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Read more The Bardet family has built up a significant stable of four St. Emilion Grand Cru estates in the last century, totalling 55 hectares, plus one in the adjoining Côtes de Castillon. Family patriarch Philippe is an influential figure in the region, as he heads up the technical commission of the St. Emilion Wine Council, with responsibility for terroir and sustainable development. His two older sons, Paul Arthur and Thibault, work by his side and are poised to take over when Paul and his wife Sylvie decide to retire. Vignobles Bardet FEMALE WINEMAKER Producer: Vignobles Bardet Country: France Region: Côtes de Castillon Property History: Read more History of the property Owner History: Read more History of the property Wines By Vignobles Bardet Vignobles Bardet 1998 Lideyre (Castillon - Cotes de Bordeaux) [3/1500] View Wine Vignobles Bardet 2003 Lideyre (Castillon - Cotes de Bordeaux) View Wine

Read more The Savoie region, hard by Lake Geneva, can barely produce enough to meet the demands of winter sports enthusiasts and summer hikers, but we’ve been lucky enough to secure one of its top estates. Abymes, and its slightly better-known neighbor Apremont, produce light, aromatic, exquisitely balanced wines from the Jacquère grape. Cousins Alexandra and Jérôme Labbé keep yields low to extract maximum flavor from this delicate variety, while retaining freshness and sheer pleasure-giving gulpability. Dom. Labbé FEMALE WINEMAKER Producer: Dom. Labbé Country: France Region: Savoie Owner Name: Roger Labbé Vineyard Size: 9 Property History: Read more Prior to being a wine estate, this property was used by the previous generation by the family for subsistence farming. Owner History: Read more Alexandra and Jérome took over the estate from their parents in 2004. Wines By Dom. Labbé

Read more This young winery was founded by a Dutch couple, Laurens Hartman and Annette van Kampen, both refugees from the business world. Cultivating just four hectares in the extreme north west of Greece, mostly at an elevation of 650 meters on slopes by Lake Vegoritis, they make their wines in a just-built gravity-flow winery. This area of Greece enjoys the coolest climate of any wine-growing district and is best known for the aristocratic Xinomavro grape, which plays a prominent role in their programme. Such has the success of their sparkling wines been on the international stage that they are now contracting with other good local growers to supply them with more grapes to meet the demand. Karanika FEMALE WINEMAKER Producer: Karanika Country: Greece Region: Macedonia Subregion: Amyntaio Florina City of Origin: Amyntaio Date Founded: 2006 Owner Name: Laurens M Hartman, Annette van Kampen Vineyard Size: 12 HA Total Annual Production: 120,000 bottles Property History: Read more Domaine Karanika is the leading sparkling wine producer in Greece. At Karanika a dedicated team produces the finest quality sparkling wines by traditional method, in total harmony with nature without any concession to the health of people and the earth. The Domaine is named after Laurens’ Greek Vlach family, Karanika Laurens Hartman Karanika with a degree in Economic History and trained as an oenologist (Davis and WSET) and his partner Annette van Kampen a skilled and stress resistant ‘traffic manager’ quit their management jobs in publishing in the Netherlands early 2004. As they were fed up with the commercial ‘Parkerised’ wines as if they were produced from a mold, they aimed to start a brand new, ambitious winery in the far North of Greece, in Amyntaio, the coldest of all winemaking areas in Greece, with the ambition to make world class organic sparkling wines from the local indigenous Xinomavro and the imported Assyrtiko. Sparkling wines that would mirror the current year, breath terroir and be naturally high in acidity. They set the bar very high by allowing themselves only completely natural ‘means and tools’ and at the same time demanding a whistle clean crystal clear and elegant sparkling character. At domaine Karanika we work in harmony with nature to protect the health of people and the earth while producing the finest quality wine. We believe that only in natural balance one can find true quality. Our second value is Less = More. Both in the vineyard as in the winery. We follow nature, instead of trying to control it. So if Nature decides to give less color to grapes we make more blanc de noir than rose, or if the climatological circumstances