Poggio Scalette's Il Carboaione

00 Wines

An upstart shows the way for Oregon to rival Burgundy for Chardonnay brilliance.

Weingut Abraham

Over the past decade a new Alto Adige estate, Weingut Abraham, has been crafting some of the region’s most exciting expressions of individual terroirs.

Lorenzo Accomasso

For lovers of traditional Barolo, Accomasso will add a new dimension to your appreciation and enjoyment of Italy’s greatest wine, Barolo.

Alegre Valgañón

Since 2014, the husband-wife team of Oscar Alegre and Eva Valgañón have embraced this even more ancient tradition. By working strictly with tiny lots, they are turning out head-spinning reds and whites that capture the best of their beloved land’s 1,000+ year history. And, their wines informed by this ancestral wisdom, are offering something unique in today’s Rioja landscape.

Thiérry Allemand

For decades, Cornas’ reputation was based on the wines of the great traditionalists, Auguste Clape and Noël Verset. Today, this reputation is even stronger thanks to the brilliant work of Thierry Allemand.

Weingut Alzinger

The Alzingers’ traditionally minimalist approach captures the varietal and site character of each with stunning clarity and finesse. Harvesting for the top Smaragd wines is late for maximum expressiveness and complexity, and botrytized fruit is eliminated in the interest of making pure, dry wines.

Antídoto

The province of Soria is 90 minutes upriver from most Ribera del Duero wines. It’s wines are fresher than those from downriver, and the vineyards tend to be older. With Antídoto, young Frenchman, Bertrand Sourdais, is making an extraordinary case for Soria’s old vine Tinto Fino.

Artuke

A new Rioja “First Growth” emerges in Rioja Alavesa, helping to restore a 200-year-old winemaking tradition.

Franck Balthazar

As most of his generation in Cornas have embraced modern methods, Franck Balthazar has remained true to the traditional ideas championed by his legendary father and grandfather. Today, working in part with vines from Noel Verset, Franck is making some of the most expressive, and classically rendered, wines Cornas has to offer.

Barbeito

Ricardo Freitas has married a deep respect for Madeira’s roots with profound energy and innovation. His work, and his wines, have been crucial in restoring the world's appreciation for Madeira.

Domaine Barge

When the site is right, and the winemaker knows what he or she is doing, single vineyard wines from Côte Rôtie can be magical. One of our favorite domaines for getting it right is that of the Barge family, whose wines today are second to none as expression of both site and tradition.

Cascina Baricchi

With his Barbaresco “Rosé delle Casasse,” proprietor Natale Simonetta’s Cascina Baricchi is today’s standard-bearer for the rare Nebbiolo clone, Nebbiolo Rosé.

Bérêche et Fils

Heirs to a family winemaking tradition dating back to 1847, Raphaël and Vincent Bérêche have emerged as true cult stars within Champagne’s grower community. Their non-vintage Brut Réserve has few rivals for purity and character; but it is their five (and soon to be six) micro-cuvées that are generating the most buzz for the way in which they express terroir, vintage and grape variety.

Bernabeleva

Located in the mountains northwest of Madrid, Bernabeleva produces Garnachas unlike any other in the world—intense yet ethereal—that give voice to an ancient region’s Celtic roots.

Bilbaínas

Bodegas Bilbainas, though known today mainly by insiders, was historically one of Rioja’s greatest traditional houses, their sterling reputation built on the stunning richness and ageworthiness of their flagship wines Viña Pomal and Viña Zaco.

Biondi-Santi

For more than a century, Biondi-Santi stood apart from all Brunello producers, producing legendary wines that have come to define classic Brunello. The Biondi-Santi traditions continue today, unchanged, in the very capable hands of Franco’s son, Jacopo.

Louis Boillot

The wines that Louis Boillot makes from his priceless vines are like Burgundy used to be: gentle, subtle, pure, precise and highly nuanced, their complexity and sensuality growing with age.

Henri Bonneau

Henri Bonneau is the ultimate non-interventionist. He’s famed for letting his wines develop at their own pace—releasing them only when he thinks they’re ready, even 6 or 8 years after the vintage.

