Featured Producers

At Beck-Hartweg, winemaking is a family story in Dambach-la-Ville, Alsace since 1590. We keep a small amount of vineyards (11 acres), which allows us to do all the work in family, with no employees. It is very important to us to do most of the work by hand and personally. It permits us to be everyday in close contact with our wines, our vines, our soils, our terroirs. Thanks to this, we can adapt our way of working and evolute with precise knowledge of all these elements.

Florian Beck Hartweg, born in 1987, works full-time at the estate since 2009. He takes care of the vineyards with a great interest on living soils and biodiversity. He loves to share his passion, welcoming guests at the cellar. He does most of the administrative work. He is also engaged in the collective life of the viticultural area : Vice President of the “Syndicat des Vignerons Indépendants d’Alsace”, Vice President of the “Université des Grands Vins”, responsible for the Grand Cru Frankstein, between other engagements.

Mathilde loves the manual work in the vineyards. She is doing trials of vegetable growing in the vneyards. In the cellar, she's involved in the making of natural wines, with no sulfites nor other additives. She contributes to our evolution to this direction. She also loves to share her passion by welcoming guests for tastings and by taking part in wine fairs.

How to serve our wines: patience. Our wines are full of personality, complexity and history : take the time to understand fully the story they are telling you! All our wines are better when you pop them an hour before tasting. Some natural CO2 can be present: if it is disturbing you, just wait a few minutes after serving the glass or decant the whole bottle.

Domenico Altariva grew up watching his parents work the land; so when he married and bought a house with his new wife, Albertina, it was natural that he also bought a little land that he would tend in his spare time. A salesman by trade, he was also an avid wine drinker, so he chose to plant vineyards from which he made wine for personal consumption.

Domenico and Albertina slowly increased their wine production and turned their hobby into a full-time vocation, selling the wine in bulk to private clients. Right from the start they worked their vines with entirely natural products and made the most of their excellent vineyard sites. When their sons Fabio and Fausto joined the estate in 1991 the family took another step forward, building a new winery, acquiring another four hectares of vineyards, and finally bottling the wine themselves; and in 1997 their organic status became official.

The vineyards of Fattoria Moretto are located in the heart of the hills of Castelvetro, near the famous town of Modena, where clay, limestone, and silt soils give fresh, mineral wines. The Altarivas also choose to highlight the local grape Lambrusco Grasparossa by vinifying it alone, resulting in an intense, terroir-driven, bone-dry Lambrusco with a nose serious enough for even the most knowledgeable wine connoisseur. These wines stand alone as a top Lambrusco in Italy, and, as Lambrusco recovers from mass-production to celebrate its artisan producers, a relative bargain for their quality.

The Durantou family wines offer some of the best value in all Bordeaux. While their rightly lauded Pomerol, Château l’Eglise Clinet, can sell for nearly a thousand dollars a bottle, this range offers the same expertise and precision without breaking the bank.

Château Les Cruzelles lies 1km from the Pomerol plateau and shares the same soils as many of the most famous names from the appellation, but due to its location in the satellite Lalande de Pomerol, it is available for a fraction of the price. The 11ha property is planted primarily with Merlot, with a minority Cabernet Franc. A true grand vin, the wines made here are powerful and complex, worthy of ageing in bottle. The late Denis Durantou bought this property in 2000 and dedicated significant time and money in turning the wines made here into the best you can buy in the appellation. The second wine from this property – La Chenade – is terrific value for money, a soft and approachable wine.

Montlandrie, based in the Côtes de Castillon, has improved significantly since its first vintage in 2009. This powerful Saint Emillion lookalike is based on Merlot but typically has a significant proportion of Cabernet Franc. 

The modestly price Saintayme (or Saintem) completes the line up. From a 9ha plot of 35-year-old vines in Saint Emilion, it is 100% Merlot and like Chenade is a rounded, fleshy and approachable wine. Denis’ daughters Noémie and Constance are now in charge of these properties, and continue to champion the less fashionable appellations of the right bank.

