Located in Albernoa, in the South of Alentejo, Herdade da Malhadinha Nova is a high quality project which aims to develop, in a thorough and professional way, the traditional sectors of the Portuguese economy.

In one of the less developed regions of Alentejo, innovation and quality were priorities on this 200 hectare project that includes production of wine, raising certified animals such as black pigs and pure blood Alentejo cattle, and soon a rural tourism resort.

Herdade da Malhadinha Nova project was born in 1998, when the family bought the estate. Their dream was to see the vineyards growing and produce a wine which we wanted to be different and of very high quality, so that it would amaze those whoever taste it. The dream was conquered with hard work under the supervision of a prestigious and very experienced wine maker, Luis Duarte.

In 2000 the vineyard was planted and the selection of the varieties (national and international) was very carefully made. The perfect weather conditions, the poor slate soils and the gentle well drained slopes of the property together with the careful selection of varieties (touriga national, aragonês, trincadeira, alicant boushet, syrah, cabernet sauvignon, alfrocheiro for the reds and arinto, roupeiro, Antão Vaz and Chardonnay for the whites) make up the terroir of Malhadinha Nova Estate and result in unique characteristics for the production of a wine with lots of character and great quality.

The Malhadinha winery gathers many original features for the production of the highest quality wines. Located right next to the vineyard, the winery was built on a hillside, allowing vital steps of the winemaking process to occur by gravity. With a production capacity of 150 thousand litres per year, this small production is the result of a hard green harvest: the grapes are all hand harvested and placed in 12 kg small boxes. After they are rigorously selected and fermented in refrigerated open fermenters. A selection of the best new technology combined with traditional techniques ensures that the wines truly reflect the quality of the vineyard. The barrel room is excavated deep into the hillside to provide perfect conditions for maturing red wines.

Luis Duarte, winemaker and friend of the family, has accompanied the project from the beginning. His great professional career is related with Herdade do Esporão where Luís was elected the winemaker of the year. Currently, Luis with the help of a young resident winemaker, who already has an interesting international experience, guarantees the quality and distinction of Herdade da Malhadinha Nova wines. Manuel Letras da Cruz is the viticultural consultant at Herdade da Malhadinha Nova, has been brought in to apply is valuable know-how to the Malhadinha Vineyards and maximise the unique conditions available for the production of premium wines with personality. The elegance, complexity and intense fruit flavours reflect their respect for nature and all the passion and dedication that goes into creating Malhadinha Nova wines.

The Vermentino variety can be found under fairly intensive cultivation in nearly all the Mediterranean coastal districts from Spain to Liguria and on the two major islands semi-enclosed by that arc, Corsica and Sardinia. It is also grown in small areas on the island of Madeira and in some places in southern France. Vermentino is seemingly Spanish in origin. It travelled from Spain to Corsica in the 14th century and from there went on to Liguria. Its appearance on Sardinia was fairly recent, the final decades of the last century, and it was first planted in the Gallura at the island`s northernmost tip.

Although it is now found throughout Sardinia, Vermentino expresses itself best, yielding wines of outstanding personality,in the Gallura, an area incessantly swept by the fierce wind from the Alps, the Mistral. The area’s dry, harsh soils are not conducive to most agricultural production. The quality of the wine is due not only to the microclimatic conditions but also to the character of the terrain, which features a thin and poor substratum of granitic material. That material accounts for the wine`s pronounced perfume, which is balanced by a substantial alcohol level, fine fragrance and good body.

Jim Barry purchased the Lodge Hill vineyard in 1977, as he was sure it would “produce some of the best Riesling in Clare.” Situated on the eastern ranges of the township of Clare, it is one of the highest vineyards in the Valley at an altitude of 480 metres, and is ideal for producing steely, minerally Rieslings, distinctive to the area.