Brovia

Long a favorite among Nebbiolo cognoscenti, Brovia produces some of Piedmont’s most profoundly expressive wines. Yet, this cantina has long flown under the radar, only recently gaining recognition as one of Barolo’s traditional giants.

G.B. Burlotto

In the late 19th century, Giovan Battista Burlotto’s accomplishments were rivaled only by those of Biondi-Santi and Vega Sicilia, as he achieved superstardom in a world dominated by French wines.

Tommaso Bussola

When Veneto legend Giuseppe Quintarelli was asked years ago to name the region’s next superstar, he didn’t hesitate: Tommaso Bussola. Today, that prediction has been proven by a string of superlative ...

Calabretta

Like the great traditionalists of Barolo and Montalcino, Calabretta uses indigenous varieties and long aging in large casks to produce some of Italy’s most extraordinary wines – at extraordinarily low prices.

Cappellano

A legend in Barolo, Teobaldo Cappellano was one of the region’s most outspoken traditionalists. Today, his son Augusto continues his father’s important work producing the renowned Barolos “Pie Franco” and “Rupestris.”

Il Carnasciale

Il Caberlot, and its second label Carnasciale, are grown on a bluff overlooking the Arno River, and are the only wines in the world made from a mysterious clone discovered four decades ago.

Cayuse

Born in France, and profoundly influenced by the great Northern Rhone classicists, Christophe Baron has taken artisanal winemaking in Washington State to a new level.

Cerbaiona

The more we explore Brunello, the more we realize that a handful of surviving traditionalists are the growers to be truly revered. One of the greatest of these is Cerbaiona's Diego Molinari.

Ceritas

No one in California comes closer to capturing the magic of great Burgundy than John Raytek.

Domaine Champet

If one were to search for today’s most purely traditional Côte Rôtie estate—the equivalent of Ch. Rayas or Henri Bonneau in Châteauneuf—it would certainly be Champet. And the fact, that little here has changed over the past fifty years, makes this timeless domaine all the more magical.

Laurent Charvin

Each bottle from the Domaine Charvin cellar—in both the strikingly beautiful Côtes du Rhône and flagship Châteauneuf du Pape, regardless of the quality and character of the year, consistently express both terroir and vintage with breathtaking clarity.

Jean-Louis Chave

Wine growers in the Northern Rhône since 1491, the Chave family has emerged in the past half century as one of the preeminent growers not only of Hermitage and St. Joseph, but of the world.

Robert Chevillon

Connoisseurs have long revered Domaine Robert Chevillon for the startling transparency of their wines, which express the terroir character of their Nuits-Saint-Georges climats with crystalline clarity. Today, Robert Chevillon’s sons Denis and Bertrand, who’ve run the domaine since 2000, draw on eight ideally situated premier crus, as well as several fine village lieux-dits, to fashion red Burgundies breathtaking in their balance and site expression, while offering superb aging potential.

Auguste Clape

Cornas is one of the world’s few blue-chip addresses we still associate with traditional winemaking. For this, we can thank Auguste Clape and his unwavering commitment to Cornas tradition.

Clos Joliette

In 2018, a passionate local winemaker, Lionel Osmin, purchased the now-neglected vineyard. Having tasted many of Clos Joliette’s wines in his formative years, Osmin was determined to share them with the world. For the inaugural release, Osmin put together a six-vintage vertical of 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2007 and 2008, packed in an original wooden case. He labeled it “Édition Limitée No. 1” and made only 220 sets for the entire world.

Clos Rougeard

Clos Rougeard's red trophies, Poyeux and Bourg, are now among the world’s most coveted wines, while its towering white, Brézé, is nearly as ardently sought after. Not only do they come from three of the most extraordinary terroirs in France; they represent the winemaking of two brothers who are among France’s most gifted, Nady and Charly Foucault.

