Donatella Cinelli Colombini Prime Donne Brunello di Montalcino 2015
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Winemaker Notes
The first Italian red wine suitable for ageing, selected by female tasters.The tasting panel for the most feminine Brunello di Montalcino of Casato Prime Donne meets at least once a year and is composed of four female taters Rosemary George, Master of Wine, the German wine expert Astrid Schwarz, one of the best Italian sommeliers Daniela Scrobogna and the Italo-American PR Marina Thompson. Together they choose the best Brunello selection aged in large barrels.
Brilliant and deep ruby red. Intense, fine, spicy aromas. Dry, warm, robust, harmonious, lingers at length in the mouth.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is a special selezione expression. The Donatella Cinelli Colombini 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Prime Donne starts off a bit closed and shy, however it soon gains speed thanks to the intensity of its berry fruit, spice and camphor ash aromas. This wine is built to withstand longer cellar aging. It is firmly compact and tight at its core, recalling a Brunello from a cooler vintage. However, much of that 2015 sunshine and dark fruit exuberance comes through nonetheless. Fruit comes from a 10-hectare site with a large component of clay in the soils.
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James Suckling
Sliced, ripe strawberries with cherries and licorice and lavender on the nose. Full body. Dense and tight with ripe and polished tannins and a long and flavorful finish. Shows power and density. Drink after 2021.
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Wine Enthusiast
Rose, woodland berry and camphor aromas mingle together on this taut medium-bodied red. On the linear elegant palate, polished tannins lithely support red cherry, pomegranate and star anise. Best 2021–2026.
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Decanter
Prime Donne is a selection crafted with the collaboration of four female wine industry leaders. It typically hails from the 2.5ha Ardita vineyard which produces particularly small, concentrated berries. The savory nose is showing some development yet is still rather closed. Chestnut, spice and leather surface on the palate. The tannins are fierce and fruit is dense but this would benefit from a bit more vibrancy. Drinking Window 2021 - 2027
Other Vintages
2018-
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Wine
Donatella Cinelli Colombini owns two wineries, one in Montalcino and one in Trequanda in the Chianti and DOC Orcia regions. Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino is a property of 40 hectares of which 16 hectares include Sangiovese vineyards and the winery and cellar.
At Donatella Cinelli Colombini all the vintners are women, as is the head winemaker, which is a unique situation in Italy and a beacon of progress for women in the wine business in general. Donatella herself was approached by the EU to research the use of native yeast strains in Montalcino. As a result of her work, these local yeasts are now used in the winemaking process at Donatella Cinelli Colombini and are available to use throughout Montalcino.
In the vineyard, Donatella Cinelli Colombini has been cultivating her grapes with organic methods since 2014 and will soon be receiving organic certification. In addition, she has made some recent upgrades at the winery including the use of cement tanks for fermentation. Instead of barriques in the cellar, Donatella Cinelli Colombini chooses to age her Brunelli for at least two years in 500-litre tonneaux and then decants the wine into 15hl casks for further aging. Finally the wine will rest in bottle, which is essential for developing aromatic fullness. The distinctive element of Donatella's wines is their elegance.
Donatella's wines have been widely praised by the press, especially in recent vintages. In 2016, she was one of four Brunello producers chosen to present at Wine Spectator's New York Wine Experience and in the same year Merano Wine Festival gave gold medals to the 2012 vintage of both Donatella's Brunello and Brunello Progetto Prime Donne.
Among Italy's elite red grape varieties, Sangiovese has the perfect intersection of bright red fruit and savory earthiness and is responsible for the best red wines of Tuscany. While it is best known as the chief component of Chianti, it is also the main grape in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and reaches the height of its power and intensity in the complex, long-lived Brunello di Montalcino. Somm Secret—Sangiovese doubles under the alias, Nielluccio, on the French island of Corsica where it produces distinctly floral and refreshing reds and rosés.
Famous for its bold, layered and long-lived red, Brunello di Montalcino, the town of Montalcino is about 70 miles south of Florence, and has a warmer and drier climate than that of its neighbor, Chianti. The Sangiovese grape is king here, as it is in Chianti, but Montalcino has its own clone called Brunello.
The Brunello vineyards of Montalcino blanket the rolling hills surrounding the village and fan out at various elevations, creating the potential for Brunello wines expressing different styles. From the valleys, where deeper deposits of clay are found, come wines typically bolder, more concentrated and rich in opulent black fruit. The hillside vineyards produce wines more concentrated in red fruits and floral aromas; these sites reach up to over 1,600 feet and have shallow soils of rocks and shale.
Brunello di Montalcino by law must be aged a minimum of four years, including two years in barrel before realease and once released, typically needs more time in bottle for its drinking potential to be fully reached. The good news is that Montalcino makes a “baby brother” version. The wines called Rosso di Montalcino are often made from younger vines, aged for about a year before release, offer extraordinary values and are ready to drink young.