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.
Lula
Oakland-based fashion designer Megan Sekermestrovich makes just 60 cases a year of zero-zero California natural wine under the Lula label, sourcing from growers who pay living wages.
Davide Vignato
A third-generation Gambellara grower farming 14 volcanic hectares organically and biodynamically since 1997 to draw deep minerality from Garganega and Durella.
Calalta
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.
Domaine Gérard Villet
A tiny zero-zero estate in Arbois where Gérard and Christine Villet have farmed organically since 1988, mentoring a generation of Jura natural winemakers along the way.
Buddy Buddy
Out of a Berkeley cellar, Cassidy Miller co-ferments Mendocino grapes with apples and pears into low-alcohol, spontaneously fermented wines and ciders.
Nasciri
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.
Old World Winery
Darek Trowbridge, great-grandson of Russian River Valley pioneer Giuseppe Martinelli, farms biodynamic century-old vines in Fulton and vinifies rare heritage grapes with foot-treading, native yeast, and zero filtration.
Brij Wines
Named for sommelier Rajat Parr's father, Brij is his negociant label, buying from organically farmed Central Coast vineyards and bottling them with almost no intervention.
Chateau la Grolet
On Bordeaux's Right Bank, the Hubert family farms Cotes de Bourg biodynamically, with siblings Guillaume and Rachel making pure, low-sulfur reds.
Casot des Mailloles
A cult no-sulfur domaine on the steep terraces above Banyuls, founded by Alain Castex and Ghislaine Magnier and now carried on by Catalan winemaker Jordi Perez.
No Control
Former sports marketer turned punk-rock vigneron Vincent Marie launched No Control in 2012 in Volvic, Auvergne, farming 5 hectares of 117-year-old Gamay vines on volcanic soils with a horse and bottling every wine without sulfur, filtration, or any oenological additions.
Azienda Agricola Denavolo
Giulio Armani's solo project on Monte Denavolo, where white grapes macerate for months on their skins and are treated exactly as if they were red.