Domaine des Closiers

Located in Parnay, near the center of the appellation, Domaine des Closiers boasts some of the finest vineyard sites in Saumur-Champigny. Proprietor Anatole de la Brosse purchased the estate in 2018, pursuing a long-held dream of crafting elite wines from Cabernet Franc.

Giacomo Conterno

Among the most profound expressions of Barolo can be found in bottles bearing the Giacomo Conterno name. They represent the ideal of traditional Barolo: rich, powerful, massively structured.

Contino

We can think of no better example of CUNE’s pioneering spirit than their creation, in 1973, of the great single-vineyard Rioja, Contino.

François Cotat

Since the 1940s, the Cotat family has been selling wine under their own label, and as the torch was passed from the legendary Paul Cotat to his son François in the 1990s, little has changed—the practices are as classic as ever, resulting in the purest expressions possible of the domaine’s iconic sites.

CUNE

While originally a negociant, the Real de Asúa brothers soon began acquiring vineyards, recognizing that controlling production from vine to bottle was the path to high quality. And they quickly demonstrated their success, winning numerous medals at the major European exhibitions taking place at that time.

Marquis D’Angerville

Nothing demonstrates the brilliance of red Burgundy like a great Volnay. And to insiders, for the last half-century, the name synonymous with such wine has been Marquis d’Angerville.

Rene & Vincent Dauvissat

Vincent Dauvissat has said that "terroir is everything," As a result of his commitment to expressing his terroirs, no domaine offers a more profound line-up of classic Chablis.

Descendientes de J. Palacios

Bierzo has rocketed onto the world wine stage in recent years, and no one is more responsible than Alvaro Palacios and his nephew Ricardo Perez. They started this winery in 1999 with a goal of crafting singular wines from Bierzo’s old vine variety, Mencia.

D’Oliveira

D’Oliveira has held on to many of its most famous vintages, creating an irreplaceable stock of old wines. Their intense, cask-aged wines show why Madeira was so prized by our forefathers.

Quinta do Estranxeiro

Eulogio Pomares is famed for his ground-breaking work at his family's Rías Baixas' estate, Bodegas Zárate. But he was further enticed by the immense potential he saw in the forbidding mountains of nearby Ribeira Sacra. Together with his wife, Rebeca Montero, he launched a new project, Quinta do Estranxeiro, there in 2019 that is already adding to his formidable legacy.

Marco Ferrari

Jean-Philippe Fichet

The white wines that Jean-Philippe Fichet is making today have few rivals for their class in Burgundy, and they could be unmatched in their transparency and expressiveness.

Jean Foillard

Even though there are now several growers in the Beaujolais cru villages making wines along similar lines, Foillard’s continue to stand apart. Clearly the strength and delicacy, fine structure, texture and terroir transparency that make his wines so sought after come from something within Foillard himself.

Philippe Foreau

Despite the fact that the domaine was established in 1923, it took decades for it to become internationally famous. In fact, it wasn’t until a pair of historically great sweet wine vintages, 1989 and 1990, came along that the names of Clos Naudin and the Foreau family were finally put on the map. Today, working with his son Vincent, Philippe continues to make both dry and sweet Vouvray of astonishing clarity and expression.

Fourrier

Relying on ancient vines in great crus, Fourrier’s wines prove that great Burgundy is made in the vineyard. And, in Gevrey-Chambertin—teeming with great growers—Fourrier’s may be the finest of all.

Jean-François Ganevat

No other Jura vigneron’s star has risen faster than that of Jean-François Ganevat. Through the diversity, originality and sheer brilliance of his wines, he’s drawn comparison to the likes of Coche, Jayer and Dagueneau as a producer whose wines transcend their appellations.

Bruno Giacosa

Few could rival Bruno Giacosa for not only the stature of his work, but the dizzying number of famous wines he made.

Pierre Gonon

With Bernard Gripa and Jean-Louis Chave, Gonon is one of the last remaining old-school St. Joseph growers based in the original appellation around Tournon, Mauves and St-Jean-de-Muzols. And the brother’s unwavering adherence to the old ways, as well as the fact that they work Trollat’s old vineyard, is why they are St. Joseph’s champions of traditionalism today.

