The Sorrel family first set root in Hermitage in 1893, when estate founder Félix Alexandre Sorrel purchased land in ‘Les Bessards.’ Today the family’s third generation–indeed, three Sorrel brothers (Jacques, Jean-Michel and Bruno)–today tend the family’s few acres of land, crafting but a handful of bottles each vintage.
There is something particularly special about a winemaker who lives, literally, among his vines. In the heart of ‘Côte Rozier,’ at the very top of the hill overlooking the northern Rhône town of Ampuis, you’ll find the humble yet rising-star estate of Christophe Billon.
The wines of Radda in Chianti are truly “mountain” Sangiovese wines, crisp and lively, redolent of summer fruit and Alpine-fresh breezes. Diego Finocchi, a native son, started his family winery project in 2006 with a goal of capturing all of Radda’s stony energy and verve in their organically raised wines.
Diego Conterno and his son, Stefano, craft elegant wines in Monforte d’Alba, Baroli that are supple and utterly profound in their perfumes and flavors. They tend five acres in the heart of ‘Ginestra’ (plus another 15 acres in Monforte, including a rare plot of Nascetta vines) organically.
Luigi Vico’s family roots in the Barolo village of Serralunga d’Alba reach back to 1694, yet it took more than 300 years, and the dedication of a native son, for the family name to appear on a Barolo wine.
Christine and Fabrice Vigot since the late 1990s have worked side by side, crafting wines in very small quantities from choice parcels (just under six acres) in Vosne, Gevrey-Chambertin and Nuits-Saint-Georges, in addition to some well-placed Bourgogne vineyards that could outshine many a premier cru in a blind tasting.
There is something truly exciting happening in what may seem the unlikeliest of wine regions: Romagna. Winemaker Chiara Condello’s Sangiovese wines from Predappio are leading no less than a revolution in this historic region between the Apennine mountains and the Adriatic Sea.
Sitting on a perfect plateau some 1,050 feet above altitude, Azienda Agricola Patrizia Cencioni benefits from a particular microclimate that moderates the more Mediterranean heat of this side of Montalcino. Brunello here is wonderfully suave and savory, with tangy licorice and black cherry fruit.
Winemaker Éric Louis can follow his roots in Sancerre as far back as 1860, when his great-grandmother Pauline was an early pioneer by tending vines and bottling her own wines. Sauvignon Blanc has remained the family’s passion, with hillside vineyards to the southeast of Sancerre in Vinon.
While so much of Bordeaux is dominated by grand estates that demand equally grand prices, we cherish small estates that build on the traditions of the region, artisans who strive for wines that reflect the best of Bordeaux: rich ripe fruit, silky tannins, soulful spice.