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.
Say When
Rachel and Michel DeAscentiis founded Say When in 2013 from a single barrel of Pinot Noir, building a Lompoc-based label that sources from California's finest organic and biodynamic Central Coast vineyards.
Riding Monkey
South African-born winemaker Dieter Cronje makes small-batch natural wines under his Riding Monkey label in Orcutt, California, sourcing from organically farmed vineyards in the cool Alisos Canyon and Santa Maria Valley with skin-contact and minimal-intervention techniques.
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.
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.
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.
Deux Punx
Two aging punks moonlighting as Napa winemakers, turning native-ferment juice into quirky, artist-labeled natural wines.
Civic Winery
In a century-old downtown Eugene building, Craig Weicker fermented Oregon fruit in locally made clay amphorae, reviving a 6,000-year-old vessel for low-intervention wine.
Absentee Winery
Founder Avi Deixler won a planning fight to open the only registered winery in Marin's North Marin Wine District, building a reputation for pristine reds made with grapes and nothing else.
Dan Marioni
A fifth-generation Sonoma native and ex-engineer who learned the 'nothing added, nothing taken away' Coturri Way and now bottles native-yeast, zero-sulfur wines under hand-carved linocut labels.
Raft Wines
Jennifer Reichardt launched Raft Wines in 2016 in Sonoma County, sourcing certified-organic fruit from across California to make low-intervention, food-friendly natural wines at honest prices.
Forlorn Hope
From Rorick Heritage Vineyard in the Sierra Foothills, Matthew Rorick makes spontaneously fermented natural wines from California's overlooked grapes, regions and styles.
Purity Wine
Noel Diaz founded Purity Wine in Richmond, California in 2013, building a collective of natural winemakers committed to zero-zero production and opening the natural wine world to a broader, more diverse community.