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.
Agricola Cirelli – Francesco's Dream
It is in the ruggedly beautiful hills near Teramo, in the Abruzzo region of central Italy about 8km from the crystalline Adriatic sea...
Distina – Run to the Hill
Distina is located in the “Colli Piacentini” hills of Western Emilia-Romagna near the picturesque burg of Castell’Arquato and is nestled between two verdant and rather Hobbit-esque…
Gaia Felix
Gaia Felix revives the ancient alberata tradition of vines climbing trees, farming Asprinio biodynamically on volcanic soils north of Caserta in Campania.
Vini Pra
Graziano Pra's certified-organic Soave estate in Monteforte d'Alpone, making mineral, age-worthy Garganega-based whites with indigenous yeasts and no new oak since 1983.
Colle Stefano
Fabio Marchionni's organic family estate at 420 meters in Matelica is a cult reference for crisp, mineral, pine-scented Verdicchio di Matelica.
Agricola Virà
Inside a regional natural park between Cefalu and Gratteri, this Sicilian farm grows vines and olive trees side by side, fermenting Catarratto on its skins with nothing added.
Gueli
Near Agrigento in southern Sicily, the Gueli family farms organic Nero d'Avola on chalky and limestone soils within sight of the Valley of the Temples.
Tenuta Selvadolce
Aris Blancardi, a trained veterinarian, converted his family's Ligurian flower farm into 7 biodynamic hectares near Bordighera, producing Pigato, Vermentino, and Rossese with minimal intervention.
Franco Terpin
A pioneer of skin-contact wine in Friuli's Collio, Franco Terpin farms marl-and-sandstone hills straddling the Italian-Slovenian border and macerates his whites for weeks to make textured, age-worthy orange wines.
Cantina Margò
From neglected plots around Perugia, Carlo Tabarrini revived Umbrian Trebbiano, Grechetto and Sangiovese into direct, biodynamic wines made exactly as his grandfather's were.
Capolino Perlingieri
A former Milan investment banker who returned home to Campania in 2003 to revive her family's Sannio estate, farming organically and bottling indigenous Falanghina, Greco, Fiano and Aglianico.
Morandin
On a single hectare in Corbanese di Tarzo, three generations of the Giacometti family have made just one wine — Lèntico, a col fondo Prosecco refermented in bottle with native yeasts, bottled following the lunar cycle, and capped with sediment.