It`s been a while since we visited the dapper Marco Bacci or his estates in Castelnuovo Berardenga, Montalcino and the Maremma. In fact, it`s 9 years, which means two things. first, that Marco has an even more youthful look about him in our photo than he does in reality and second, that the wines have moved on considerably. Although we saw great promise back then, by 2006 Renieri had only been in Marco`s possession for 5 years, and so it was very much a work in progress. Today, what were then new plantings are reaching maturity.

Although they have their family roots in Barbaresco, the Roagnas also operate in Barolo to great effect, managing both terroirs rather brilliantly. The first Barbaresco vineyard - Pajè - was purchased in the fifties and the company has grown steadily since then. The farming is uncertified but strictly organic, with low inputs and the use of techniques like cover crops between the rows of vines. The use of sulphur dioxide is very low and fermentation and the very long macerations take place in large, old casks.

In the early 1980s, Romano Dal Forno had a lot on his plate. he was struggling to make a living from his family winery, while looking after three young children. He knew the wines he was making were good, but he couldn’t shake the feeling they were missing something. Fate intervened when one Bepi Quintarelli took him under his wing, and shared everything he knew about winemaking. ‘I listened to everything he had to tell me and tried my level best to understand what he was doing’. These were lessons well learnt.

Based in the southern Marche, the family seat of the noble Saladini Pilastri family is near the town of Ascoli Piceno. It is situated in over 300 hectares of land, though less than half of this is down to vines. The limestone hills also host large olive groves as well as forest and scrub. This hot and dry landscape is ideal for the practice of organic viticulture and that is exactly the farming method employed here for ages. The family has been custodians of the land in this part of Italy for over a thousand years and has a deep respect for the environment where they and others live.

This is a simple statement that does not begin to convey the state of ruin in which he found the property. The only thing intact was the potential. There were a couple of old contadini (peasant farmers) living in the house - no heating, hot water or cooking, just an open fire. The olive groves were in disarray and a lot of vineyard needed planting and sorting out. In 1997 he moved in and looked forward to becoming a winegrower, in fact Montalcino`s first organic winegrower. He still lives in that house and he still lives very simply.

A family winery is a warm place to work, says Emanuela Bolla; then she admits with a laugh that it can sometimes be a challenge to keep all her relatives on board with every decision. Serio e Battista Borgogno has been on the scene since the nineteenth century, occupying a commanding position on the ridge above the Cannubi vineyard. Emanuela and her cousin Federica are quick to point out that being traditionalist does not mean a one-vintage-fits-all approach; `every year we like to question everything like it`s the first time`.

There are few - if any - more romantic stories in wine than that of Giuseppe Sesti. Having studied fresco painting in Venice, on graduation Giuseppe found that there was little demand for his skills. Instead, he dedicated himself to the study of astronomy, going on to write five books on the subject. By 1975, long before biodynamism had entered the vinous vocabulary, he`d published tables of the small and larger moon cycles for agricultural use in order to reduce the use of chemicals on the land.

Located on a part of the Tuscan coast that alternates between marshland and stony areas, Tenuta San Guido was bought by the Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta in the 1930s as, thanks to drainage works and a bit of clearance, the zone was becoming less susceptible to malaria. Large parts of the estate were either suitable only for hunting or reserved for race horse breeding, but during the 1940s work began to plant out some of the drier, stonier areas with vines.

Campania is the region of Italy around Naples, with a dramatic coastline and wild, mountainous interior. It also has a unique range of indigenous grape varieties that date back to classical times. Once upon a time, this was one of the most prestigious wine regions anywhere; local Aglianico and Greco di Tufo grapes were responsible for Falernian, the most prized (and costly) wine style of the Roman Empire. In the twentieth century, the region became synonymous with Mastroberardino, the producer who tirelessly championed local varieties and kick-started southern Italy`s wine revolution.