Tiago Macena
Tiago is part of the dynamic movement of contemporary Portuguese wine. He is a viticulturistand winemaker: his first degree was in Agronomical Engineering from Lisbon University, and he is also a post-graduate in Wine Business.
Portugal
Tiago is part of the dynamic movement of contemporary Portuguese wine. He is a viticulturistand winemaker: his first degree was in Agronomical Engineering from Lisbon University, and he is also a post-graduate in Wine Business. Tiago has big-winery experience and consults to niche wineries across Portugal, including Altitude Wines in Dão, Ribeira do Mosteiro in Douro, and Adega Marel in Alentejo. He champions the heritage varieties, vineyards and traditional practices of Portugal, convinced that they are the key to the success of Portuguese wine. His global outlook is reflected in his studies to achieve the Master of Wine: he has passed the theory exam and is working towards the practical.
Dan Miller
Steward is a private lender, working with regenerative farmers – including winemakers – to provide the capital they need to expand and sustain their business.
USA
Dan Miller is the Founder and CEO of Steward, a private lender providing regenerative farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and producers the capital they need to expand and sustain their businesses. And through our innovative online platform, qualified lenders have the opportunity to join in our mission and help fund the growth of regenerative agriculture by purchasing loan participations
Steward's story begins with its founder and CEO, Dan Miller. Ask Dan what inspired him to create Steward, and he'll tell you about early mornings spent crabbing with his father on the Chesapeake Bay.
This was the experience that rooted him to the land, but it was a meeting with a well-known chef in Dan's hometown, Washington D.C., that would plant the idea of Steward in his mind. This chef spoke of the difficulties facing the independent farmers that supplied his restaurant: the more specialized the farms were, the harder it was to get a loan.
Dan felt that instead of forcing farmers to fit within a box, it should be the other way around. So he committed himself to creating a system that empowers each unique farmer to steward their land sustainably, with consumers—the people with the most to gain from sustainable farming—having the opportunity to join in their success.
After graduating from the Wharton School with a B.S. and M.B.A., Dan co-founded a pioneering investment crowdfunding business called Fundrise. In 2010, it was the first and largest real estate crowdfunding platform in the United States, and has since raised more than $500 million. It's this experience, combined with a passion for agriculture, ecology, and local food that led Dan to launching Steward in 2017.
Marco Simonit
Marco is a viticultural adviser, author and co-founder (with his friend Pierpaolo Sirch) of Simonit & Sirch pruning consultancy. He is revolutionising pruning to keep vines healthy and productive for longer.
Italy
Marco is a viticultural adviser, author and co-founder (with his friend Pierpaolo Sirch) of Simonit & Sirch pruning consultancy. He is revolutionising pruning to keep vines healthy and productive for longer. Pruning is emerging from the wine back-stage, as producers confront increased rates of vine trunk diseases, and realise the value of old vine heritage. Marco contends that modern pruning methods such as VSP increase the vulnerability of vines to disease, and needlessly shorten their lives. His method is informed by a technical but holistic approach to vine physiology and sap flow. He has reformed the pruning methods of the likes of Gaja and Frescobaldi in Italy, and a 20-strong team implement and teach the Simonit & Sirch pruning method to leading producers all over the world who want to strengthen vine health and heritage.
Stuart Spencer
Lodi’s old vine zinfandel is a treasure. Planted in the 1940s, these gnarled bush vines embody Lodi's heritage and renaissance. Lodi was for many years an unsung hero of the glossy, all-conquering, Californian style.
Lodi, California, USA
Lodi’s old vine zinfandel is a treasure. Planted in the 1940s, these gnarled bush vines embody Lodi's heritage and renaissance. Lodi was for many years an unsung hero of the glossy, all-conquering, Californian style. Despite the renewed respect and attention for Lodi’s historic Zinfandel, the old vineyards are threatened not by disease but by commercial pressures. Stuart has been working with Lodi’s old vineyards since the 1990s at his family winery, St Amant. He is Executive Director of the dynamic Lodi Winegrape Commission, a trade association that represents 700 growers, 85 vintners, and about 95,000 acres of wine grapes. So, this is a region of significance. In 2020 Stuart and team launched a promotional campaign titled “Save the Old” (https://www.savetheold.com/) to highlight their old-vine vineyards, and keep them from being pulled out and replaced. As he says, “one of our biggest challenges is that many of these vineyards have been supplying the large wine companies that don’t place a high enough value on the grapes to keep the vineyards profitable. Our program is designed to build awareness among consumers, trade, and industry to the value of these vineyards.”
Elías López Montero
Elías is the winemaker and co-owner of Bodegas Verum, the family distillery and winery near Ciudad Real. Elias’ story shows how old vine depth transforms both quality and reputation of a traduced variety and region.
