were no more available men, when she asked for some women the answer was different because no wineries accepted women as manager so she decided to make something new, a winery with a total female staff.
The name of the estate changed from Casato to Casato Prime Donne and now the winery makes 130-150.000 bottles sold in 34 different Countries.
The estate extends for 376 hectares and has 33 ha of vineyards. The Montalcino winery produces Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino wines.
Fattoria del Colle winery produces Chianti and Doc Orcia wines. It looks like a little village built in 1592 by the ancestors of Donatella and now in the farm houses there are apartments for visitors (up to 100 guests), a restaurant, a cooking class, SPA with the wine therapy, 3 pools, and 4 trekking.
Location
Central Italy, South of Tuscany, around the villages of Montalcino and Trequanda
Climate
Here the climate is temperate. During wintertime we reach+ 5°C with few snow, in summer from 28° to 33°C.
The rainiest periods are in spring and autumn
During the last 10 years the temperature is grown of around 3 degrees.
The last spring frost was in 1997 and the vine bud and the grape harvest start 10 days in advance than the traditional time
Soil types
Casato Prime Donne – Montalcino: the soil is rich in clay and limestone.
Fattoria del Colle– Trequanda: the soil is rich in limestone
Vineyards and grape varieties
The Sangiovese grape is the most important one here.
We also have:
- 2 small vineyards with Merlot
- 2 vineyards of Foglia Tonda that is a very old local grape variety
- just few vines of Sagrantino
- a small vineyard of Traminer for the production of the white and the Passito wines
Winery
Fattoria del Colle winery was built in 2001 and Casato Prime Donne in 2002.
Both the wineries are beautiful to visit, in Montalcino the visitors understand the local history by some pictures located among the barrels in the cellar and it is also possible to taste the wine listening music.
In Fattoria del Colle the winery is under the main villa and there is also a hermitage inside.
Viticulture
The main part of the vineyards was planted from 1997 to 2005 but oldest vineyards are being replanted.
We have 5500 plants per hectare and the vine’s training system is the Cordone Speronato.
The grape production is entirely organic.
The harvest is done by hand.
People
Owner
Donatella Cinelli Colombini was born in Siena in 1953. She graduated in History of medieval art with top marks. After a period of five years devoted to historic and artistic studies in 1984 she began working on the family estate where she stayed for 14 years.
In 1993, Donatella Cinelli Colombini founded the “Wine Tourism Movement”. The same year she invented – Wineday – that in a very short time transformed Italian wine tourism.
Donatella also promoted the first courses for specialists in wine tourism, and now teaches the techniques for changing wineries into tourist destination post graduate master courses regarding tourism and farming management.
In 1998, her parents gave her Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda with its beautiful country inn, and Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino (Tuscany) where she has created two wineries and a production of high quality wines. These wineries are the first in Italy with a female staff. Now they produce 150.000 bottles par year and export their wines in 31 foreign countries.
From 2001 to 2011 Donatella Cinelli Colombini has been Tourist advisor for the city of Siena, “Urban trekking” has been one of her creation. Since 2013 she is President of The Consorzio del Vino Orcia.
In 2003, she won the Oscar for Best Italian wine producer, prize awarded by the Italian Association of Sommelier, AIS Rome-Bibenda, and in 2012 she received the “International Award” by Vinitaly.
She has published the Manuale del turismo del vino (2003) and Marketing del turismo del vino (2007).
Winemaker
Barbara Magnani was a volley-ball player. She studied enology at Siena school and now does a lot of voluntary work
Winemaking Consultant
Valerie Lavigne studied at the Bordeaux University where now she now teaches.
She has a consulting company with Mr Denis Dubourdieu and Mr Christophe Ollivier.
Wines
Overall production volumes (number of bottles):
Brunello di Montalcino Docg : 45.000 bt
Brunello di Montalcino Docg Selection Prime Donne: 5000 bt
Brunello di Montalcino Docg Riserva: 5000 bt
Rosso di Montalcino Doc: 27000bt
Doc Orcia Cenerentola:5000 bt
Doc Orcia Leone Rosso: 10000 bt
Chianti Superiore Docg: 20000 bt
Igt Toscana Rosso Il Drago e le 8 Colombe: 8000 bt
Igt Toscana bianco Sanchimento:2000 bt
Igt Toscana Rosa di tetto:1500 bt
Vinsanto del Chianti Doc: 400 bt
Cellar door information
- Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda:
Open 9-13 15-18
Wine tastings, guided winery visit, lunch in the restaurant, XVI Century villa visit, cooking class, stay in the agriturismo.
- Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino:
Open Monday- Friday 9-13 15-18 by reservation
Wine tastings, guided winery visit, brunch, cooking class, wine tasting with music.
Get a Feel for the Place with the Following Video
Find out more about Donatella Cinelli Comlombini on their website CinelliColombini.it