Fall 2022 Offer #17: Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara

Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara - Pescille Vineyard

**This is Open Tuesday’s 17th of 18 spring offers. To get to a 12-bottle increment for an April shipment, you can also browse wines that are still available from previous offers. It’s also not too late to order a half or full curated case from our Wine Attaché team.**

Wine friends,

Many of our Open Tuesday producers are among the very best in their category. Take Le Ragnaie or I Favati for example. Just about everyone in the Italian wine industry understands both producers are among the top 5-6 in their regions. (Brunello di Montalcino and Fiano di Avellino respectively). 

Other Open Tuesday wines offer incredible value and, if rankings existed, would likely be placed somewhere in the top five percent of examples on the market.

Today’s featured producer, Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara, is on a different level altogether. I feel quite comfortable saying Il Colombaio is the best producer of Vernaccia di San Gimignano. 

Il Colombaio makes two excellent single-vineyard Vernaccia wines, L'Albereta Riserva and Campo della Pieve. But I prefer the wine we have on offer today, Selvabianca, which is the winery’s least expensive Vernaccia. 

Apparently, I’m not alone in that preference.

When I first tasted this 2022 Selvapiana a few weeks ago, I was so impressed that I impetuously told Il Colombaio co-owner/winemaker Alessio Logi that Selvabianca might be better than even his single-vineyard cru wines.

Alessio, beaming with pride, informed me that Selvabianca wins just as many awards as the single-vineyard cru wines. “It’s just so fresh and vibrant,” he said (in impeccable English).

This “best in class” Vernaccia di San Gimignano is one of my favorite white wines produced anywhere in Italy.

Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara - 2022 “Selvabianca” Vernaccia di San Gimignano

Il Colombaio’s 2022 Selvabianca Vernaccia is a fresh, organically produced white wine made in historic San Gimignano, Tuscany. It’s clean, energetic, and unmistakably profound for a white wine at this price. My notes: “White flowers, almond, lemon, thyme, and mint. Fruit-forward, with a fierce mineral edge, savory finish. This is pure, honest Vernaccia.”

Open Tuesday’s price for this 2022 Selvabianca is lower than any current offer in North America.

To order, just click the blue link above and follow the prompts.

Selvabianca is a blend of three vineyard parcels near the Il Colombaio estate: Pescille, Cotone, and San Donato.

Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara’s location in Tuscany.

Check out our social media posts for great photos of the winemaker and the estate: Instagram | Facebook

Food pairing: Selvabianca works well with simple tomato sauce-based pasta dishes, like paccheri alla sorrentina (Sorrento-style paccheri), or pasta al pomodoro (pasta in a tomato sauce).

If you are feeling ambitious, try to make Rimessa Roscioli’s pasta with tomatoes. Head Chef Tommaso walks through the process and the ingredients in this excellent video.

Il Colombaio recommends drinking this wine with fresh pasta in white meat sauces, mixed fried fish, or roast chicken with potatoes. 

Il Colombaio di Santa Chiara - 2022 “Selvabianca” Vernaccia di San Gimignano

13% ABV

Happy Tuesday,

Chris

If you have any questions or feedback, please email us: [email protected].  

How it works: 

After clicking one of the links above, you’ll be able to request 1-12 bottles. Actually, that’s all you have to do!

About a week later, when we close the offer, you’ll get an email confirming how many bottles we allocated to your account. We will charge you when the wines are allocated.

We’ll do our best to allocate all the bottles you request. But when there are more requests than bottles available, we’ll allocate one bottle to all requesting members before allocating a second bottle to anyone. We want as many members as possible to try these wines.

This is the 17th of 18 offers during the fall season. Through the first week of November, we are sending offers on Thursday and Sunday, and the Open Tuesday re-up on Tuesdays.

We ship in increments of 12. With 18 offers this season, there should be plenty of chances to get to 12, 24, or 36. If you don’t have an increment of 12 at the end of the fall season offers, we can hold your wines until the next offer season – spring 2023.

Wines offered in the fall will ship in late November-early December for $5 per bottle (if you have an increment of 12.) This is about the same as the price to ship coast-to-coast within the U.S. – but our wines come directly from Italy.

Once your payment method is on file, you can make future requests with just a few clicks from the offer email. If you don’t have a card on file, you can add one during your first order. Your personal financial information is protected by Stripe.

Chris MacLean

Rob Genova

Open Tuesday Wines S.r.l.s.

Via Augusto Anfossi 19, 20135 Milano - Italy