Monte Zovo

MONTE ZOVO is not only a hill in the hinterland of the beautiful Lake Garda near the town of Bardolino, but also a winery. This has been located on the hill for almost one hundred years.

The success story of the Cottini family began in 1925, when Carlo Cottini founded the first family winery. At that time, in addition to vines, the company cultivated fruit varieties such as cherries, plums, apricots as well as olives. Cattle were also bred.

The following generations specialized in wine production. In 1965, Raffaello Cottini bought the Caprino Veronese vineyard, the seat of today’s winery. Today, Diego Cottini, together with his family, continues the tradition. Meanwhile, the estate has increased to almost 140 hectares of vineyards.

But the family business also attaches great importance to sustainability. The winery is located on a hill crest. Thus, the entire production cycle runs from top to bottom. But it was above all an idea of Diego Cottini that made the winery famous at the end of the 90s: The high mountain vineyards lacked any rot or fungus. And by inspiring the Appassimento method to produce Amaraone, he started to harvest the grapes only after the first frost and to subject them to a further drying on the straw mat. The independent wine “Calinverno” was born.

Chatzivaritis Estate

It all started with love…when Vagelis Chatzivaritis met his soon to be wife Olga Iakovidou in 1981. She was from Goumenissa, a place with a long tradition in winemaking. Little did he know that this was the place where he would, later on in life, dedicate himself into the creation of a very unique and widely undiscovered Greek wine.

Being a wine lover himself, and a man who also appreciated fine food and the simple pleasures of life, he started making his own wine to enjoy with the company of his good friends and close relatives.  For Vagelis, wine making was simply a hobby and time-out from his demanding career as a mechanical engineer.

In 2017, the daughter of Vangelis and Olga – Chloi – decided to return to Greece after studying oenology in France and Portugal and having worked in various wineries in France, New Zealand, Argentina, and Chile. When she returned, she brought with her passion and experience for low intervention wines and immediately started making a new range of wines without interventions and experimenting with new wine making techniques, such as petnat (pétillant naturel) and carbonic maceration.

Today the vineyard of the Estate consists of 20 hectares. The Chatzivaritis Estate focuses on the Greek varieties of Xinomavro, Negoska, Roditis, Malagousia, Muscat and Assyrtico, and also cultivates the popular Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet sauvignon in smaller surfaces.

Château de Roquefort

The Château de Roquefort is ideally situated in The Côtes de Provence Appellation, between the Massif de la Sainte Baume, which rises to an altitude of 1,042 metres, and the coastal Calanques National Park. The landscape here is a formation of high plateaus, where organic vineyards are cultivated biodynamically at an altitude of 390 metres, cut out of the imposing rocky clay – limestone soils. The vineyards have been certified bio since 2006.

It is in this naturally, wild environment that Raimond de Villeneuve has chosen to follow his passion; the life of a vigneron, for over 25 years. The terroir here is essential thanks to the microclimate created by altitude and the fact that the vineyards are facing North-Northwest, which brings much freshness to his wines.

Since 1812, numerous generations have preceded him, handing clown the land and vines. Today he farms some 30 hectares, producing wines which he sells to the four corners of the globe.

Domaine Thomas

The small 9ha estate of Domaine Thomas has been in the family since the 1670s, with ninth generation winegrowers Jean and Ginette Thomas, and their son Julien and partner Justine running the Domaine today.

The Domaine, which grows Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, is located in the village of Verdigny in Sancerre, with a high proportion of its vineyards located on the highly sought-after Silex soil that makes the most aromatic and pungent Sauvignons that the region is famous for.

Wild yeast fermentation is key in setting Domaine Thomas’s wines apart, in an appellation where selected yeasts are still the norm, and so does extended ageing on the lees, combined with low use of sulphur. The Domaine also manages the vineyard according to biodynamic principles.

Domaine de la Provenquiere

In the heart of the Languedoc vineyards, Domaine La Provenquière perpetuates the wine-growing and family heritage of four generations of passionate winegrowers, as well as the historical heritage of a unique place steeped in nearly five centuries of history.

The Robert-Boularand family expresses all its winemaking know-how here through a wide range of white, red, rosé and orange IGP Pays d’Oc, AOC Languedoc, AOC Saint-Chinian and AOC Coteaux d’Ensérune varietal wines.

Iconic figures of the estate, Claude and his sister Brigitte have been co-managing the family estate since 1994. Marie, Jean and Antoine representing the fourth generation of the family are also committed daily to the heart of the estate. Claude, Brigitte, Jean, Antoine and Marie. Five passionate winegrowers who work every day to offer authentic and unique IGP Pays d’Oc and AOC Languedoc wines, vinified observing the winemaking tradition and the terroir.

Domaine Besson

Situated in the heart of Chablis, Domaine Besson is the proud owner of an exceptional wine-producing heritage, seeking to express and transmit in its wines the purity and sensitivity of this unique terroir. The estate is an independent family-owned and run Domaine spanning four generations.

Today, their 21 hectares comprises holdings in Petit Chablis, Chablis and selected Premiers/Grands Crus. Alain Besson has handed more control to his daughter Camille, who looks after the winemaking and marketing, along with his son Adrien who is responsible for the vineyard work. Practicing ‘lutte raisonnée’ in the vineyards and manual harvesting (for the Grands Crus only), their thoughtful, sensitive winemaking gives rise to wines that offer a pure expression of fruit in a fine and elegant styling.

Adrien Besson, passionate about tractors since his childhood, obtained his professional baccalaureate in viticulture and oenology and then returned to take care of the vines in June 2013. Accompanied by four  employees, he takes care of our vines throughout the year in order to produce quality grapes. Anxious to rationalize his practices, he set up the ploughing of our entire plot, limiting chemical weeding.

Finch’s Line

Finch’s Line  produces handcrafted, small batches of wine from special old vineyards throughout the Hunter Valley. One particular favourite is a 70-year-old vineyard near Pokolbin that Miles discovered while he was doing vintage at Tyrrells. The wines are made at Château Pato, one of the Hunter’s leading boutique wineries which is owned and run by Miles’s best mate, Nick Paterson.  For 4 weeks during Australia’s harvest, prior to having a family and running a business, Miles spent working as Nick’s assistant winemaker in exchange for Paterson “babysitting” Finch’s Line when Miles returned home to the UK.

The ‘Finch’ in the name comes from Heneage Finch, who was the original surveyor of the road from Sydney to the Hunter Valley – The Great North Road.

Bodega Gotica

Bodega Gótica have been producing wine in the municipality of Rueda for several generations.

The Estate is divided into 4 plots which were planted out between 1983 and 2001. Their philosophy is to innovate, and their objective is to offer a quality product based on the excellence of their work.

The first commercial vintage was in 2004 with the production of wines from 3 grape varieties, Verdejo, Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon, with which they continue to produce excellent white, rosé and red wines.

 The Rueda Denomination of Origin was recognized on January 12, 1980, by order of the Ministry of Agriculture, being the first Denomination of Origin recognized in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León, after several years working for the recognition and protection of its native variety :  Verdejo.

– Where there is no wine, there is no love –

River Farm

River Farm Wines is owned and operated by the Jones family who first purchased Marlborough land in the late 1800s; long before anyone knew of its wine growing potential.

Today the family has dedicated 330 acres of their best sites to grape production. The ability to source 100% estate grown fruit from three separate vineyard locations within the Awatere and Wairau sub regions.

River Farm is run by brothers James & Andrew the 4th generation of the Jones family on the land. Their meticulous attention to detail in the vineyard is expressed in every glass of River Farm wine.