benefit phenolic ripeness, we decide to produce more red wine. Our winemaking philosophy is minimal handling of grapes and wines with few additions. That means: we try to avoid pumping to transport must and wines, but instead use gravity. Also we try not to filter or fine the wine and to add only sulphites in the final phases of the process. We only disgorge on Flower days (air) just after full moon, we transfer wines on Leaf days (water) just prior to full moon, etc etc. In the vineyard we do not use chemical fertilisers, fungicides or pesticides, but instead we plant cover crops, we make our own compost from horse manure, straw, hay, vineyard cuttings and grape skins and lees. To fight oidium and mildew we use the ‘homeopathic’ sprays, and we make our own etheric oils from oregano and oranges that we spray on the leaves during the ripening season. We work according to Maria Thun’s biodynamic calendar in the winery and vineyard. Because of this approach our wines ‘breathe terroir’, are crystal clear, very aromatic, with considerable length. No bombastic heavyweights, but straightforward and honest wines. We ‘try’ and ‘prefer’. We are not dogmatic. Our priority is the quality of the wine. So if no other choice we’ll do whatever it takes to make this perfect wine. Owner History: Read more In Biodynamic terms Annette is the Earth element. Annette was raised on a mixed farm close to Rotterdam. She made clear to Laurens she never wanted to live the life of a farmer again. Well, that worked out well for her. In her professional career she was the spider in the web of many publishing companies. The ever so stable link between editors, advertising departments and the printers. Focused, honest, fair, totally dependable. The Rock. Today nothing changed. Without Annette there would be total chaos. Everything would be half finished. Everywhere loose ends. She is the cement between the stones. Her main focus is administration, exports, production, customer relations, suppliers and human resources. Too much work for 1 person. Of course she has the support of Anna (administration), Anastasia (Customer Relations) and Chryssa (Logistics). But most of all, she is Laurens’ soulmate and the perfect mother for their son George. Laurens would be qualified as the Air element but with strong Fire attributes. He is the thinker and the communicator. Very passionate, hot tempered, creative, the first to take initiative without thinking twice, impulsive. But between Laurens and Annette there is absolute natural balance. The one could not succeed without the other. After his Masters degree in Economic History at the University of Leiden Laurens worked in several positions in publishing, starting as financial reporter of a newspaper to Chief Operation Officer of Amsterdam University Press, an academic publisher. All his publishing years from 1989 to 2004 he could not suppress his love for traditional wines of North France (Loire, Champagne and Bourgogne). And to be more specific, the wines that were produced before the 1990’s. The wines he drunk as a student in the ‘80’s. Wines that were terroir driven, that were not manipulated into commercial wines. Where one would have bad years and divine years for wines. Wines with low alcohol, high acidity. Wines with real personality. Unfortunately, these wines were every year harder to find. Partly as result of global warming, but mostly because of the availability of a variety of tools and additives that the winemaker could use to completely manipulate and alter the quality of the wine into wines that he thought (or was told by a travelling consultant) the consumer would appreciate. This is what he learned during all the previous years when he studied to learn everything there is to know about quality wine (Davis California, WSET etc). So, early 2004, the emotions took the upper hand and Laurens decided (without really consulting Annette) to go making these wines himself. The irony is that this quest led him to Greece, the birth country of his mother Katerina Karanika, but also the place least known for low alcohol and high acidity wines. Except Amyntaio. No one knew about Amyntaio just yet. Laurens is the winemaker and the vineyardist. He makes the decisions in the vineyard that define the wines he creates. But he is not alone. Karanika’s sparkling wine adventure got a real professional turn when the Karanika extra Cuvee de Reserve was a recommended wine in Eleven Madison Park (in 2016 best restaurant of the world). Things got serious. Laurens