Natural Wine Producers: Working With Nature

Former geologist Marc Houtin founded La Grange aux Belles in Anjou in 2004, and together with partners Julien Bresteau and Gérald Peau, now farms fifteen organic hectares of black schist to make some of the Loire's most vital natural wines.

In Entre-Deux-Mers, fifth-generation Stéphane Dupuch farms hilltop old vines organically, including Semillon planted over a century ago.

Filippo Rizzo returned to his remote patch of central Sicily in the early 2000s after running a natural-wine restaurant in Belgium, and now farms 11 hectares of organic Frappato, Nero d'Avola and Nerello Mascalese at 450 metres between Etna and Vittoria.

Fourth-generation Andi Knauss farms 15 hectares in Strümpfelbach, Württemberg by instinct and organic conviction, making natural Riesling, Trollinger, and Pinot Noir for the La Boutanche collaboration.

Roberto Cristi returned to his family's Piacenza farm in 2009 and opened La Poiesa in 2013, producing zero-intervention pét-nats and still wines from Ortrugo, Malvasia, and Barbera on organic Emilian clay.

Alberto Buratti revived his grandfather's 1972 Euganean Hills farm under the Faedesfa label in 2020, farming 3.2 hectares on volcanic soils and making zero-sulfur pet-nats from rare local varieties.

Olivier and Corinne Minot farm fifth-generation organic Gamay vines at Domaine des Charbonnieres in southern Beaujolais, making crushable concrete-aged natural wines that bring deserved attention to Beaujolais Sud.

Ninth-generation vigneron Olivier Coste stewards 65 hectares of Languedoc vines at Domaine Montrose near Pezenas, reviving near-extinct varieties like Carignan Blanc through organic, carbon-neutral farming.

A young couple at the foot of Monte Grappa grows offbeat grapes like Bronner and Riesling organically, fermenting wild and aging across steel, cement, wood and amphora.

Domenico and Francesca reclaimed a long-abandoned family property outside Gerace in 2010 to grow Calabria's ancient native grapes — Greco Bianco, Greco Nero, Calabrese Nero, Aglianico — with biodynamic principles and a name meaning 'to be born again' in the local dialect.

The Papras family has farmed organically on the slopes of Mount Olympus in Tyrnavos since 1990, making minimal-intervention ancestral-method sparklers and orange wines from Black Muscat of Tyrnavos.

A Nuits-Saint-Georges domaine founded in 1975, certified organic since 2006, with 18 hectares of pristine Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune vineyards.