The Women of Wine: A Conversation with Donatella Cinelli Colombini

by Erin

I rarely do this.

I rarely offer tasting notes on wines that aren’t readily available at your friendly, neighbourhood LCBO.

But today, I’m making an exception.

Now, before you tune out, let me make clear you can get these wines – they’re easily available to order through Le Sommelier (and, come on? Who doesn’t like a little online shopping?)

Yesterday, I was invited to try a lineup of fabulous Italian wines, wines I enjoyed so much, I thought it was worth telling you about.

What sells wine, I believe, is a great story. Of course, the wine has to taste good, that’s obvious, but without having a connection to the brand, a link, a relationship… really, there’s nothing keeping you from buying a bottle and moving on to the next thing that catches your eye.

So if you have a good story – and most wine makers do – if you can have a good story that’s sincere and perhaps veined with strife, your wines will resonate with wine drinkers, who will happily share your story with other wine drinkers.

And that is what Donatella Cinelli Colombini has managed to do with me.

A small, soft, elegant woman, whose near-fluent English is lightly punctuated with a Tuscan accent, and heavily influenced with the determination and sensibility of a woman who has seen a few things – and then worked to change them.

She has an all-woman staff. The first winery in Italy to do make such a bold move, she is unapologetic, defiant even, in her purposeful quest to recruit females in a male dominated, and often misogynistic, industry.

“And then we started winning award after award,” Donatella states matter of factly at her recent stop in Toronto. “And we’re now in 31 countries.”

In 1998 her mother retired from managing her family estate – a sprawling country property  in picturesque Montalcino. Known for the popular Fattoria dei Barbi, she gave the bulk of the land to Donatella’s brother, but 16 hectares – wild and unplanted with the ruins of a 15th century structure – went to Donatella.

Donatella ripped up the weeds and wild growth and planted vines: mostly Sangiovese, but also the long forgotten Sienese varietal Foglia Tonda.

She hired a female winemaker. People were shocked. Donatella didn’t care.

“I wanted to end this discrimination,” she says firmly. Her father then put her in charge of the family’s Orcia estate.

While hardly the picture of a fierce feminist solider (she gets tired during the long day of promoting her wines and wraps her arms around her husband and gently laughs as she puts her head on his chest) she is a formidable business woman. Having built a premium winery from scratch, she has helped other winemakers with marketing, and created a national wine day in Italy to connect wine drinkers to wine makers.

Between the two estates she produces about a dozen wines. Her favourite? A 2010 Brunello de Montalcino called Prime Donne. It’s the first red wine where the blend was selected from a panel of women wine experts. And the 2010 vintage that she is showing is from the vines she planted herself 15 years ago.

“It takes time to interpret the land,” she says with a smile.

All wines are available through Le Sommelier.

Wine Reviews

Leon Rosso, Orcia, Tuscany, Italy 2010
$20.95
Orcia is the valley that lies between Montalcino and Montepulciano. This ruby red wine is a blend of 60% Sangiovese and 40% Merlot, with a nose of ripe red cherry, dusty herbs, tart cranberry and red licorice. Medium bodied on the palate with bright acidity and fine tannin, look for flavours of red and black cherries and bitter chocolate with a resinous herbal uplift.

Cerentola, DOC Orcia, Tuscany, Italy 2010
$42.95
Orcia only received its DOC designation in 2000, making the wine region a mere infant between the two aged, established and revered regions of Montalcino and Montepulciano. That’s where the name of this brilliant wine comes from. Taking inspiration from the fairytale Cinderella – a beautiful girl living in the shadows of her glamourous and popular sisters – Donatella felt the same of Orcia.
Made with 65% Sangiovese and 35% Foglia Tonda – a native Tuscan varietal that was virtually forgotten about a century ago. Ripe red and blue berries on the nose with black olive paste and dark earth aromas, the palate is full and dense with fine firm tannin and balanced acidity. Juicy, with both elegance and power, this wine hits all the right notes and was easily one of my top picks of a very strong tasting.

Il Drago e le 8 Colombe Rosso, Tuscany, Italy 2010
$31.95
Made from 60% Sangiovese Grosso (the same clone as Brunello) with 20% each Merlot and Sagrantino, the wine’s name means the dragon and the 8 doves. The doves refer to the 8 cellar staff and the dragon is Donatella’s husband, Carlo Gardini. Powerful and firm, with well integrated tannin and vibrant acid, flavours of rich, red berries, maraschino cherry and black licorice come through on the palate. A nice pairing for peppercorn crusted salami.

Brunello di Montalcino “Prime Donne,” Tuscany, Italy 2010
$79.95
Four leading female wine experts gather each year to decide on the final blend for the Prime Donne. The 2010 is intriguing, deep and seductive with aromas of sweet and sour red fruit, briny black olives and ripe cassis and plum. Rich, dark fruit on the palate with a silky, soft mouthfeel and fine firm tannin. Lovely length.

Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy 2008
$63.95 (Coming to Vintages this year, exact date TBD)
Lovely and graceful with dense fruit and a high-toned, herbal freshness. Aromas of red and dark fruit and wild herbs, while the palate shows fine-firm tannin, and flavours of red berries, black licorice nibs and a tart cranberry finish.

Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy 2007
$63.95
A far more masculine example than the other Brunellos at the tasting, with cured meat, dark cherry and brining spice on the nose and a savoury palate of toasted caraway and fennel seeds, wild herbs and black cherry and cassis fruit. Firm tannins add to the powerful, masculine structure.

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, Tuscany, Italy 2007
$97 (available in Vintages 107508)
There’s a funky, leesy note on the nose that mixes with dark fruit. Full and dense on the palate, with grippy tannin and flavours of smoky spice, black currant, dark cherry, black licorice. This is quite powerful and chewy. Tame the tannic bite with richer meats like sausage or rib eye.