Natural Wine Producers: Working With Nature
Portraits and interviews with the world's finest natural wine producers — farmers and winemakers who work in harmony with terroir, minimal intervention, and a deep respect for the land.
Paltrinieri
Four generations since 1926, Alberto and Barbara Paltrinieri farm 17 hectares of Lambrusco di Sorbara in the Cristo subzone near Modena, making bottle-fermented sparklers widely considered the variety's benchmark.
Tre Monti
Family estate in Romagna's Imola hills making organic, minimal-intervention wines from Sangiovese, Albana, and Trebbiano since the 1960s.
Loose Wines
Los Angeles lifestyle duo Bo Yeong and Kevin Carney created Loose Wines with Emilia-Romagna producer Massimo Randi: a trio of organic, ancestral-method pet nat sparkling wines from indigenous Longanesi and Malbo Gentile grapes.
Pandolfa
On a 17th-century estate in Predappio, Marco Cirese farms 30 certified-organic hectares and makes mineral Romagna Sangiovese that honours the subzone's distinct clay and limestone soils.
Croci
On a fossilized seabed in the Colli Piacentini, Massimiliano Croci makes bottle-refermented sparkling wines with a patient low-and-slow ferment that stops in winter and restarts in spring.
Distina – Run to the Hill
Distina is Claudio Campaner's small organic estate in the Colli Piacentini hills of Emilia-Romagna, among natural-wine neighbors like La Stoppa and Denavolo. A former distiller, he returned home in 2017 to make natural wines and spirits, and now farms about six hectares.
Podere Magia – Lambrusco at its Best
Podere Magia, the 'Estate of Magic,' is vigneron Stefano Pescarmona's small farm in Emilia, in the Lambrusco heartland of Emilia-Romagna. He makes natural, ancestral-method Lambrusco on a homestead of vines, spring water, and wild countryside.
Angol d'Amig
A one-man Lambrusco project near Modena that ferments in the bottle with frozen must instead of autoclaves, turning a mass-produced wine back into something hand-built.
Faccia di Vino
A clean, circular-farming Lambrusco from Modena, made by fourth-generation grower Alberto Pezzuoli on family land worked since 1932 for US importer Amy Atwood.
Camillo Donati
In the hills above Parma, Camillo Donati turns Lambrusco, Malvasia and Barbera into bone-dry, bottle-fermented frizzanti using only wild yeasts and zero filtration.
Randi for Vinovore
Randi for Vinovore is a collaboration between LA natural wine shop Vinovore -- founded by Coly Den Haan -- and Azienda Agricola Randi in Romagna, producing ancestral-method pet-nats from rare indigenous varieties including Famoso, Centesimino, and Longanesi.
Fangareggi
A family farm near Reggio Emilia where Matteo Fangareggi makes hand-harvested, native-yeast Lambrusco from 24 hectares his family has tended since the 1800s.