and Annette decided to go all the way. Build a team that specializes in sparkling wines, research the different terroir in Amyntaio (7 villages) for their suitability for sparkling wine, invest in quality equipment and cellar space, increase production. Laurens was in desperate need of an extra winemaker. Of someone who could focus on vinifying the base wines from so many different plots, who could be the brainstorm partner Laurens so much needed. And suddenly on a rainy September, just before the beginning of harvest in 2017, there was this tiny, fragile but very determined oenologist, Lia, banging on our doors. Not taking no for an answer. She herself decided she would take up the challenge to bring order to the creative but chaotic winemaking mind of Laurens. But also order into the incredible complex procedure of the process of vinifying grapes from 100 different plots, from 7 villages, in 30 tanks, and blend them into 5 labels and 100.000 bottles. She started as his shadow. Today she is way more than that. She is faster than his shadow. She brings her own style, ideas and colors to the Karanika wines. The feminine touch if you like. In biodynamic terms she is the Water and Earth element of the team. An unexpected hero is one that was a silent voice in Laurens’ mind. In his DNA even. It was because of a nagging feeling all these years that something was missing in the vineyards. That there was no real balance in the vineyard. We are talking about Fanouri. The Karanika 5 year old mule. The Joker. When we started working with Fanouri in some of our vineyards we realized that the spirit of an equine is essential to the balance. The Hilling procedure under the vine in Autumn and Dehilling in Spring are not only beneficial for the vineyard (hoofs working the soil in the middle of the row, no exhaust fumes, no weight near the vines, no noise etc etc). The interaction of man and animal is beneficial for everyone involved. Fanouri stands for all the other animals at the farm. And why is Fanouri in Laurens’ DNA? Well, Laurens is the 10th in line of the Hartman family that works with horses. Around 1680 the first Hartman was a (German born) dragoon officer that took his horse to come to the help of the young Dutch Republic. His grandson Lauwrentius Hartman born in 1720, was a saddler and rigger. After him every generation until my grandfather (also Laurens) continued this craft. So yes. Horses are in our DNA. Wines By Karanika Karanika 2017 Extra Cuvee de Reserve' Zero Dosage View Wine Karanika 2015 Assyrtiko (Amyndeon) View Wine Karanika 2020 'Cuvee Speciale' Extra Brut View Wine Karanika 2021 'Cuvee Rose' Brut View Wine

Read more This relatively large (55 hectares) domaine has unbroken family history going back to the 18th century. Completely organic for more than fifteen years, it makes an impressive range of wines from several Anjou appellations. We have been especially impressed with their reds, which are made without additional sulfites, fining or filtration. To give an idea of Vaillant’s approach, when they do use small quantities of sulphur for spraying purposes, they get it direct from a Polish mine, rather than using the petro-chemical products that are the norm in the wine world. DEMETER CERTIFIED. Famille Vaillant FEMALE WINEMAKER Producer: Famille Vaillant Country: France Region: Loire Subregion: Anjou City of Origin: Thouarcé Date Founded: 1626 Owner Name: Laurence, Dominique et Jean-François Vaillant Vineyard Size: 56 HA Total Annual Production: 220,000 bottles Property History: Read more More than 20 generations have farmed this land. The latest generation brought the development from 15HA in 1985 to 56HA today and is devoted to converting the vineyards into Organic and Bio-dynamic Agriculture Owner History: Read more Laurence, Dominique et Jean-François Vaillant took over production from their parents and are together responsible for the delveopment of the Domaine. Wines By Famille Vaillant

