Natural, organic, biodynamic, real wine and the people and places behind them

The Schmitt winery has been in the family for over 230 years with Bianka and Daniel working their 16 hectares for the last decade. They work in full biodynamics which…

I love VA (with apologies to Randy Newman) There is a little-known HM Bateman cartoon with a picture of me drinking a beaker of wine, supported by the tagline: The…

In 2018, to commemorate the 30th birthday of Les Caves, I wrote a book. At the time of writing, we appeared to be at the peak of our powers. Business…

After travelling extensively in Portugal and Austria learning his craft, Craig Hawkins returned to South Africa and became the winemaker at top Swartland estate Lammershoek. Craig now makes his own…

This is a series profiling the producers on our list who make natural wines. Within this series we will be highlighting some of the extraordinary and rare bottles and vintages that…

On finishing their studies at agricultural college, Niels and Penny Verburg wanted to make wine but having no access to vineyards led them to leave South Africa in 1989. They…

Paul-Henri Thillardon, originally from Frontenas in the south of the Beaujolais region (where his father was a vigneron), settled in the appellation of Chénas in Beaujolais in 2008 at the…

Time was… …. that at the beginning of the year one sifted through the sediment of one’s knackered Christmas claret, rubbed a tartrate crystal ball and prognose-sticated on all the…

This is a series profiling the producers on our list who make natural wines. Within this series we will be highlighting some of the extraordinary and rare bottles and vintages that…

Who wants to know? Well, vegans, presumably. This is not a question that keeps me awake at night, but I know that message boards on forums are full of it.…