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.
Bruno Zanasi
South of Modena, the Zanasi family farms organic Grasparossa on limestone clay and bottles bone-dry Lambrusco using only native yeast, with grandson Marco now at the helm.
Koi
A former Lambrusco cellar hand turned grower making tiny lots of col fondo sparkling wine from old, hand-trained vines in the hills west of Bologna.
Il Farneto
High in the hills above the Secchia river, Marco Bertoni has farmed biodynamically since 2003, reviving Spergola and even near-extinct Termarina alongside his frizzante Lambrusco.
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.
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.
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.