Stephen and Jamie de Wet
South Africa
Father-son duo behind our biggest-selling wines of all time. All hail Stephen and Jamie de Wet!
- Stephen has been making wine from his family vineyard in the Robertson Valley since the tender age of 17. Winemakers don't come more experienced, or, frankly, downright in love with their work than this man.
- He's been with us since day one, over a decade ago, when we started out. Ever since, we’ve sold more of his crowd-pleasing Arabella wines than pretty much all of our other winemakers put together. Actually, to be more precise, in a stacking contest it would beat 226 Everests.
- We couldn’t have picked a nicer guy to be one of our first, and longest-serving winemakers... and Stephen never forgets it’s the support of wine-mad Angels who’ve been behind his success story.
Benjamin Darnault
France
Consultant winemaker on a mission to uncover gems for the Angels all over the Languedoc
569,225 Ratings
54,699 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.
Joost & Miguela de Villebois
France
A labour of love...for a love lorn Dutchman!
348,561 Ratings
34,842 Followers
- Joost started his career miles from the vineyard. In fact, he was the Chairman of the Dutch Stock Exchange... But all it took was one fateful holiday to the Loire Valley for Joost's whole world to be turned upside down. Here began his love story with winemaking - he threw in his stable city job, upped-sticks and moved his whole life to the Loire to try his hand at winemaking.
- Since then, with his wife Miguela and their highly dedicated team, Joost has gone wild with the Sauvignon Blanc grape. Vintage after vintage their ultra premium range has been swept off the shelves by Angels, receiving sky scraping ratings, and turning the heads of critics.
- Now that they've cracked the code to top draw Loire Valley classics, their focus has turned to keeping things green and making wines that are just as kind on the planet as they are on the palate. They've introduced beehives and bat hotels to their vineyards, and put in hours of work to achieve the huge green landmark of certified sustainability!
Carlos Rodriguez
Spain
Your 2012 Winemaker of the Year and 'Mr Rioja' is the man to call whenever you're in need of a silky-smooth Spanish red
343,125 Ratings
34,551 Followers
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Carlos is a highly-respected consultant oenologist, which means he travels all over Spain making other people’s wines taste delicious. He always dreamed that he could start his own winery and make wines with his name on the bottle but he was never able to raise the funds, and he used to joke that he’d need to take a gun to a bank to get the cash he needed!
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That all changed in 2010, when someone forwarded our email to Carlos. We were looking for young, talented, Spanish winemakers to fulfill their potential and make wines for us. So he sent us some samples and we loved them so much, we asked him to hop on the next plane to come see us. At first, he thought he was joining a sect when he heard about Angels and Archangels, but the more he heard, the more he liked. And the rest is history…
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Carlos is a Naked legend, former Winemaker of the Year, and loved by his Angels. With his insider knowledge from years spent on the road, and your backing behind him, he’s now able to snaffle up the best parcels in Spain to make top-class Riojas and Spanish wines just for you.
Paolo Sacchetto
Italy
The Sacchetto family have been making some of Italy's most famous wines for nearly 100 years
323,758 Ratings
36,259 Followers
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Like his dad and grandad before him, Paolo Sacchetto has been making divine fizz since he grew out of short trousers. His family business has siblings and cousins in every nook of the vineyard and winery. Even his 80-something dad still turns up for work every day. You can’t buy that experience.
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Paolo doesn’t just make wine. He pours his heart and soul into it. It’s his life, his passion. And he loves getting feedback from wine drinkers, which he uses to improve every vintage. So when he heard about Naked’s Angels, it was a match made in heaven.
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A genius with bubbles, not for nothing is he known as ‘The King of Prosecco’. He makes a range of classic Italian whites including, for our money, some of the creamiest fizz on the planet.
Christian Patat
Italy
The talent behind the near-mythical Appassimento and other bold, spicy Italian reds
294,463 Ratings
35,496 Followers
- There are legends, Naked legends, and then there’s Christian Patat. A man who turns everything he touches into liquid gold.
- In his day job as a consultant oenologist, Christian travels all over Italy helping lesser mortals make their wines taste amazing. That means he knows where all the best grapes hide out, and is in the box seat to snaffle them before anyone else can get their cheque book out.
- Having learnt his thang in Burgundy, Priorat and all over Italy, Christian knows exactly how to craft sensational wines, the proof of the pudding in his blockbuster Appassimento, nicknamed the ‘Naked Godfather of Big Reds’. It’s one of our most popular wines of all time and sells out every year!
Luis Vieira
Portugal
The man behind one of our highest-ever rated wines, the magical Montaria
269,699 Ratings
33,737 Followers
- Luis makes exceptional wines (together with Antonio Ventura) because he gets the pick of the best grapes from the local growers. But how, we hear you ask...
- ...he has the inside knowledge on who has the best grapes. We love his wines, and his bulging little black book of great growers!
- If you're looking to get a whole lotta bang for your buck, look no further... Portugese wines are truly stunning value, with the only reason for this being that very few are yet to catch on. You're way ahead of the curve, so you might want to get to know Luis now, before he's a household name!
Constanza Schwaderer
Chile
Freed from corporate shackles by Angels, she now has her own business
255,991 Ratings
29,907 Followers
- Connie is a Chilean rebel. She got sacked from a big winery for leading a revolution against the cheap, mass-produced wine Chile was churning out.
- Hiding out in tiny vineyards off the beaten track, Connie champions old Chilean grape varieties - farming them in traditional ways and hand-picking the fruit using local labour to regenerate the local economy.
- Thanks to Angel support, she’s rented a big old winery and scaled up production. So instead of her juice ending up in million-litre vats, blended into supermarket plonk, she’s able to turn it into delicious high-quality wines that put Chile on the map.
Mauricio Lorca
Argentina
Angel funding turned Mauricio's business around, and he's forever grateful
232,224 Ratings
31,005 Followers
- Many years ago Mauricio was all set to go to medical school and become a doctor. Then fate stepped in. A winemaking tutor came to give a talk, and he was hooked. It was a tricky conversation he had with his mum when he went home that night.
- Fast forward 20 years. After earning international acclaim making 96 Parker Point wines for some of Argentina’s world-famous brands, Mauricio’s talent is now in such demand he advises top Argentinian wineries, as well as making spectacular Argentine wines exclusively for Angels. He did Ma Lorca proud, after all.
- Thanks to Angel funding, Mauricio’s hand-crafted nectar is a million miles from supermarket roulette. He controls every step, from pruning to pressing, fermenting, bottling and storage. You can taste the pride and passion in every sip. And thanks to your investment his wines are getting better every year.
Mike Paterson
New Zealand
The genius behind Jackson Estate wines for 10 years, now flying solo thanks to Angel funding
210,497 Ratings
23,328 Followers
- Mike used to be the Head Winemaker at one of New Zealand's finest, most prestigious Sauvignon Blanc wineries.
- He loved the job, but he also loved the idea of fulfilling his life-long dream of going it alone. Only problem was, the financial equation was "beyond scary" (as Mike put it!)
- We funded Mike to go it alone on one tiny, simple, lovely condition: he makes you some absolute stunners in the wine department. With your backing, he’s been able to make some of the most consistently high-rated Sauvignons in the whole of New Zealand. Kudos to you.