Martin Müllen farms old vines in the underrated vineyards of Kröv and Trarbach, including the site he has made his flagship: Trarbacher Hühnerberg. He restored the small remaining ancient Hühnerberg vines, restored crumbling stone terraces; then replanted the majority of the site with new old-vine selections. Müllen seldom permits his fruit pre-fermentative skin contact per se, instead exclusively utilizing old basket presses that can require close to 24 hours for processing a load. The majority of Müllen wines ferment spontaneously in fuder and are only separated from their lees at bottling.

He is passionate about his mission: "our goal is to produce outstanding and unique Rieslings. The wines from the early 20th century are our great role models. To do this, we use techniques in key areas from the time when Moselle Riesling was one of the most valuable wines in the world."

In addition to the special wines from the Trarbacher Hühnerberg vineyard, the Müllen family also has a special holding in the town of Kröv. The Kröver Paradies vineyard is extremely steep, with vines between 35 and 110 years old, and have huge potential. The wines are characterized by great finesse. You can clearly taste the minerality – and therefore the slate – in them.

I’ve always been one to wonder why things are the way that they are. Obsessed with mythology as a child, I started college studying microbiology, assisting in yeast genomics research that sought to better understand alcohol excretion pathways in the cell. My philosophical musings about yeast were somewhat out of place though, and I found the art history department more willing to indulge my questions. Art history concerns itself with asking “why does it look the way it does,” and “what does it mean.”

Like art, wine is a human product, the result of social and cultural movements, but it is also a product of nature, shaped by the weather and geography, and yeast turning grapes into wine.

Growing up in California, red table wine was a common fixture at dinner. It was utilitarian, mass-produced stuff and hardly inspired one to think about where exactly it had come from. As a 19 year old living in Paris, a bottle of white Burgundy raided from my boyfriend’s father’s cellar was my turning point. It wasn’t until I took that first sip of white Burgundy that I got it: that wine could speak to a place. That it could inspire aesthetic reverence and wonderment. It wasn’t until a few years later that I even considered that winemaking could be a vocation. A glass of Eric Texier’s Saint-Julien-en-Saint-Alban was the moment I decided that I wanted to make something beautiful too, to be the reason something magical existed.

I worked my first vintage in 2014 at Unti in Dry Creek, Sonoma, before moving to Rhys in the Santa Cruz Mountains for the 2015 harvest. In 2016, I started pruning at Mount Eden Vineyards, also in the Santa Cruz Mountains, before heading off to France to work with Éric Texier in the Rhône Valley. From 2016 through 2020, while launching my winery back home in California, I worked for Farm Wine Imports where I had the absolute honor to learn from my winemaking idols in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and here in California.

I seek to make wines that have something interesting to say, from vineyard sites in California that are unique, historic, or simply magical. And I paint all of my labels to relate back to something about the site. Casa’s label shows redwood sorrel, a common sight in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Grist’s pomegranate references not just the trees that grow there, but also the tannic juiciness found in the wine itself. Del Barba’s olive branch relates back to the line of olive trees lining the front drive to the vineyard gate.

- Claire

It took a huge amount of foresight back in 1971 to choose an abandoned farmhouse in the unspoilt, rural Hérault setting of the Gassac valley - named after the brook that cuts through it - to plant a vineyard amidst 4 000 hectares of forest. Then to select the Médoc varietal Cabernet-Sauvignon because it best conveys the character of this unique terroir, echoing work by the Benedictine monks in Burgundy in the 6th century. And ultimately, to set about making a superlative Languedoc wine in this untamed valley, outside the boundaries of the appellations (AOC Coteaux du Languedoc did not emerge until 1985) in ‘Vin de Pays’ territory. Famous for its Grands Vins, the Mas de Daumas Gassac has been a family owned vineyard for more than 50 years and belongs to the Guibert family. It is set in a wild and enchanting valley, close the magnificent romanesque abbey of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. 50 hectares of a deep, well drained soil, free from any chemical fertilisers.