Heitz Cellars

Nearly a half century after it became the first great single-vineyard California Cabernet, Martha’s Vineyard still mesmerizes with its astonishing bouquet and its warm, velvety texture.

Domaine Huet

The late Gaston Huet proved that Vouvray and the Chenin Blanc grape could produce world-class wines. Today, his domaine continues to make some of the world’s most compelling white wines, and in a remarkable range of styles.

Jaboulet Aîné

Forty years ago, Paul Jaboulet Aîné was the great house of the Rhône Valley. Jaboulet’s most famous wine, then and now, is the legendary Hermitage La Chapelle, made from fruit from their own vines.

Jacquesson

After nearly two centuries of existence, Jacquesson has emerged as one of Champagne’s most innovative houses. Its “730” series has revolutionize how the region views non-vintage Champagne.

Jean-Paul et Corinne Jamet

Always blended from a diversity of terroirs, Jamet’s Côte Rôtie is consistently one of France’s great wines, and a quintessential example of Côte Rôtie’s magic.

Domaine Jasmin

Supremely elegant, Jasmin’s Côte Rôtie is the result of a philosophy handed down through four generations. And until it launched a tiny luxury Côte Rôtie cuvée called “Olea” in 2015, Jasmin was one of the very few domaines to make only one Côte Rôtie—a blend of fruit from the domaine’s eight lieux-dits.

Kalin Cellars

The brilliantly idiosyncratic wines of Kalin’s Terry and Frances Leighton are remarkable expressions of time, place and winemaker. They come about as close as any in California to our wine ideal.

Királyudvar

Proprietor Tony Hwang is returning to glory one of the world’s great dessert wines. But he’s not stopping there, having recognized that the local varieties could produce world-class dry and sparkling wines as well.

Lafarge

Nothing demonstrates red Burgundy’s magic like Volnay, with its enveloping aromatic complexity, silky texture and amazing aging potential. The Lafarge family has been making wine in Volnay since before the French Revolution, and what Michel and Frédéric do today is informed by the collective wisdom passed down through many generations of Lafarge.

Lanson

Lanson's commitment to Champagne sans malo is the legacy of long-time chef de cave Jean-Paul Gandon, who retired in 2012 after 42 years at Lanson’s helm. And his successor Hervé Danton, who worked alongside Gandon for his last two vintages, is just as devoted to the methods that have made Lanson’s some of the most singularly great Champagnes of our time.

Marie-Nöelle Ledru Champagne

While much of the excitement today in grower Champagne is being generated by younger stars, some of the greatest Champagnes de terroir have come from old-school viticultrice Marie-Nöelle Ledru.

López de Heredia

For over 135 years, López de Heredia has made some of Rioja’s finest and most distinctive wines from the Tondonia and Bosconia vineyards. Staunch traditionalists, they are today’s flag bearers for classic Rioja.

Margherita Otto

Alan Manley’s Margherita Otto has an utterly traditional and singularly harmonious character, making it a must for anyone who loves Old School Barolo.

Il Marroneto

Giuseppe’s son, Alessandro, has been one of Montalcino’s staunchest defenders of tradition, employing wild yeast fermentations and long aging in large, neutral wood. The estate’s Madonna delle Grazie cuvée – sourced from a north-facing parcel of 40+-year-old vines – has become one of Italy’s most collectible wines.

Cantina Bartolo Mascarello

Until his death in 2005, Bartolo Mascarello was a towering figure in Barolo, producing some of the region’s most prized wines. Today, Maria Teresa Mascarello continues to build on her father’s legacy.

Giuseppe Mascarello

Mauro Mascarello and his legendary Barolo Monprivato represent the culmination of more than 130 years of great Giuseppe Mascarello wines.

Mastroberardino

Taurasi is finally receiving widespread recognition as one of Italy’s greatest red wines, thanks to Mastroberardino, the greatest producer and champion of this ancient Campanian wine.

Mayacamas

Mayacamas’ Bob Travers was, in the 1960s and 1970s, considered a giant of Napa Valley Cabernet. Thanks in part to how those early wines have aged, he is again achieving the status of an icon.

