Carmen Stevens
South Africa
Your Winemaker of the Decade
- From humble roots, Carmen blazed a trail, to become head winemaker at a prestigious winery in South Africa. Her wines won medals by the truckload, yet she couldn’t even get a bank overdraft to start her own business.
- That was until Angel funding allowed her to finally fulfil her dream of setting up her own winery. Carmen has gone from strength to strength ever since, winning countless awards (including being voted your Winemaker of the Decade!)
- With your support, coupled with her sheer passion and determination, Carmen is helping to create a better future for thousands of hungry South African children thanks to Angel donations.
Dominic Hentall
France
Flying winemaker with experience in Italy, Argentina and Burgundy
153,901 Ratings
17,739 Followers
- For over twenty years, Dominic has been a flying winemaker producing wines all over the world.
- He's done working with big wine corporations and wants the freedom to highlight parcels of grapes that typify the region and bring out the best in quality and elegance.
- Dominic makes top notch wines at remarkably low prices.
Katie Jones
France
Angels raised over £250k in under 48 hours to rescue Katie's business
126,599 Ratings
19,691 Followers
- Katie’s love of wine led her all the way from Leicestershire to the Languedoc where she bought an idyllic vineyard perched half-way up a hill in Tuchan. In 2013 she experienced every winemaker’s worst nightmare when vandals emptied her entire year’s vintage down the drain.
- She turned to us. And 2,500 Angels helped to get her back on her feet - clubbing together to raise over £200k in just 48 hours. Our Queen of the Languedoc was able to start again and has gone on to make some seriously delicious wines, with sparkly awards a plenty.
- Thanks to her beloved Angels, Katie has been able to nab more hilltop vineyards, expand her range and even move her winemaking operation into an old railway station to fit in more barrels. It’s a long way from the 600 cases of wine she made in her garage in 2009!
Stefano di Blasi
Italy
The talent who made Solaia and Tignanello - two of Italy's most iconic (and eye-wateringly expensive) wines
147,445 Ratings
20,363 Followers
- When iconic winemaker Stefano di Blasi first joined Naked in 2014, we couldn’t believe our luck. He was the genius behind Solaia and Tignanello, two of Italy’s most famous (and expensive) reds at over £100 a pop.
- Stefano’s dream is to make the wines he wants to and, thanks to Angel funding, he is doing just that! Super-premium Tuscan treats have been winging their way into Angel’s baskets for years now, and at a fraction of the price they would be elsewhere!
- Our King of Tuscany has a real talent for bringing elegance into his wines that is appreciated by critics all around the world and, with nearly 90K ratings, it seems Angels are a big fan too..!
Benjamin Darnault
France
Consultant winemaker on a mission to uncover gems for the Angels all over the Languedoc
515,363 Ratings
52,047 Followers
- When Ben left a safe winemaking job in Australia to move back to France with his young family in the noughties, at first he really struggled. The financial crash of 2007/08 clobbered the winery he was working at, so they had to let him go. He couldn’t catch a break.
- That was until Angels freed Ben from the corporate fat cats and transformed his livelihood. Thanks to Angels, Ben was finally able to set up on his own and realise his lifelong dream of putting his own name on the label. Even better, he had an advance on his next vintage!
- With Angel support, Ben has been able to invest more, source even better fruit and establish strong relationships with local growers to improve the quality of his delicious wines year-on-year. With thousands of rave reviews, he’s a bonafide Naked icon.
Rudi Schultz
South Africa
One of South Africa's hottest talents is making waves with his top-shelf Western Cape wines
1,463 Ratings
5 Followers
Rudi Schultz hails from something of a golden generation, having grown up in a family of 5 brothers, three of them would eventually go on to become winemakers.
Having learnt his craft under the tutelage of SA wine legend Gyles Webb, Rudi launched his own winery in 2002 and caught the attention of critics straight away, with rave reviews for his maiden vintage Syrah. Since then, he’s made a string of critically-acclaimed, top-shelf wines from Stellenbosch and the Western Cape, which you now get to enjoy first-hand.
In his spare time, Rudi teaches surfing and ocean safety in his local community. In fact, he’s such a keen surfer, all of his wines are named after famous surf spots. So just pour yourself a glass of Pepper Street and dive right in. Cowabunga!
Gerhard Lobner
Austria
If you love clean, minerally whites then you must give Gerhard's wines a try
9,218 Ratings
1,463 Followers
- Austrian winemaker, producing award winning wines
- His gorgeous vineyard sits in the Austrian Hills with breathtaking views over Vienna
- His wine was selected in a tasting at the European Wine Blogger's Conference 2010 for Naked Wines to stock in the UK!
Pierre Grandin
France
A Champagne aficionado you won't find resting on his laurels
27 Ratings
59 Followers
- Pierre officially became a winemaker back in 2012 but he's been a bit of dab with all things winemaking since the age of 12 when he would keep an eye on the cellar for his Dad. Most of his childhood memories are set against the backdrop of vines and stainless steel vats.
- Pierre is a true innovator and there's not a chance you'll find him resting on his laurels. He's always looking for new ways to bring technology together with the high-end selection of grapes from his thoroughly classy appellation, to make eye-popping Champagne that is totally out of this world.
- Pinot Meunier, one of the lesser known heroes when it comes to Champagne, is his favourite grape. Although Chardonnay and Pinot Noir tend to steal the spotlight, Pierre reckons that Meunier packs a bit of extra punch. It requires just that bit of extra technical TLC but when you have a winemaker like Pierre willing to put in the extra hours, the hard work pays off in bags of flavour.
- Hamish has been working in vineyards since he was old enough to pick up a spade. His father was a Winemaker so Hamish and his brothers spent much of their youth pulling weeds and training young vines.
- Decades later and his weed pulling experience looks has stood him in pretty good stead. Hamish now runs his own winery in Australia's prestigious McLaren Vale, which Hamish (and a fair few of you would agree) has dubbed one of the best wine regions in the world.
- Tasty, juicy and balanced are the key criteria for every last drop of Hamish's wines. Working predominantly with McLaren's Shiraz and Grenache grapes, you can rely on Hamish to pull powerful and outrageously delicious big reds out of the bag time after time.
Adam Barton
Australia
Naked's master craftsman down under making critically-acclaimed Clare Valley wines
10,605 Ratings
29,135 Followers
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Adam first got into winemaking in 2001 and after a few years of hard graft for iconic brands like Wynns Coonawarra and Bonny Doon in the USA and Oz, he finally took the leap to go it alone in 2008. On his own, he made some absolutely stellar wines that got rave reviews from the critics and his new set-up was even named one of the Top 10 Best New Wineries by legendary Aussie wine boff James Halliday.
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Then in 2012, Adam heard about Naked Wines and our mission to shake-up the wine industry. And the more he heard about how we work and our lovely Angels, the more he wanted to be a part of it. He popped us an email and the rest is history... since going Naked, Adam’s career has gone from strength to strength and he now wows over 300,000 UK Angels with top-quality exclusive wines. He’s eternally grateful for your support.
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The reason Adam’s kit is so special is because of his attention to detail. He learned early on that to make the best kit you need the best fruit and that means knowing the vineyard intimately. Every single grape he uses is either from his own vineyard or from the close-knit family of local growers he’s worked with for over 10 years.
