Meet the Community
Read RAW WINE's exclusive winemaker interviews for insights into farming, producing and tasting natural wine.
Meet Winemaker Zurab Mgvdliasvhili from Nikalas Marani winery
Zurab Mgvdliasvhili runs the Nikalas Marani winery in the Kakheti region of Georgia. The cellar was built by his great grandfather in 1928 - the winery is named in his honour. He makes natural wines using the quevri (kvevri) in traditional and more modern styles. "My winery name is
Iago Bitarishvili - His Philosophy
Iago Bitarishvili runs Iago Winery in Eastern Georgia, where he makes his wines in kvevries (a.k.a. qvevries). Here is a sample of his winemaking philosophy. "My wine tells a story about the location of the vineyard. About the grape variety. It's a local grape variety.
Microbio Wines - The Ancient Vines of Ismael Palomo
Ismael Gozalo Palomo runs Microbio Wines - a winery located around 900m high in the centre of Spain. Ismael looks after many ancient, pre-phylloxera vines - some nearly 300 years’ old. 85% are Verdejo; the remainder are Tempranillo, Merlot and Shiraz. “We are located in the center of Spain in
Christian Binner - Natural Wines in Alsace
The domain Christian Binner, located in the Alsatian heartland, has been in the same family since 1770. “It was five hectares when I began ten years ago; now we are 15 hectares. We grow the typical grape varieties in this area: mainly Riesling - because we love this grape variety
Saša Radikon
Saša Radikon runs the Radikon winery in Friuli - renowned for producing elegant and aged orange wines. His father Stanko Radikon, who died in 2016, was a key figure in the renaissance of skin maceration techniques in northern Italy. “I basically learned everything from my father. The winery was born
Iago Bitarishvili - Master of the Kvevri
Iago Bitarishvili from Iago Winery makes his wines in the East of Georgia and is a master of the kvevri (a.k.a. qvevri) - large earthenware vessels that are traditionally used for making orange wines. The winemaker has 22 kvevries of various sizes buried in his cellar. In this
Craig Hawkins - South Africa's Skin Contact Pioneer
Craig and Carla Hawkins run Testalonga, a winery in the Swartland region of South Africa. Craig is widely regarded as a pioneer of orange wines in his home country, typically made with the Chenin Blanc grape. Here is Craig, in his own words. "We are in the Swartland region
An Interview with Bichi Winery’s Noel Téllez
By Verve Wine owner Dustin Wilson Dustin Wilson: Bichi is a young winery, planting your home vineyard in 2004 and bottling your first vintage in 2014. During this time, what have you learned about the terroir of Tecate and how would you describe the terroir to others? Noel Téllez: As