Yvon Métras

Métras doesn’t have a U.S. agent and even in France his wines are difficult to find. By all reports, he is something of a mad genius, far more interested in spending time in his vines and cellar than with exportation or receiving visitors. But what is clear is how thrillingly pure and intense yet deep and concentrated Métras' wines are.

Robert Michel Cornas

Robert Michel succeeded Joseph Michel in 1975, and for the next three decades—until his retirement following the 2006 vintage—he was the very definition of an old-school Cornas vigneron, the last of ten generations of tough men working impossibly steep sites for the reward of the aromas and flavors that only Syrah grown here can express.

Montepeloso

Through unstinting effort and deep passion, Fabio Chiarelotto has made his Tuscan estate, Montepeloso, a beacon for those who prize purity, refinement and vineyard expression in wine.

Mount Mary

Mugneret Gibourg

In the last few vintages Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg has taken its place alongside the very top of red Burgundy producers. Their beautifully perfumed, intensely flavored, firmly structured wines of quintessential grace and harmony place them right at home in this echelon.

Quinta da Muradella

José Luis Mateo started Quinta da Muradella in 1990, and originally paid the bills by producing wine for the family taberna. But over time, saw his reputation soar. Today, José has become one of the most idolized and respected winemakers in all of Spain, and his tiny production has reached cult status.

Marqués de Murrieta

For more than 150 years, Marqués de Murrieta has been a traditional Rioja giant. Murrieta’s founder, Don Luciano de Murrieta, essentially created Rioja as it is known today. Until he started his firm in 1852, Rioja was primitively made and short-lived.

Nervi-Conterno

With its hallowed vineyards, Roberto Conterno found the chance to own Nervi irresistible. It was as he told Monica Larner: “If you love Nebbiolo, that means you love all the areas where Nebbiolo grows.” Founded in 1906, Nervi is the oldest cantina in Gattinara. It has holdings in the appellation’s two greatest crus—Molsino and Valferana—as well as the top sites of Garavoglie and Cassace.

Nikolaihof

Through methods both ancient and original—including the aging of white wine for up to 17 years in barrel—fourth-generation winemaker Nikolaus Saahs Jr. makes Rieslings and Grüner Veltliners of multi-faceted complexity, surreal texture and fantastic aging potential.

Bodegas Olivares

Olivares is blessed with old, ungrafted Monastrell vines in a cool sub-climate of Jumilla. The resulting wines have serious personalities and a striking freshness—a combination that makes for extraordinary values.

Álvaro Palacios

Beginning in Priorat, and expanding into Bierzo and Rioja, Álvaro Palacios has been an untiring voice for the idea that great wine can only be made through uncompromising viticulture and winemaking.

Domaine de Pallus

Bertrand Sourdais aims to create a new paradigm for Loire Valley Cabernet Franc–while at the same time honoring its soils and ancient traditions.

Hermanos Peciña

Pedro Peciña is preserving Rioja’s great traditions through his championing of classic vineyards and extended wood aging. Along with a few other surviving traditionalists, he gives hope that this singular winemaking school will endure.

Elio Perrone

The precocious appeal of Stefano Perrone’s Moscato can cause people to overlook their subtlety and finesse. His Moscatos, Barberas, and the rose “Bigaro” find a striking balance between accessibility and seriousness.

Philipponnat

The corporate changes sweeping through Champagne seem sure to rob many old houses of their connection to the past. But one small jewel of a house is moving ever closer to its roots: Philipponnat.

Agostina Pieri

Francesco Monaci’s warm, south-facing vineyard yields wine that are unmistakably from Montalcino, yet also possess a warmth and youthful generosity often lacking at the zone’s more “severe” addresses.

Pinard

In the decade since they took over their family’s domaine, the Pinard brothers have made their wines the talk of not only of Paris but of winemakers throughout France. And they did so by shifting the goal from producing wine solely of typicity to making wine of true greatness.

