Montalcino Report

Happy Thanksgiving To All Our Friends In The USA!

Happy Thanksgiving! Buon giorno del ringraziamento!

Happy Thanksgiving from the family of the Tenuta Il Poggione!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! BUON GIORNO DEL RINGRAZIAMENTO A TUTTI! 

Our worker Fabio Guerrieri receiving the medal for his 20 years service at Il Poggione

During the Benfinita our worker Fabio Guerrieri has received the medal his 20th year of work with us at Il Poggione. Here he is proudly showing it in front of the winery.

Our support of Mr. Franco Ziliani

 

The man in the right of the photo is Mr. Franco Ziliani, standing next to my father Fabrizio Bindocci. Mr. Ziliani is one of the best Italian wine writers and his blog, which is called "Vino al Vino", is one of the most popular wine blogs in the Italy. Earlier this year, he and my father led a vertical tasting of Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino from the 1973 to 2004 vintages at the historic Villa Braida in the Veneto.

Last week, Mr. Ziliani has decided to suspend his blog. 

This post is dedicated to Mr. Ziliani: we wish to thank you for your important voice in the world of the wine blogging and the "enogiornalismo". 

And we most sincerely hope to read your writings again very soon, whether in your blog or in the many "testate" that you write for so many important wine revues.

We also thank you for your great support of Il Poggione and our traditional Brunello di Montalcino.

The best restaurant in the Montalcino area: Il Silene of Roberto Rossi

When we make an important dinner at Il Poggione, like the dinner we have made to taste the old vintages of Il Poggione and Col d'Orcia Brunello di Montalcino in Feburary, we rely on the chef of Il Silene in Seggiano (southeast of Montalcino) Roberto Rossi, whose restaurant is considered by many as the best restaurant in the Montalcino area.

The name "Silene" derives from the name for a flower also called "strigolo" in Italian, called the "Bladder Campion". This name comes from the ancient name "Silenus" of the accompanier of Bacchus (probably because the flower of the plant looks like the chalice). Silene is also used in the cuisine.  

These are the ravioli stuffed with cheese and herbs and topped with the shave black truffles, as is the custom of our cuisine in Toscana. This photo and that below are by the food and wine writer Robin Goldstein (we have found them in his Flickr page).

This is the "cervello in cartoccio", the "brains in parchment paper". 

When you come to visit the Toscana and Montalcino this summer, we invite you to dine at this amazing restaurant and to know the cuisine of Roberto Rossi, the best chef in our area.

Ristorante Il Silene
Località Pescina
58038 Seggiano (GR)
Tel 0564950805
Fax: 0564950553

View Larger Map

Val d'Orcia UNESCO protected site

A Twitter conversation this evening with an excellent wine blogger from London Wine Woman Song reminded me that the Val d'Orcia where we live is a UNESCO protected site for its beauty and its historical importance. Herewith Sant'Angelo in Colle, our village, seen from our vineyards below in the photograph.  

The landscape of Val d’Orcia is part of the agricultural hinterland of Siena, redrawn and developed when it was integrated in the territory of the city-state in the 14th and 15th centuries to reflect an idealized model of good governance and to create an aesthetically pleasing picture. The landscape’s distinctive aesthetics, flat chalk plains out of which rise almost conical hills with fortified settlements on top, inspired many artists. Their images have come to exemplify the beauty of well-managed Renaissance agricultural landscapes. The inscription covers: an agrarian and pastoral landscape reflecting innovative land-management systems; towns and villages; farmhouses; and the Roman Via Francigena and its associated abbeys, inns, shrines, bridges, etc".

Justification for Inscription

Criterion (iv): The Val d’Orcia is an exceptional reflection of the way the landscape was re-written in Renaissance times to reflect the ideals of good governance and to create an aesthetically pleasing pictures.

Criterion (vi): The landscape of the Val d’Orcia was celebrated by painters from the Siennese School, which flourished during the Renaissance. Images of the Val d’Orcia, and particularly depictions of landscapes where people are depicted as living in harmony with nature, have come to be seen as icons of the Renaissance and have profoundly influenced the development of landscape thinking.

Please visit the site of the UNESCO to read more and thanks @winewomansong for reminding me how beautiful the Val d'Orcia is. :)

We will await you and your friends in Sant'Angelo in Colle!
 

An excellent post on Italian winery designations.

 

Our friend Jeremy Parzen Ph.D. has made an excellent post on the names of Italian wineries: azienda, cascina, fattoria, podere, poggio, tenuta and many others. His etymologies also include the designations used in the name of our winery Tenuta il Poggione.

Thanks you Jeremy for this useful post and for the mention of Tenuta il Poggione.

Reports from Vinitaly, Good News, and Our US Importer Has Received a Prestigious Award

On Friday, our good friend and US importer Mr. Anthony Terlato, owner and founder of Terlato Wines, has received a prestigious award by the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy. It has been given for the inaugural time to "Three individuals who distinguished themselves in developing the Italian-American relationship through wine will be honored by the chamber with their inaugural award: Anthony Terlato, Chairman Terlato Wines International; Mr. Richard Spogli, former U.S.A. Ambassador to Italy and wine entrepreneur; and Mr. Severino Barzan, wine and cellar master, and owner of "La Bottega del Vino" restaurants in Verona and New York City". 

Congratulations to Mr. Terlato from all of us in the Tenuta Il Poggione family!

The other good news of the fair for this year was that we have seen the consumers begin again to go out to the restaurants and to appreciate the just wines. 

Also, it would not be Vinitaly if it has not rained as it did yesterday!     
 

Gigi Brozzoni of the Seminario Veronelli tastes Brunello 2005 by Il Poggione

At Tenuta Il Poggione, we were very thrilled that one of the most important Italian wine writer Gigi Brozzoni of Seminario Veronelli included the 2005 Brunello di Montalcino by Il Poggione in his webcast for the Seminario Veronelli. You can hear his tasting notes at 4 minute and 25 second of the video. Thanks you, Mr. Brozzoni. We are happy to have our wine in your webcast. 

Gori on Il Poggione Brunello 2005: "who could ask for more?"

At Tenuta Il Poggione, we were very pleased to hear one of Italy's top sommeliers, Andrea Gori, of Trattoria da Burde, say of our 2005 Brunello di Montalcino, "Color perfect and flawless, enchanting and refined nose... Drinkable and full-bodied, yet elegant, who could ask for more?"

"Rainy vintage but in Sant'Angelo in Colle rainfall decreases abruptly almost always. Color perfect and flawless, enchanting and refined nose with all that must have a Brunello, floral, dried violet and lavender, cherries in alcohol, balsamic and spicy and tertiary. Mouth slightly shaggy but tannin full and convincing, great balance in a wine that will be after the summer charming but now let them drink that is a pleasure incredible. Drinkable and full-bodied, yet elegant, who could ask for more?"

Here is the video, in Italian, of Andrea tasting with my father Fabrizio Bindocci.