Read more In line with the theme so far, Richard presides over a miniscule estate with his partner Petra, producing 20 – 25,000 bottles a year from vineyards within 700 meters of his winery. His soils are 80% loess and 20% conglomerate and his vineyard practices would all be classified as sustainable. He also prefers whole-cluster fermentation. The wines are generous in flavour but polished, and he does not shrink from bucking trends in matters of dryness when the grapes tell him to do so! Richard Walzer FEMALE WINEMAKER Producer: Richard Walzer Country: Austria Region: Kremstal Subregion: Lower Austria City of Origin: Krems-Gneixendorf Date Founded: 2003 Owner Name: Richard Walzer Vineyard Size: 4.5 HA Total Annual Production: 20,000-25,000 bottles Property History: Read more Estate without history, founded 2003, 2013 built a new winery, son of a vintner’s family, left family winery due to generation conflict. Owner History: Read more Born 1980, graduate of the School of Viticulture Krems, internships in different companies, until 2014 he was working in another winery too (employee) Wines By Richard Walzer Richard Walzer 2020 Grüner Veltliner Wolfsgraben View Wine Richard Walzer 2021 Auslese [6/375] View Wine Richard Walzer 2017 Grüner Veltliner Gebling View Wine Richard Walzer 2021 Grüner Veltliner Wolfsgraben View Wine Richard Walzer 2020 Grüner Veltliner Ried Kapuzinerberg View Wine Richard Walzer 2018 Grüner Veltliner Gebling View Wine

Read more We were tremendously excited to discover this dynamic Catalan producer based in the famous town of Manresa. Under the leadership of young Ramon Roqueta since 2006, it has achieved great acclaim in Spain and has embarked on a series of acquisitions and refurbishments designed to recreate some of the glory of the long and illustrious past of its forbears, who can trace a family wine history back to 1199. Among the several projects that they run, we were especially drawn to two : LaFou Celler and Joan Sardà. Roqueta FEMALE WINEMAKER Producer: Roqueta Country: Spain Region: Terra Alta City of Origin: Batea Date Founded: 2007 Owner Name: Ramon Roqueta Vineyard Size: 15 HA Total Annual Production: 75,000 bottles Property History: Read more LAFOU Celler was founded in 2007 with a desire to produce wines that reflect the greatness of the Garnacha variety and a wine region as extraordinary as the Terra Alta. The landscape, the vineyard terraces and the gorges make this an ideal place for this variety to express its true greatness. Owner History: Read more It was Ramon Roqueta Segalés – who comes from a family with a long wine-making tradition that dates back to the 12th century – who undertook this personal project at LAFOU. While studying oenology in France, Ramon was seduced by the Garnacha variety, by its expression and its elegance. It was then that he began to consider the idea of ​​developing a project based on this variety, and he began by looking for the territory where this variety best expresses itself. Ramon was captivated by the region of Terra Alta due its style of Garnacha; its freshness, its genuineness and its authenticity. Terra Alta possesses a long tradition in winemaking, a characteristic landscape of valleys and gorges, and an authenticity and belief in tradition. Wines By Roqueta Roqueta LaFou Celler 2019 "El Sender" View Wine

Read more This must be one of the world’s great wine co-operatives, on a par with La Chablisienne, the Wachau’s Freie Weingärtner and the Produttori di Barbaresco. The vast majority of Naoussa’s growers have tiny holdings. Only 20 or so grow enough grapes to contemplate making a living from them. Most of the rest sell them to this exemplary organization, which offers a degree of technical and marketing expertise that is quite remarkable. VAENI FEMALE WINEMAKER Producer: VAENI Country: Greece Region: Naousa Subregion: Marina, Trilofos, Fitia, Naoussa and other small subregions of the city of Naoussa City of Origin: Naoussa Date Founded: 1983 Owner Name: FOUNTOULIS GEORGIOS ( PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD ) Vineyard Size: 494 acres Total Annual Production: 2,000,000 Bottles Property History: Read more The Co-operative was inaugurated in 1983 but the winery was actually built in 1984 and the first commercial vintage took place during that year. A desire for increased production was one of the reasons that led to the establishment of the Co-operative, which could act as a counterbalance for private companies. In 1984, the most radically designed winery in the Balkans was built at record speed, due to the hard work of its members and support from the government. The Co-operative originally counted 330 members that grew 65% of the grapes in the Naoussa viticultural zone. The aim was to ensure better income for farmers whose single variety was Xinomavro. New, up-to-date wine making technology combined with age-old tradition have created the V.Q.P.R.D. wines: Naoussa, Naoussa Reserve, and Naoussa Grande Reserve Meanwhile, research was in progress for production of new wines made from Xinomavro. This is