Pingus

From his first vintage with Pingus in 1995, Peter Sisseck has been on a restless quest to find the soul of its ancient vines—continually refining his methods to maximize their expression.

Prager

The Prager estate has risen in stature over the past 25 years to become a giant of Austria’s Wachau. And that rise has been in perfect parallel to the developing genius of winemaker Toni Bodenstein.

Jérôme Prévost

Prévost's Champagnes are among the most coveted in the marketplace. Though his first vintage was only in 1998, serious Champagne enthusiasts who know his wines worship them. In Prévôst’s hands, Pinot Meunier is capable of making Champagnes as profound as the best made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Produttori

It finally happened: the world has awakened to one of its greatest wine treasures, the Produttori del Barbaresco. Since 1958, the Produttori has been the reference point for classic Barbaresco. And since their launching in 1967, the Produttori’s Riservas have been the defining expressions of Rabajà, Asili, Ovello and Barbaresco’s other noble vineyards.

Promontory

A wine with few precedents in America, and the full measure of a great terroir.

Ψ Psi

Having established Pingus as a global icon, Peter Sisseck has embarked on a project to assist local Ribera del Duero growers, while producing a wine that captures the region’s soul

Quinta de S. Jose

Giuseppe Quintarelli

Of Italy’s most sought-after blue chips, few are as coveted as the masterpieces of the late Giuseppe Quintarelli. His legendary Amarone has often been held up as the Valpolicella region’s ultimate expression of tradition. Yet, over his long career Bepi was as brilliantly innovative as he was an old-school champion.

François Raveneau

Raveneau uses purely artisanal methods to produce Chablis’ most powerful wines. The domaine is an icon not only for Chablis lovers, but for those who crave transparency in their wine.

Rhys Vineyards

While terroir has been a key talking point in the California wine awakening, we know of no one who can match what Kevin Harvey has done to reveal the essence of his extraordinary sites. Having discovered new terroirs capable of greatness in the incredibly complex geology of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Harvey has—from his first vintage in 2004—pushed the envelope in every way imaginable, all in his relentless drive to capture their character with as much transparency as possible.

Giuseppe Rinaldi

Since taking over the Giuseppe Rinaldi estate in 1993, Beppe Rinaldi has taken the wines to new heights, crafting some of Barolo’s finest traditional wines.

La Rioja Alta

La Rioja Alta is a traditional Rioja icon—for more than a century, one of the region’s greatest producers. And in recent decades, it has been one of the most ardent defenders of the methods responsible for one of the world’s most distinctive and long-lived styles of wine.

Bodegas Riojanas

One of the grand old names of Rioja, Riojanas has produced heroic wines since its founding in 1890. Until Felipe Nalda’s retirement in 2013, Riojanas’ winemaker had been with the bodega for 49 years (since the great 1964 vintage). Under Felipe’s guiding hand, it remained one of the few remaining houses committed to the traditional methods that gave us one of the world's most distinctive and long-lived styles of wine.

Château Rocheyron

Above all, Rocheyron gives Peter the opportunity to fulfill his desire to make a classic style of Bordeaux as he remembers it, a character that he fears is being lost to the anonymity of modern winemaking.

Telmo Rodríguez

Telmo has been the most prominent voice for having Rioja’s greatest terroirs recognized and for returning to small-scale, traditional winemaking to most clearly express their characters. And the wines he’s making from them are among the most acclaimed Spanish wines of our time.

Domaine Rostaing

Domaine Rostaing’s vines represent Côte Rôtie's best sites, as legacies of two immortal growers, Marius Gentaz and Albert Dervieux. His wines honor these giants with their gracefulness and typicity.

Domaine Roulot

No one deserves more credit than Jean-Marc Roulot for the school of winemaking that today crafts Meursaults of riveting minerality, unlike the buttery, less distinctive Meursaults of the past.

Ruppert-Leroy

The embodiment of the Aube’s pioneering spirit can be found in Essoyes, where Ruppert-Leroy are pursuing their unique vision of how to express their terroir, unconstrained by conventional wisdom.