The name of this wine, Les Chaffines, refers to the local name for the plot of land that the Clermont de Tonnerre family use for this special selection of grapes. It is a hillside site that is on the opposite side of the river to the majority of their vines, where the soil is mineral rich and is mostly made up of clay and flintstone. The grapes are usually picked up to two weeks after the rest of the harvest has been done in order to give greater ripeness to the wine.

In the winery, the skins are left in contact with the wine for twelve hours before the crushing process takes place - a very modern and New World concept that seems to work really well for special cuvée Loire whites. The wine is then fermented in two batches, one in stainless steel and twenty per cent in oak barrels to give more complexity and smoothness to this very smartly crafted wine.

The Clos du Porteau is one of our favourite wineries; we've been working with them for about a year now and have really enjoyed telling their 800-year-old story through their wines. Sauvignon from the Loire gives great value for money and is considered as a fine alternative to some of the austere Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé wines and as a more modest match for food than the intensity of the New World Sauvignons that have been so much in vogue in recent years.

A man by the name of Aynard de Tonnere contacted us over a year ago with a view to bringing in his wines from the Touraine in the Loire Valley. At the time, we were fully stocked. This year, however, we made sure to make room.

While Touraine may have lived in the shadow of Sancerre, and perhaps, New Zealand's Marlborugh, for the last few years, its star is now in the ascendency.

This is Sauvignon Blanc as it should be, explosive fruit, zesty citrus, but above all elegant. We're delighted that we made room for Le Courlis, or "the curlew". We know you'll love it.

Colle Stefano is situated in a hilly belt in the hinterland of the Marches, 420 m above sea-level, in the Verdicchio di Matelica DOC zone.

Unaffected by the mitigating influence of the Adriatic Sea, the region is notable for its cool, dry microclimate with high temperature differentials which is ideal for the propagation of Verdicchio di Matelica, an indigenous species of vine that has grown here for many centuries and here ripens late to be harvested from the second half of October onwards.

Fabio Marchionni took over the family vineyards from his father a few years ago, having just graduated from the new enology school in Ancona and done his apprenticeship in Germany. He keeps yields extremely low, less than forty hectolitres per hectare, and makes wine with painstaking care. An Organic & Biodynamic Producer

The vineyards are located in the first growth (erstes gewachs) designation Lieser Niederberg-Helden along the Mosel in the perilously steeply sloped vineyards.

The vines are 40 - 60 years old, partly ownrooted and managed organically. A spontaneous cover crop grows between the vines which keeps a good natural ecological balance of flora and fauna.

A low yield is ensured through the pruning of the vines down to 6-8 buds/vine in the winter. In June shoot thinning is done as well as removal of leaves and secondary shoots in the grape zone. This results are light weight grapes with small berries. The total yield amounts to 45 hl/ha which is about 20% less than a bottle per vine.

In 1981 Nicola Manferrari founded the firm to produce wine from the grapes grown in its three vineyards: Podere di Brazzano owned by the family from ancient times and cultivated with vineyards at least since 1600, Podere di Ca’ delle Vallade and Podere di Ruttars, all on hillsides in the DOC Collio area. Borgo del Tiglio produces mainly white wines and the winemaking process seeks to obtain wines with delicate properties, complex and balanced, with the tendency to mature well over time.

"My wife and I sat down for a late summer dinner at L’Androna, the best restaurant in Grado, a gorgeous seaside town in Friuli. I had just returned the day before from two weeks in Burgundy, where I tasted just about every great 2009 white Burgundy, including virtually all of the benchmarks. Within that context, the next white I tasted should have been disappointing. Instead it was a revelation. The wine? Borgo del Tiglio’s 2009 old-vine Friulano Ronco della Chiesa.

