New Arrivals from Colombaia
The long-awaited new release from Colombaia is finally here. It has been close to two years since we had a shipment from their cellar and it was almost fate that the new vintage arrived just in time for their recent visit.
We now have a range of wines from Colombaia available, crossing vintages and styles, representative of Helena and Dante’s open-minded attitude and delicate touch.
Click through to our bottle shop for more information, availability and prices.
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Colombaia is not just a vineyard but an entire ecosystem of grapes, animals, vegetables, fruit and nuts, all living in symbiosis with, and feeding into each other. The vines sit around the 16th-century farmhouse, 220 metres up on the Colle di Val d’Elsa, on clay soil rich in entire fossils and just 60km from the sea.
The microclimate here is extraordinary. The sea breeze in the late afternoon gives freshness to the soil, as well as the wine, leaving a profound, salty mineral influence on the palate. Each year, the vinification adapts with respect to the vintage. However, some things are constant: spontaneous fermentation using indigenous yeasts, no fining, no filtration and no additives. Other than, occasionally, a tiny amount of sulphur at bottling. Each year, Helena and Dante adapt their labels to suit the changing weather – creating synthesis through visualising each vintage as its unique colour.
At Colombaia there is the perfect formula of new and old vines. The two vineyards are vinified separately, resulting in Vigna Vecchia from 50-year-old vines and Vigna Nuova from 15-year-old vines. Working their vineyard as a big garden whilst utilising biodynamic practices allows them to follow the rhythms of nature, helping the vine reach the mineral elements of the soil and, through sunlight, the essence and freshness of the grape. Helena and Dante stay connected in the cellar, only bottling and releasing wines when they are ready—often letting them evolve for many years in barrel and then further in bottle before allowing any to reach our shelves. These two cuvée are made annually, vintage permitting, alongside a scattering of one-off, limited edition wines allowing Helena and Dante’s flexible and fun nature to shine through. These are bottled symbolically in a Burgundian bottle, signifying the experimentation with more traditionally French winemaking techniques.
Helena and Dante never planned to make exceptional or fine wines, the intention was to make honest wine from the grapes of their vineyard. Colombaia wines are now recognised around the world, the name originating from the name of the family home and dovecote that sits at the top of the house, with the same typographic design that labels their wine decorating the side of the building.
Working alone most of the time, they can manage the small amount of land they have. Continuing a tradition of winemaking dating back generations and revisited by Dante’s father in the 1970s, when he produced wine under the same moniker, albeit with a more industrial approach to production.
Since arriving at Colombaia in 2000, Helena and Dante have established themselves as producers of some of the most delicate, beautifully thoughtful and expressive wines in Tuscany.
