It is hard to conceive of a property more suited to the desolate, arid island of Pico than this rustic cottage on the windy coast of Campo Raso, 12 km south of Madalena. Here we meet the youngest vigneron in the entire Azores Archipelago: Lucas. Just 21 years old, he is considered the present and future of Pico and his labels have already gained international recognition. His Adega bottles and produces wines that are very different from each other, as the grapes from which they are made, and the areas of the island where the vineyards are located, are all different. The overall production is around 13,000 units: a number which is both limited and variable because of the climatic adversities often befalling the island and affecting its crops.

The company was founded in 2014. However, its real origins date back to 2010, when oenologist António Maçanita conceived the project to 'save' Terrantez do Pico, an almost extinct variety of local grape. Indeed, reclamation and recovery lie at the heart of the company and its philosophy: to return the native vines of the Azores back to the world. Here, each natural element - the ocean, the wind, the volcano and the lava - is fundamental in the production of superb wines, unlike any other. It is no coincidence that, of six of the bottles we selected, all were awarded more than 90 points by Robert Parker.

Since 2014 Cédric Lecareux and his wife Charlotte have been the owners of these 5.5 hectares south of Bourgogne, in Beaujolais, in the small village of Régnie-Durette. Their goal, right from the start, was ambitious, commendable and quite a complex one: to convert the land back to organic and biodynamic. A few years later the results are visible: all the wines of this winery are certified organic of great quality.

An example of winemaking excellence that has remained intact for seven generations: its roots go back to 1870, while the bottling activity inside the château, the family's stronghold, dates back to 1947. Today, the estate covers 18 hectares, all in the Mercurey region, from which the wines take their prestigious appellation: one of the oldest in France, a guarantee of authenticity and quality.

Thierry Janots and Richard Bos first came up with the idea of JanotsBos in 1996. However, it wasn’t until 2005 that our two dreamers were to found their own Maison. We are in Burgundy, an ancient place full of energy, where the lifeblood extracted from the earth is Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Thierry and Richard's style is an interplay of perfectly balanced harmonies between progress and tradition, where authenticity is the common thread running through non-interventionist, biodynamically cultivated vinification, to bring the grapes to the glass in a truly memorable experience: more than a simple tasting, it is pure theatre.

After a somewhat chequered past, in 2001 the winery became the property of Lorenzo Pelliccioli, former top manager and one of the keystones of recent Italian finance history. Entrepreneurial and visionary even as a winemaker, with this venture Lorenzo was to pull off his umpteenth feat. At the time of purchase, there was not a single vine stock on the estate and starting from scratch was a bold gamble; likewise, the choice of organic farming.  However, his bet was to quickly pay off, and in 2005 he planted the first Sauvignon and Merlot vines. The appointment of a truly singular vigneron in 2010 went on to make the difference and was to see the winery win several gold and silver medals in the 2019 Vignerons Indépendants competition.

Since taking over from their parents in 1994, sisters Anne Poniatowski and Caroline Missoffe have proudly represented the 4th generation at the helm of the family estate. All the wines they produce here are grown and vinified exclusively by natural processes, which makes them lively, microbiologically rich and worthy of being called certified organic, and also – as Anne puts it  – “more fun because they’re more unpredictable”.

More than a vineyard and a winery, it is an idea. Three friends turn their shared passion for bubbles into a bet: create a sparkling wine with half Tuscan and half Pavian DNA in the heart of the Chianti Classico region. The idea works, a sign that this little winery knows how to dream big.

Located in the municipality of Castelnuovo Berardenga, in the province of Siena, in the very heart of the Chianti Classico region, it is one of the smallest wineries in the area, with only three labels in production. By contrast, the passion of the family is immense: everything is personally tended to with the utmost dedication. One stand-out statistic: the 7,000 bottles produced annually are all bottled by hand in a mere two days.

History, art, design, nature and innovation all coexist passionately at Palazzo Guicciardi. The stately home in the centre of Sondrio, which hosted Garibaldi in 1859, now houses the contemporary winery of Gian Piero Ioli, an architect and vigneron who practices both sustainable and extreme viticulture. Here, the Clayver ceramic barrels chosen for vinification are the last step of an all-natural production process in which human intervention is reduced to a minimum. The Nebbiolo delle Alpi produced here in purity is a wine that spontaneously comes into being on mountain terraces, wrested from the very rocks themselves, to arrive in the glass in a unique way that is different and unpredictable each and every time.

First mentioned in 1758, the estate was bought in 1994 by the Amorim family, who breathed new life into it to make it the cradle of special wines that could `embody the taste of the Alentejo in a bottle'. This is the expression they use here to define the vision shared by the owners and their team. A vision where respect for the land and its unique characteristics always comes first.

Back in its heyday, from 1725 to 1788, it was the first blast furnace and the first national iron works. It later fell into disuse and went on to become a brigands’ den. Since belonging to Enrique Ruiz Fernandez, it has once again been experiencing a spectacular golden age in its new role as a winery of rare quality. In the outdoor areas, once dedicated to metallurgical production, there is now an invasion of vines. The old rolling warehouse is now used as a place to produce wines, all of which are 100 percent organic and natural from the vineyard to bottling. Only one of these has noble origins in Burgundy, all others come from solely autochthonous varieties.