Our Producers

Conestabile della Staffa

Umbria, Italy

Former student of architecture and one-time Umbrian wine-seller, Danilo turned to natural winemaking in the early 2000s after discovering first-hand what the chemicals in industrially produced wines can do to the body. A chance tasting of a natural wine made by his parents’ neighbour Vittorio Mattioli began what Danilo describes as a ‘radical change’ in his life and within a week of drinking the amber coloured white he joined Vittorio for what would become the first of many collaborations with masters of natural winemaking across Italy. More than 12 hectares of vines were in need of some love when Danilo took the reigns at Conestabile della Staffa but by 2015 he was able to release the estate’s first vintage in 60 years, using native grapes, natural processes, wild yeast, no temperature control and no added sulphur. For Danilo, it is Mother Nature who determines the wine…

CANTINA FERMENTO

UMBRIA, ITALY

Husband and wife team Evita and Stefano Eboli are proof that it’s never too late to become a winemaker. Both full-time insurance professionals until a few years ago, the couple uprooted from Rome and moved to the ancient winegrowing region of Orvieto in 2018 after convincing one of Italy’s leading natural winemakers Danilo Marcucci to show them his ways. “For some time, even before our interest in natural wine, we had the plan to move to the countryside to be in close contact with nature and leave the alienating life of the big city,” says Stefano. Orvieto wasn’t originally on their radar but Danilo – an expert in Umbria’s varied sub-regions – invited them to explore the medieval city, its ancient cellars and surrounding countryside, which is dominated by small to medium non-natural winegrowers who mostly sell their fruit on to two industrial producers. It wasn’t always this way – Orvieto has a long and rich history dating back to the 10th century BC Etruscan era of producing some of Italy’s most sought-after wines…

CEPPAIOLO

UMBRIA, ITALY

Named after the Italian word for the poorest man in the village who historically only got to heat his home with the unwanted roots of a tree cut down and divided up, with the best logs and branches going to the richest - Ceppaiolo is a tiny vineyard, and like the secret garden of literary fame, it isn’t easy to find. It’s on the side of a quiet road in Umbria, on a large non-descript plain, watched over by a small neighbouring restaurant and the Apennine Mountains further on. Stepping out the car, we entered through a padlocked gate, past a stone shed (the winemaking cellar as it turns out) with graffiti on the wall, a beaten-up car and a caravan.

It couldn’t be further away from that picture postcard image of an Italian vineyard. No castle, no neat rows of vines or polished tasting room with glass doors. No, this is Umbria in the 1950s…

COLLECAPRETTA

UMBrIA, ITALY

At first glance, Collecapretta may appear to be just another small producer from a lesser-known Italian wine region, Umbria, but believe us when we say that inside these unassuming bottles are some of Italy’s best wines. Spanning just 4 hectares and tended to by the Mattioli family, who have lived in the tiny hamlet of Terzo la Pieve since the Medieval era, Collecapretta is a celebration of all that makes Umbrian wine unique. Take their much-loved Vigna Vecchia, for example, a wine named after a part of the farm known as the ‘Old Vineyard’. Made from very old Trebbiano Spoletino vines, some of which were planted by grandfather Vittorio’s own grandfather in the early 20th century, this elegantly complex white is slow and mineral, pure and rich. Then there’s Le Cese, a Sangiovese that speaks of black cherries and fragrant violets on first sip, but underneath you find roots, earth and rustic leather. Or the Lautizio, a tart and crunchy but ultimately silky smooth Ciliegiolo, this light red, like all Collecapretta’s wines, is…

COLLEFORMICA

LAZIO, ITALY

Former engineer Sergio Bombetti and son Paulo tend to their family vineyard Colleformica 40km south-east of Rome near the town of Velletri. The pair split their time between this little country house and Rome, where Paolo also runs a B&B. For more than a century, the family have cultivated a modest three-hectare stretch of vines, olive trees and vegetable gardens. Their orange trees produce the tastiest taroccos we’ve ever tried.

It’s all about the soil here which is, believe it or not, volcanic – thanks to a former lake that grew out of a former crater of a now very much extinct volcano on the same site. An incredibly unique terroir that is beautifully reflected in a small range of…

DINAMO

UMBRIA, ITALY

Located 500 metres above sea level in Umbria, near the village of Colle Castelluccio, Dinamo is one of the latest projects from one of Italy’s leading winemakers Danilo Marcucci. In 2018, Danilo teamed up with another Danilo – Danilo Nofrini and his children Simone and Rachele – to embark on an experiment in sustainable viticulture, an attempt to recreate something of the natural, “more nutritional” wines of Marcucci’s childhood. “I first made wine with my grandfather 40 years ago,” says Danilo, “My snack was homemade bread dipped in wine. Back then it still had a high daily food value and was an important source of energy for everyone, especially those who had to face heavy days of farm work. I feel inspired to jump back to rediscover my origins thanks to the strength of all that I have built up now in natural wine”. To encapsulate this aim, the Nofrini family and Danilo chose the name Dinamo…

