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Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Says Cheers to Donatella Cinelli Colombini Rosso di Montalcino Produced by Women Flagship - Casato Prime Donne #ItalianFWT


To celebrate the International Women’s Day on March 8th, I have invited #ItalianFWT blogger friends to write about their female protagonist in the Italian wine industry. With a little fascination but a lot of inspiration, I’m going to tell the story of Donatella Cinelli Colombini who owns the all-female run Casato Prime Donne winery in Tuscany. Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s version of female empowerment is not about making a political statement or novelty, but rather she truly believes that women’s knowledge, ability, determination, and persistence are success factors for a winery operation.
Over four centuries ago, Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s ancestors already owned Casato. In this century,  Donatella's grandmother passed Casato onto Donatella’s mother, who passed it onto Donatella in the late 1990s. Currently, Donatella’s daughter, Violante has inherited the winery. Since 1998, Donatella founded her own estate that comprises of Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda and Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino.
Donatella Cinelli Colombini (Photo Credit: https://www.cinellicolombini.it/en/)
Shortly after her rebranding, she was searching for staff in Siena’s enology school and noticed those female students were abundantly available due to the industry’s unfair preference of male graduates over females. Taking these young female enologists under her wings, Donatella was rewarded with determination and hard work from these women. The number of women in Donatella’s estate is very high. In fact, the Casato Prime Donne winery is entirely run by women, a unique phenomenon in the whole of Italy. The rest of the team is made up of competent and ambitious men and women who take care of tourist hospitality, restoration, tender grapes in the vineyards, and manage the entire winemaking cycle from start to finish.

Talented Female Crew (Photo Credit: https://www.cinellicolombini.it/en/)
My bottle of Donatella Cinelli Colombini Rosso di Montalcino 2016 (SRP$23.99) comes from the Casato Prime Donne. This estate is made up of 40 hectares in which 17 hectares are taken up by Sangiovese vineyards and the winery for the production and ageing of the Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino wines. Rosso di Montalcino, released after ageing for one year, is the “younger brother” of Brunello di Montalcino which must be aged a minimum of four years - two years in barrel before release and once released, typically it needs more time in bottle to max out its drinking potential.  
Drinking Donatella Cinelli Colombini Rosso di Montalcino is a real treat. A tad iron on the nose, this wine is textured, layered, complex and balanced. The dried plum fruit and mild acidity, these softer palates are intermingled with the oak, licorice and leather notes that are also present in the wine, making this wine balanced, elegant, velvety yet approachable. A simple pairing – a thick piece of store-bought pork terrine cold cut and a thick slice of tomato, atop a toast is all I need. Since the pork terrine was very mild-tasting, I added some French Dijon mustard - some tanginess and spiciness to the cold-cut. As I appreciate this wine, there’s no doubt in my mind that the women winemakers at Casato Prime Donne have done an exceptional job as the quality of the wine shows. What is truly inspiring is that, behind this wine label, there’s a safe place women winemaker can show their worth!

Let’s see what our friends say about their Italian female wine heroes:

9 comments:

  1. Donatella is an amazing woman! I've had the pleasure of meeting her not just once, but twice and she's incredibly friendly, humble and warm! Just a real joy to talk to! You couldn't have featured a better person Pinny! The wines are usually very consistent which speaks to the quality of the region, the grapes and those working with the grapes to make the wine. Cheers.

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    1. Marcia, you were so lucky! Google search seems to like Donatella a lot as she's at the top the search. I went to Tuscany two years ago but didn't have a chance to visit Montalcino. I'm sure I'll go back very soon and try to visit Donatella. Welcome to #ItalianFWT too!

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  2. Researching Italian women in wine I came across Donatella and what she has done/is doing at Fattoria Del Colle and Casato Prime Donne. Spectacular and inspiring story! Love the simplicity of your pairing here Pinny, all for easy and tasty. Thanks for hosting this month.

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    1. It was a busy week for me. Did what I could. Look forward to reading your post.

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  3. Thanks for hosting! You came across a good woman to feature for this article, for sure! I like the way she was able to capitalize on the women studying wine that weren't getting a fair opportunity.

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    1. Totally. I could imagine these female enologists must have gone above and beyond for her when they were hired.

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  4. How cool that she's taken young female enologists under her wings! Sometimes women need good mentors to be successful. Kudos to Donatella Cinelli Colombini!

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  5. Thanks so much for hosting Pinny. I wish I had been able to meet some of the women featured in the articles this month.

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  6. It's wonderful to hear how Donatella paid it forward by hiring all the female enology students. Also, that wine sounds like a steal at $24

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