"On this night, the Ronco della Chiesa was every bit the equal of the vast majority of the wines I tasted in Burgundy, and frankly far better than the average. Proprietor Nicola Manferrari is one of the leading lights in Friuli. His wines deserve far more recognition than they typically receive. Make no mistake about it, these are some of the most compelling whites being made anywhere in Italy." - 91 points Antonio Galloni - The Wine Advocate

The winery "Castello Ducale" cultivates 15 hectares of vineyards, all from Organic Farming (ICEA Inspection Body of Modena, cod. T. az 496) grown on trellises on the hills of Castle Camps and the lands of Solopaca.

The vineyards fall within the IGT Terre del Volturno and the DOC Sannio. Red berry: Aglianico, Sangiovese, Barbera, Piedirosso, white grape: Pallagrello and Falanghina.

The grapes are harvested by hand in boxes of 20 Kg, fermentation and storage takes place in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature. L 'Aglianico for the "corporate reserve" is fermented for 30 days in vessels of wood conical.

It is aged in new oak barrels in the cellars of the castle for a period of 6-15 months. The reserve company is aged in the bottle for 6 months. The packaging system is done with the automatic machines for filling and labeling, with numerical control of the lots.

Masciarelli inherited from his grandfather John's passion for the vine and wine, and it is in the old cellar of his grandfather, who Masciarelli began to create his wines. From the initial 2.5 hectares, today the company Masciarelli employs around 320 hectares of vineyards, scattered in 14 municipalities in the provinces of Chieti, Teramo, Pescara and L'Aquila.

These are the specific characteristics of land, rich in minerals, placed at different altitudes (200 to 500 m.), From the sea to the mountains, and cultivated following the traditional farming to 'pergola Abruzzo' that the row in guyot soils exposed to different climatic conditions and different types (limestone, clay, sand, rock layers, pebble) that produce specific and therefore different expressions of the vineyards in which they grow, highlighting their differences.

In the production philosophy of Masciarelli great importance is recognized to the territory and its culture and tradition of winemaking therefore beginning Masciarelli has bet on the potential of those varieties that spoke the language of his people: Montepulciano, Trebbiano.

Ever since the Middle Ages, the passion with which the Benedictine monks of Saint Mont Monastery patiently transformed grapes into wine has been handed down from generation to generation giving birth to a real and enduring love affair between man and the land.

For many years, until the arrival of André Dubosc, a local boy from a family of three generations of winemakers, the wine produced was destined for distillation and the production of Armagnac. With a group of young winegrowers Dubosc set about waking up the appellation of Saint Mont, revitalising the sweet white wines of Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh and creating Vin de Pays dry whites (Côtes de Gascogne). In 1979 the three wine cooperatives of Plaisance, Aignan and Saint-Mont in the Gers joined forces – and initials (PL for Plaisance, AI for Aignan and MONT for Saint-Mont) – to set up a united group of cooperatives and vineyards which became “Plaimont Producteurs” in the Gers.

In 1999, Plaimont Producteurs were joined by the cooperatives of Crouseilles (producing Madiran, Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh and Béarn) and Condom (Côtes de Gascogne and Condomois)

Axel Pauly is one of the rising stars of German wine. He took over the Pauly estate from his father after doing vintages in California, New Zealand and other parts of Germany. Most of the seven hectares of vineyards are in the heart of the Mosel Valley in the village of Lieser, with the exception of a small parcel in the highly regarded, neighbouring village of Bernkastel. The majority of Axelís wines are dry or off-dry in style and are closed with screwcap to preserve the purity andfreshness from Riesling grown on the famous slate soils of the Mosel.

Purist Riesling was harvested from the familyís steeply sloping vineyard in Lieser. Here, the soil is predominantly grey and blue slate, which is cooler than the red slate of neighbouring Bernkastel, and seems to give more minerally wines than the latter. Stringent crop-thinning and leaf-plucking ensured excellent flavour concentration in the ripe grapes, which were sorted and picked manually, to ensure only the best berries were selected at harvest time. The wine is a Kabinett, meaning that it was harvested slightly later in the season, resulting in riper fruit and a fuller palate than the earlier-picked styles.