Montalcino Report

Harvest Report 2011: Potential Anthocyanins, Seeds Are Ripe, Excellent Vintage Still Expected

Yesterday we have completed the organic fertilizing of the land using manure pellets. They are easy to distribute and they are an excellent substitute for barnyard manure. At the same time, in order to avoid that it be burned by the sun, it was also buried by tilling the land.

We continue to harvest the Sangiovese to produce the Rosso di Montlacino. On Monday, we will begin to harvest the Sangiovese to produce the Brunello di Montalcino. Yesterday, the analytical monitoring has comforted us. The choice to wait to make the harvest has given the hope-for results. The potential anthocyanins have risen to 1428.00 and the extractible anthocyanins to 1017.00. The ripeness of the seeds is excellent. We are still convinced, that at least for us in Sant'Angelo in Colle, 2011 will be an excellent vintage.

Snowfall in Montalcino, more snowfall on the Mount Amiata

The disturbance in the weather is continuing. It has snowed in Montalcino while here in Sant'Angelo in Colle it has only rained. However, the snowy mantle on the Mount Amiata has descended even lower, as one can see in the photo. Surely, we are to expect a very cold winter.

The "Leccio", the "Holm Oak" symbol of Montalcino

Many people think that the name of the Montalcino village comes from the Italian "monte" and it means "little mount". In reality, it comes from the the words "monte" in Italian that means "mount" or "hill" and the term "ilex" in the Latin which has the meaning the "holm oak tree". That is to say that Montalcino means the "mount of the holm oak trees". In fact, our land has a lot of holm oak trees, like the one above on the Tenuta Il Poggione estate. We allow some trees to grow in our vineyards to maintain the nature's balance on our terroir and also because we are proud of these beautiful places.

Herewith is a photo of the village where I and my family lives, Sant'Angelo in Colle, as seen from the Tenuta Il Poggione's farmhouse. 

Snow on the Mt. Amiata and in Sant'Angelo in Colle

Last night has arrived even in Sant’Angelo in Colle a disturbance that has caused a sprinkling of snow in both our zone and clearly, with much more abundance, on Mt. Amiata, at 1,738 meters above sea level.

Weather report 2010 Brunello (and a new vineyard)

A note from my father Fabrizio Bindocci.

In the last 10 years, the Tenuta Il Poggioine has planted vineyards of Sangiovese in the high zone of the estate, at 400 meters above sea level, in order to obtain wines more elegant, with more acidity, and a lower degree of alcohol. To this end, we are preparing 1 hectare of land that we will plant in March 2011.

The rock that has come out of the earth is reburied and then a layer of at least 2 meters of earth is placed on top of the rock so as to allow the vines to develop well and not suffer from the dryness of summer months.

Yesterday afternoon we had abundant rainfall, which will help the grapes to arrive at ripeness without heat stress and without a lack of water.

Temperature update: maximum 30° C (86° F), minimum 17° C (63° F).

The "pappa col pomodoro", a Traditional Tuscan Summer Dish

 

The "pappa col pomodoro" is a great Tuscan summertime dish. It is a bread soup made with our characteristic saltless Tuscan "type 00" bread, fresh summertime tomatoes and basil. It is always served tepid or just warm (never hot). It is one of the many dishes in Tuscan cooking that make use of "yesterday's bread", in other words, stale bread from the day before. It is usually topped with drizzled extra virgin olive oil.

The pappa col pomodoro in the photo is made at Trattoria Il Leccio in Sant'Angelo in Colle our village. The word "leccio" means "holm oak" in Italian, from the Latin "ilex", and, in fact, the toponym Montalcino comes from a combination of "monte" or "mount" and "ilex", in other words, the "holm oak mount". People from Montalcino are called, in fact, "ilcinesi" from the Latin "ilex".

Il Leccio
Via Costa Castellare 1
Sant'Angelo In Colle
0577 844176

Il Leccio also serves traditional Tuscan cusine but you will find some classic Italian dishes as well and a great wine list, with a lot of wines from many different Brunello producers, including Il Poggione, of course.

Another favorite at Il Leccio is "zucchine in three ways" (above), stuffed, fried, and with fried zucchine flowers — a classic springtime Tuscan cooking dish.

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!
 

Images of the festival of our village Sant'Angelo in Colle

During the weekend has been finished the "festone" festival of our village, Sant'Angelo in Colle. It was held in the main piazza of the village.

Herewith me playing the clarinetto with our orchestra.

We have called the porchetta the "Maestro"! 

They are seen the herbs utilized to stuff the suckling pig before being roasted and sliced.

Herewith my father who enjoy the porchetta! We are happy that my father has been elected to the Council of the Administration of the Consortium of the Wine Brunello di Montalcino. 

 

I hope that to see you this summer in our village! Herewith is a map so that you may find us!

View Larger Map

  

 

Elections of the Brunello di Montalcino Consortium

Yesterday the election for the Brunello di Montalcino consortium board members took place and the following board members have been elected by the Brunello producers themselves:

Bindocci Fabrizio, Buratti Rudy, Cinelli Colombini Donatella, Cortonesi Andrea, Cortonesi Marco, Lambardi Maurizio, Lisini Baldi Carlo Arturo, Losappio Bernardo, Morlacchetti Ermanno, Orzalesi Guido, Pacenti Giancarlo, Palazzesi Elia, Ratto Fabio, Ripaccioli Francesco, Rivella Ezio.

Among these board members, the President and the three Vice Presidents will be chosen within 20 days.  

Festival of Sant'Angelo in Colle 16, 21, 22, 23 May 2010

Please click on the image below to download the official program of the festival of our village in honor of Maria Santissima della Misericordia (Our Lady of Mercy) held every 25 years.

 

The "festone" is a beautiful event in our village each year in the spring and the "cene per le vie del paese" are magical where we have served the dinner in the streets of the village.

Here with are some of the highlights of the "festone".

Sunday 16 May 8:00 pm dinner in the streets of the village

Friday 21 May 5:00 pm opening of the gastronomic stand where will be proposed culinary specialities of the village and countryside

Sunday 23 May 11:30 exhibition of the folkloristic group of the Castelli Romani "I Capannari"