Portraits

You may not have heard of Anora yet, but since 2021 the company has become the new leader in beverage alcohol across the Nordic countries. Specialising in the production, import, export and distribution of wines and spirits, it is on track to become a global sales powerhouse. Its rapid growth compels admiration, as do its innovative, high-performance initiatives including the creation of some mould-breaking brands.

One of its flagship lines may well be called ‘crazy bottle’ – aka Bocciamatta in Italian – but StraItalian Winemakers and its managing director Gaetano Peragine have their feet firmly on, and in, the ground.

Founded just over 25 years ago in response to increased demand for Rioja wines internationally, family-run bodega Criadores de Rioja has always kept a watchful eye on overseas markets. Its wines encapsulate a fusion of tradition and modernity and the winery has successfully kept abreast of changing demand and consumer patterns. With its appeal continuing to extend way beyond national borders, it offers a fine illustration of the vitality of this famous Spanish appellation and its ability to reinvent itself.

One of the region’s rising stars, with its multi-award-winning, extensive range of wines and cutting-edge technology, Bodega Inurietta is a great illustration of Navarre’s resurgence and its assertiveness in global wine markets. We take a look at what defines this young bodega shooting for the moon.

Cantine Riondo is set in the beautiful rolling countryside around Verona, one of Italy’s most storied towns and the nexus of the sprawling Veneto wine region. Behind this bucolic setting, though, is one of the country’s largest co-operative groups and a range of wines that reads like a digest of global best-sellers.

How did a bodega, founded in 1890 in Jumilla – perhaps Spain’s most under-the-radar wine region – to produce wines for France, then in the throes of phylloxera, become Europe’s leading winery by sales and the fourth largest in the world in just 130 years? Its director, José García-Carrión, recounts the incredible story of this exceptional company.