The Moulin de Gassac range was born in 1991, with the Mas de Daumas Gassac's hallmark and Guibert’ signature. For more than 34 years this authentic approach, with daily involvement, has inspired us in an ongoing quest to obtain the best possible quality from these vineyards. Now covering an area of 250 hectares, all the plots are subject to a rigorous set of specifications: terroir based plots selection, low yields, specific tanks for plots vinifications, 100% of the vineyard run with insect sexual confusion (a bio approach to stop all other treatments)... Two agronomists engineers from Mas de Daumas Gassac - in charge of the SAS Moulin de Gassac wines - are present on site throughout the year. They are the guarantee of the respect of the Gassac philosophy and savoir-faire.

This small winery is owned by Abel Mendoza (vine growing) and Maite Fernández (winemaking), a husband and wife team based in San Vicente de la Sonsierra. Their wines are among the most interesting, rare and sought-after in Rioja, in part due to their aversion to all things related to wine guides, events and media. They are the equivalent of those Burgundian vignerons who lovingly tend their vines to create personal wines which are faithful expressions of terroir.

Established in 1988, the winery owns 17 hectares of organic vines in San Vicente and adjoining villages. Jarrarte was the initial brand, but it is now reserved for the young wines. High end bottlings are sold under the Abel Mendoza name.

Their white wines are particularly interesting. They are all fermented and raised in French oak for five months. Abel Mendoza Malvasía has citrus and fine smoked notes, good volume in the palate and a pleasant combination of sweet and acid nuances. The Orange Malvasia adds extra aromatic intensity and some tannin. The Viura is among the best single-varietal bottlings of the grape.

Tempranillo forms the basis of most of Abel Mendoza's reds. Jarrarte Old Vines, aged in oak for 12 months, is all about fresh fruit and liveliness on the palate. The best Tempranillo plot is selected each vintage to make Abel Mendoza Selección Personal. A selection of grapes from different plots are destemmed by hand and used for Tempranillo Grano a Grano, a red wine with great depth, polished tannins and round texture. Graciano Grano a Grano brings on the vibrant acidity of this variety.

In 1971, Aldo Vajra, then still a university student, was one of the earliest to adopt organic farming in Piemonte. Vineyards have been nurtured, and soil preserved, by grassing and spontaneous cover crop for almost 50 years now. They are sustainable and organic certified. With an incredible ratio of manual work per hectare, farming at Vajra is a labor of love and “recipe-free” attention. Intense research is also placed into monitoring and improving the biodiversity of both flora and fauna not just in the vineyards, but also in the winery fields and forests.

These wines, from the Langhe Rosso and Moscato d'Asti, all the way up to the Barolo Ravera, are some of our favourite wines in Piedmont.

Bernard Baudry is unquestionably one of Chinon’s most outstanding producers. Not only does he have the talent to make delicious and consistent wines, vintage to vintage, but he is also fortunate enough to have vineyard land that showcases many of the varied soil types of the appellation. After completing his studies at the viticultural school in Beaune, Bernard returned to the Loire Valley to consult in Tours. By 1975, he had purchased his first two hectares of land in Cravant-les-Coteaux, a village from which almost half of the production of A.O.C. Chinon is sourced. Over the years, the domaine has grown to twenty-five hectares. Bernard’s son, Matthieu, joined the family domaine in 2000 after studying winemaking in the Mâconnais and Bordeaux, with internships both in Tasmania and California!

The Baudrys work vineyards composed of gravel, sand, limestone, silica, and clay. The variations of terroir and vinification methods make each of their cuvées unique and distinct. Bernard and Matthieu focus the lion’s share of their production on Chinon Rouge, five fine cuvées of Cabernet Franc, all aged in old and new barrels in their incredible cellars chiseled out of tuffeau behind the winery. They make a surprising Chinon Blanc, a rarity to find let alone to import, as well as a stunning Chinon Rosé.  The Baudrys are staunch traditionalists, and you would have a hard time finding a Chinon more classic than theirs.