RWC Historic Series

The Rare Wine Co. has been a major force behind Madeira’s recent revival, introducing a new generation of American wine lovers to the wonders of Madeira through its Historic Series wines.

Bodegas San Francisco Javier Viña Corrales Pago Balbaína Fino

Courtesy of Peter Sisseck's extraordinary ability to capture the utmost from his vines, Viña Corrales is not only brilliant, but unique: a terroir-driven Fino from one of Jerez’ iconic vineyards that is, first and foremost, a great white wine.

Willi Schaefer

Willi Schaefer is revered for the brilliant Rieslings he makes from two of the Mosel’s greatest vineyards, Graacher Domprobst and Graacher Himmelreich. His wines are achingly beautiful, ethereally perfumed and laser-like in the expression of their great terroirs.

Guillaume Selosse

In most family domaines, we must wait for the baton to be passed to know just how talented the next generation is. But Guillaume gave the world a sneak preview: a series of extraordinary Champagnes he made beginning in 2009.

Jacques Selosse

Once dominated by Grande Marque houses, the Champagne region is being transformed by small growers making their own wine. With intellect and passion, one man has guided the way: Anselme Selosse.

Château Simone

The number of transcendent wines emerging from the South of France is, so far, a small one. Yet, for nearly two centuries, Château Simone’s Rougier family has quietly been producing stunningly nuanced, nearly immortal whites and reds that attest to the greatness of this limestone amphitheater.

Gianfranco Soldera

Gianfranco Soldera pioneered Brunello’s modern era, founding his Case Basse estate in 1972. Today, virtually every Brunello or Brunello Riserva he’s ever made is considered a Holy Grail wine.

Domaine Marc Sorrel

Though one of Hermitage’s smallest producers, Domaine Marc Sorrel tends an array of prime vineyard sites that rivals those of the largest négociants. The estate makes two of the Northern Rhône’s most acclaimed and sought-after cuvées: Hermitage Rouge “Le Gréal” and Hermitage Blanc “Les Rocoules.”

Terre Porziane

Antonio Pulcini stands nearly alone in holding on to his greatest white wine from his best vineyard, The Colle Gaio Old White, for 20 to 25 years before selling it, not only in sublime condition but at astonishingly low prices.

Trediberri Barolo

Nicola Oberto, along with his father and business partner, is today championing the resurgence of traditional Barolo winemaking in the town of La Morra.

Trimbach

The Trimbach family produces outstanding wines from all the classic Alsace varieties, but their fame rests with just one variety, Riesling. Their Clos Ste. Hune and Frédéric Emile are the benchmarks for dry Riesling.

Valdespino

In a region devoted to tradition, there is no more traditional bodega than Sherry’s most historic house, Valdespino.

Valentini

This extraordinary wine became legendary due to the intensity, complexity and ageworthiness reported by those lucky enough to have tasted it. And the legend was only fueled by its extreme rarity and Valentini’s reluctance to talk about how he made it.

Vallana

What was true then is still so today: for seventy-five years the name Antonio Vallana has meant great Piemontese Nebbiolo.

Edmond Vatan

Over the past decade, Edmond and Anne Vatan’s Sancerre “Clos la Néore” has gone, from virtually unknown outside the Loire, to becoming a top prize among sommeliers, merchants and connoisseurs worldwide.

Vega Sicilia

Even before Ribera del Duero was known as a wine region, Vega Sicilia had earned its place among the great wines of the world. Its reputation today is no less towering than it was a century ago.

Vouette & Sorbée

Before becoming Champagnes, they are fine wines. And their great originality has given them cult status among those who prize wines of singular personality. Richard Juhlin is among their greatest fans, ranking Vouette & Sorbée as “the only 4-star property outside the Marne.”

Zárate

Seventh-generation Eulogio Pomares helms this historic bodega, founded in 1707, and he is even more quality-driven than his predecessors. And through an estate blessed with old vines, great terroirs, and his own perfectionist approach, Pomares does just that; making Albariños that may not only be the best white wines of Galicia, but potentially in all of Spain.