Bodegas Verum, Tomelloso, La Mancha, Spain
Elías is the winemaker and co-owner of Bodegas Verum, the family winery near Ciudad Real. Elias’ story shows how old vine depth transforms both quality and reputation of a traduced variety and region. To make acclaimed wine in the bulk-wine capital of Spain may appear a quixotic quest. But Elías vision to nurture their ancient bush-vine Airen has been vindicated. The international acclaim for his wine – made in the traditional clay tinajas installed by his grandfather – shows the power of old vines to convey the essence of heritage. Elias story also highlights the genetic value of old vines: he has expanded new plantings with selections taken from ancient local varieties to adapt to the challenges of climate change.
Faouzi Issa
Faouzi is winemaker and co-owner at Domaine des Tourelles, founded in the Bekaa Valley in 1868. He is a champion of old vine Cinsault. The Mediterranean workhorse was brought to Lebanon by Jesuit missionaries in the 1800s – generations before internationals such as Cabernet and Syrah came to dominate.
Domaine des Tourelles, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon
Faouzi is winemaker and co-owner at Domaine des Tourelles, founded in the Bekaa Valley in 1868. He is a champion of old vine Cinsault. The Mediterranean workhorse was brought to Lebanon by Jesuit missionaries in the 1800s – generations before internationals such as Cabernet and Syrah came to dominate. Faouzi’s project highlights a kind of old wisdom rediscovered, and serendipity rewarded. Many derided varieties are transformed by slow time, and Cinsault is one of them. It also thrives in Lebanon, producing scented and sleek wines from vineyards at over 1000 meters altitude. Faouzi’s pioneering varietal Cinsault has been heralded as expressing a uniquely Lebanese character. His calls for others to value and make more wine from old vine Cinsault are being heard. Many of Lebanon’s ancient indigenous varieties are lost, but Faouzi has just made his first vintage of the white Merwah, the grapes harvested (for the first time in decades) from rescued vines, trained up cedars, that are thought to be up to two hundred years old.
Salvo and Simone Foti
Salvo Foti is a son of Sicily, born in Catania. He has a long career as viticultural and enological advisor to many leading estates. I Vigneri is his own project, deep to his heart and roots, which he runs with his son, Simone.
I Vigneri, Etna, Sicily
Salvo Foti is a son of Sicily, born in Catania. He has a long career as viticultural and enological advisor to many leading estates. I Vigneri is his own project, deep to his heart and roots, which he runs with his son, Simone. Their mission is to restore dignity, skills and a good living to the grape growers who work the traditional vineyards of Etna. Salvo wanted to halt the loss of old “albarello” vineyards. Etna is hot property in more ways than one, and the momentum for ever expanding modern plantings is merciless. The old bush vineyards, on high slopes retained by dry stone terraces, follow a system devised by the romans. These ancient vineyards defy mechanisation but deliver unique personality, and top quality. I Vigneri is an agricultural collective, named after a Sicilian winegrowers’ guild, formed in the 1400s to train apprentice grape growers. Today’s collective comprises around 30 grape growers in Etna and eastern Sicily. Salvo is passionate about the incomparable value of old vines on Etna, but unsentimental about the hard graft they exact. You need to give the next generation of grape growers a reason to want to work them properly, he says. To start work at dawn. To freeze in winter, to melt in summer. I Vigneri achieves this with a range of premium, acclaimed wines and a community connected to its heritage.
Rosa Kruger (Founder) and André Morgenthal (Project Manager)
The South African Old Vines Project.
Rosa Kruger is a renowned vineyard manager and viticultural consultant who has worked in South Africa for 20 years. André Morgenthal has told the stories of South African wine and heritage for decades, through his communications role at WOSA, and as an independent consultant.
Rosa Kruger is a renowned vineyard manager and viticultural consultant who has worked in South Africa for 20 years. André Morgenthal has told the stories of South African wine and heritage for decades, through his communications role at WOSA, and as an independent consultant. In the South African Old Vines Project, they have achieved a benchmark for the national protection, certification and marketing of old vines. Their actions have led to renewed respect for South Africa’s wine heritage and fine wine potential. Even more importantly, they have succeeded in raising the skills and pay of grape growers and vineyard workers who tend the vines. They have conducted pioneering research that indicates their consumers value ‘Heritage Vineyard’ wines more highly, and will pay a premium for them. As they say, “Old vines make wines that reflect the earth and the terroir they grow in. They reflect the scorching summers and the long icy cold rainy Cape winter days they have endured over decades. They exist because of the people who touched and tended them over many years.”
The South African Old Vines Project.