how the Rose wine was created, which won distinction within the following year and was awarded first prize in the 9th European Salon of Wine. After trial-and-error research on vinification methods, we spotted that Xinomavro was ideally suited to making white wines bearing excellent characteristics and in 1992 Imeros White was launched in the market. In 1994, having one of the best vintages on record, we produced Damaskinos V.Q.P.R.D. wine, aged in new French oak barrels with high toasting. This particular wine gains most favourable comments, wins distinction in Germany at the PROWEIN FAIR in 2000 and receives the silver medal at the International Wine Fair of Thessaloniki in 2004. Then the time comes for Dogmatikos White, sourced from Xinomavro, fermented at very low temperature (8-10oC) with the use of special wine yeast starter cultures. A wine full of character and class. Meanwhile, new cultivars are planted by our vine growers, such as Roditis, Syrah and Merlot. As a result, the Co-op enriches its range of wines produced. In 2001 and 2003 the company releases Syrah 2000 Regional Wine of Macedonia and Imeros Red Regional Wine of Macedonia respectively. Imeros Red is sourced from 50% Xinomavro and 50% Syrah and has taken up a significant share of the market. Experimental programmes definitely do not stop here and, taking into consideration the market trends, we make efforts to produce wines that will satisfy customers' tastes. Owner History: Read more Every 4 years in the past and every 5 now, elections are held and the new board of members is elected. Then, they vote among them to elect the new president. Mr Fountoulis Georgios has been elected as the President of VAENI NAOUSSA for the last 4 consecutive elections. Wines By VAENI VAENI 2018 Naoussa (Xinomavro) View Wine

Read more We resisted for a long time the temptation to import any wines from this iconic but often under-performing appellation. It is therefore with particular pleasure and some pride that we present to you the wines of a vigneron who is as rooted in his milieu as any we have ever encountered. Jean-Claude Vidal is the uncle of Jean-Marc Espinasse (see Rouge-Bleu above). An engineer by profession, he has lovingly tended his pocket-sized domaine since inheriting it thirty years ago. A fierce traditionalist, he makes a wine that will bring tears to the eyes of any nostalgists who believe that Châteauneuf’s best days are behind it. Making just 500 cases a year, he proves that it is possible against all odds to harness the benefits of today’s climate to the aesthetic standards of yesteryear. Now, his daughter Audrey has taken the reins and brought a wave of energy to the enterprise without in any way changing the time-honoured vineyard and cellar practices. So you can continue to expect rugged, full-throated wines made from all 13 authorised varieties, patiently aged in used barriques and built to last. These are the opposite of the smoothed-out fruit-bombs that mostly pass for Châteuneuf these days. Dom. du Banneret FEMALE WINEMAKER Producer: Dom. du Banneret Country: France Region: Rhone Subregion: Châteauneuf du Pape City of Origin: Châteauneuf du Pape Date Founded: 1989 Owner Name: Jean-Claude, Marie-Françoise and Audrey Vidal Vineyard Size: 4 Total Annual Production: 12,000 bottles/year Property History: Read more The vineyards have been in family for many years. However, Domaine du Banneret has been created in 1989 when my father decided to take care of the 1.5 hectare of the remaining vines. (During few generations, the plots have been sold or shared with other families in Chateauneuf. It was really commun at this time of history). Owner History: Read more Jean-Claude and Marie Françoise Vidal decided to take care of the remaining vinyeards in 1989. It was like a second life for both (vineyards and family) as Jean-Claude and Marie-François already had their jobs in Toulouse as architect and speach terapist. They took the vineyards only to give a second chance to this little plot that otherwise would have been sold outside the family. The first harvest was made in the famouse Henri Bonneau's cellar, a wine-maker, friend of the family. From then, the domaine keeps on a traditional approach, including some technology for the benefits of the wine. In 2013, Audrey joints the estate after ten years spent abroad. She is now in charge of the vineyards, winemaking and sales. In 2015, the Domaine bought few new plots, including one kept for white Chateauneuf du Pape. Wines By Dom. du Banneret