GARCÍA PÉREZ

manchuela, SPAIN

We first met Fernando García Pérez in 2021, through our mutual friend - winemaker Danilo Marcucci of Conestabile della Staffa. Danilo is often approached by organic winemakers around the world to advise on how to go fully natural, but never before has he agreed to consult outside his home country, Italy… that was until he met the García Pérez family and their old vines, many of them own-rooted and pre-phylloxera, dotted around the south-eastern region of Castilla–La Mancha, in the valley between the Júcar and Cabriel rivers, known for its hot dry summers, cold winters and cool winds from the Levant. This is Manchuela country, home to the original paella. This is siesta country. This is a farming region so plentiful that they can’t consume it all and so they preserve in jars the fruits (and meats) of the land, to have all year round. This is a region of humble food, spaghetti-western landscapes, dry heat, but also.…

IL SIGNOR KURTZ

UMBRIA, ITALY

“I am a small winemaker,” says Marco Durante, “I grow my vineyard on a beautiful hill, in Vallupina by Lake Trasimeno. And sometimes even in other impervious places of my little geography”. Marco’s approach to natural winemaking is simple, “it’s my voice” he says of his wines, “the voice of the earth and of the grape from which it generates, but above all, it is the voice of my soul and of my way of life”. For many years, Marco could be found in the vineyards and cellars of other winemakers across Umbria, studying the land, learning his craft, knowing that one day he would take everything he had experienced and apply it all to his own range. Il Signor Kurtz – currently just four different wines…

J. BRIX

CALIFORNIA, USA

Husband and wife Emily Towe and Jody Brix Towe began their journey into professional winemaking almost by accident. It was 2009 and they had come to the end of volunteering in vineyards and cellars in Santa Barbara and they thought it might be fun to put their newly acquired skills to the test. Three barrels in their residential garage later, and they were hooked. Flash forward to 2021 and it’s still just the two of them (with a bit help from their kids) but their little garage is now a warehouse (that they share with other ‘garagiste’ winemakers) and their label J. Brix has grown from 75 cases into over 3,000 cases across more than 14 different wines. Pet-nats, skin-contact whites, a San Diego rose, light and chillable reds, carbonic reds, heavy and snuggable reds – there’s not…

PODERE SASSI

LAZIO, ITALY

Podere Sassi sits in a beautiful little spot in Lazio, on the border with Umbria, overlooking the lower valley of the Sabina region. ‘Podere Sassi’ means the ‘Sassi family farm’, from which many of the ingredients are sourced for their very own bakery and restaurant in Rome, Panificio Nazzareno. This is postcard Italy, a place of hilltop villages, medieval castles and tiny vineyard plots - and a place where the grape Ciliegiolo is king. Since 2000, led by Leonardo, the Sassis have also looked to revive the vineyards of their family home and planted 3.5 hectares but not all these vines are ready yet. For now, they rely on an old friend and neighbour for half of the fruit. They only produce a limited number of their six handmade wines that are…

TIBERI

UMBRIA, ITALY

Situated in northern Umbria, near the picturesque village of Monte Petriolo, Tiberi is a fourth generation family winery tended to by Cesare Tiberi and his grandchildren Federico and Beatrice. Spanning less than 4 hectares, Tiberi’s small plots celebrate native red and white grape varieties including Gamay del Trasimeno, Ciliegiolo, Grechetto, Trebbiano and San Colombana on soil that is mostly rocky marl and brushed by dry Mediterranean winds. This link to the past – through the untouched soils and Cesare, who has always lived and worked in the village – makes for very rustic wines with soul. In 2015, Federico and Beatrice, with the help of Cesare…

VINI DI GIOVANNI

UMBRIA, ITALY

Raised on the rough terrain of the Barbagia Mountains of Sardinia, Giovanni Mesina moved with his family to Umbria as a child in search of more peaceful pastures, initially to watch over their sheep (Giovanni is a third-generation shepherd) and make cheese but now, Giovanni also makes cult status natural wines that are much-loved by people all over the world. Situated on the rolling hills of Pianello to the north of…

SIGNORA GINNI

TUSCANY, ITALY

As you may be able to guess from Giorgia Salierno’s distinctive wine labels, this young winemaker once worked in fashion. Born in Tuscany and raised in Umbria, Giorgia initially moved to Milan to study fashion, working across a multi-brand showroom and also backstage at runway fashion shows for several years. In 2015, however, she returned to her hometown of Perugia. There, she met the now legendary natural winemaker Danilo Marcucci, who was in the early stages of releasing his first vintages at Conestabile della Staffa - a winery that had been in his wife’s family for generations but had been neglected since the Second World War. Danilo took Giorgia under his wing, introducing her to the philosophy and labour and love of natural winemaking, and soon enough Giorgia turned her back on the fashion world in favour of a life in nature, among the vines…

VINI SASSARA

VENETO, ITALY

Situated just outside Verona, in the Morainic Hills near Lake Garda, Vini Sassara is a new project from longtime natural winemakers Alessia and Stefano Bertaiola. With a background in agricultural research and development, Alessia joined forces with third-generation winemaker Stefano more than a decade ago and together they farm a 10-hectare site that has been in Stefano’s family for 50 years. This is Bardolino country, a DOC in the Veneto region most famous for its Valpolicella-style light reds and rosé wines. But being natural winemakers, Alessia and Stefano are less concerned with what conventional winemakers are doing in the area and instead have set out to show what the indigenous grapes and Bardolino terroir are capable of when allowed to express themselves naturally. Esotico 2020 marks the first release from Vini Sassara…