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.
Girolamo Russo
A former concert pianist returned to his family's old vines on Etna's northern slope, farming volcanic sciare across four contrade between 650 and 780 meters.
Cantina Marilina
Two sisters farm 60 organic hectares on a Pachino hilltop in southeast Sicily, hand-harvesting native grapes and fermenting in concrete with the lightest touch in the cellar.
Longarico
Luigi Stalteri and Alessandro Viola launched Longarico in 2015 on the slopes of Mount Bonifato above Alcamo, bringing organic Catarratto and red grapes from 350-meter clay-calcareous soils back to life as pure, unfiltered Sicilian naturals.
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.
Il Censo
A 200-year-old Sicilian family estate near Palazzo Adriano, revived for wine by Gaetano and Nicoletta Gargano under the guidance of Umbria's Giampiero Bea.
Tami'
Tami' is Arianna Occhipinti's everyday label -- biodynamic Sicilian wines made for the table, from the same uncompromising mind that reshaped how the world thinks about Vittoria.
Centopassi
Sicily's Libera Terra cooperative turns vineyards confiscated from Cosa Nostra into organic wines that fund a future free of the mafia.
Azienda Agricola Siciliano
An old north-facing Etna vineyard born after the 1981 eruption, brought back to life as a natural wine project with winemaker Alessandro Viola guiding the cellar since 2015.
Manciaciumi
Former master brewer Dario Sciuto and partners Giovanni Nicita and Leonardo Di Vincenzo recover old ungrafted vines on the south slope of Mount Etna under the Manciaciumi label, making minimal-intervention volcanic wines.
Viteadovest
Three-generation Marsala family farming century-old alberello vines with zero inputs, producing powerful orange wines and layered reds from Sicily's far west.
Abbazia San Giorgio
On a volcanic island closer to Africa than to mainland Italy, a winemaker who learned passito from his grandfather farms scattered Zibibbo plots without chemicals or added sulfur.