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Just unpacking the name of the brand gives you a sense of how proprietors Martin & Welma Smith view the world. Atlas, the titan of perseverance, tasked with holding up the sky represents how very seriously they take their commitment to protecting the lands on which they grow their grapes. It also speaks to the maps on which the terroirs they work with are laid out. Swifts, one of the fastest and most aerial of the bird species, represents their nimble exploration to find said terroirs. The project, which on the surface, focuses on site-specific Chardonnays from distinctive places scattered across the Western Cape of South Africa, carries with it so much more than just beautiful wines of exceptional texture (Martin is the KING of texture! – Cami). It carries with it the dreams of some of the most authentic souls we have the pleasure to know.

We’ve all dreamed of escaping our office jobs and buying a dilapidated house in the country to start a farm…well, that’s just what Donatella Giannotti and Bruno Carvi did in 1988. After a couple of years of commuting from Milan to a rare ‘undiscovered’ region of Piedmont and kitting the place out, they released their first wine in 1997, learning and growing with their close-knit team.

The Lamiable family decided to start making wines under their own labels in 1955 after spending years growing and selling their grapes to other producers. Today Ophelie Lamiable has taken over from her father, and along with her husband, she is slowly upgrading the winery with each harvest.

Sandwiched between Veneto and Friuli, this family operation combines old-school tradition with cool new techniques that second-generation Rebecca Valent picked up while studying in the USA. Dad, Giuliano, who was trained by his dad, says he was ‘born in the bottle’, and he and his wife, Adriana, (and now their daughters) have dedicated much of their career to shining a light on proudly local varietals like Lison (also known as Tai, also known as Friulano, also known as Tocai…you get the picture).

Humble, hardworking and patient – hallmarks of the donkey, and according to Francesco Follador, the winegrower as well. Stubbornness is another. Francesco holds tradition and heritage extremely close to his heart, refusing to take the easy road on anything – from the location his of vineyards on hard-to-farm hills, to insisting on growing much less popular native grapes. All in the name of being true to what he strongly believes is the best the region can produce and preserving the deep heritage of Valdobbiadene. It’s because he shares so many of these qualities with the donkey, that he chose it as his logo. To quote his website, “Yes, we are donkeys and we are proud of it”.

Having worked for some great Oregon wineries throughout his career, in so many cases, founder Ryan Harms’ friends wanted to support him, but simply couldn’t afford to. He decided that he wasn’t going to accept that wine made in Oregon had to be so darn expensive. So he created Union Wine Co., (which makes Underwood) so he could finally make accessible wines he could share with friends and family, without sacrificing quality.

We know Radford Dale winemaker & managing partner, Jacques de Klerk from his beautiful Reverie wines. Radford Dale began in 1998 when Alex Dale and Ben Radford decided to not just drink wines together but make them too. Since the beginning, they’ve focused on a light-handed, lower-intervention approach. The Thirst range is the live rock show to the studio albums of the rest of their wines – a little more edge, a little more fun and a whole lot of wanting to take another sip!

We know Radford Dale winemaker & managing partner, Jacques de Klerk from his beautiful Reverie wines. Radford Dale began in 1998 when Alex Dale and Ben Radford decided to not just drink wines together but make them too. Since the beginning, they’ve focused on a light-handed, lower-intervention approach. The Thirst range is the live rock show to the studio albums of the rest of their wines – a little more edge, a little more fun and a whole lot of wanting to take another sip!

This tiny operation, started in 2007 by the spirited Sardinian Antonio Berritta, operates out of the basement of a grocery store. Antonio, his wife Maria Paola and their kids, Serena and Francesco are all involved in the operations of the winery – under the meticulous direction of the grandkids. Antonio’s family has been cultivating olives and vines using traditional methods for generations. This stuff really is in their blood!

Take her out of the fridge an hour or so before serving, you’ll thank us.

They say, quite simply, that they are raising handcrafted wines along with their two daughters. But we think John & Tasha Seccombe are doing so much more than that! They’re raising the profile of forgotten grapes, reflecting on the heritage of a complicated wine-producing country and thoughtfully capturing a new narrative of what that could become.

Laura and Brendan Carter have an intense commitment to sustainability - a unique zeal some might say (= unico zelo in Italian - read on to find out why). They planted 35 different varietals to see which could grow without irrigation in the harsh Australian climate and ended with a handful of native Italian grapes they now craft into wonderfully smashable wines aimed at the next generation of wine drinkers.

This tiny operation, started in 2007 by the spirited Sardinian Antonio Berritta, operates out of the basement of a grocery store. Antonio, his wife Maria Paola and their kids, Serena and Francesco are all involved in the operations of the winery – under the meticulous direction of the grandkids. Antonio’s family has been cultivating olives and vines using traditional methods for generations. This stuff really is in their blood!

In 2002, Elisabetta Foradori (who’s a bit of a legend in Italy), Thomas Widmann and Giovanni Podini purchase Ampelaia – originally established by a Swiss couple in the 60s. Their vision was to demonstrate the diversity and potential of Maremma. Now, the fully biodynamic Ampelaia stretches across 120 hectares, of which only 35 are planted to vines – the rest are dedicated to wheat, olives, cows, chickens and beehives. Some say they’re a bit mad, but their decisions are all made very consciously, aiming to preserve the biodiversity of their land. They’re more of a family than a business, more of a lifestyle than a career.

Maori-owned and operated, this winery is taking sustainability to a whole other level. They are passionate about preserving their heritage which blends in beautifully with their philosophies around environmental conservation. Every member of this winery owns a small part of it, giving way to more than 4,000 owner families! What can we say, it takes a village to raise a beautiful wine baby!

Melissa Nelson is a self-taught winemaker who fell in love with the Bot River region and the camaraderie amongst the winemakers in the region (her grapes grow just down the way from Luddite). Her aim was pretty simple – to make more than they could drink. More than a decade later, that simple aim has led to some simply amazing bubbles!