Bart Van Olphen
Australia
Dutchman who came here 15 years ago for one vintage! Fell in love with the vines, and a fellow winemaker.
- Bart van Olphen’s wine journey is totally unique. Born and raised among the windmills and tulips of his native Holland, he learned his winemaking craft in Germany’s Pfalz region, honed it in the USA, handmade mighty reds alongside the legend that is Steve Pannell for eight years in McLaren Vale before settling in Victoria.
- Bart is married to Kim Chalmers of the famed Chalmers vineyards and it’s from these excellent family-grown grapes that he sources the most delectable, pristine fruit to power his Angel-exclusive B.V.O range of deliciousness!
- Bart is very much a minimal interventionist winemaker: grow the best fruit, let it talk and stay hands off as much as possible. And with the huge array of Chalmers grapes available to choose from Bart is like a kid in a candy store!
- Two heads are better than one, and when life long passion (John) meets life long winemaking skill (Dan), the result is unimaginably unique and tasty wine that sings like the hidden hills it came from!
- 95% of wine in Australia is machine harvested. Not at Montvalley! Every single drop is hand-pruned and hand-picked, so there is little wonder the vineyard upholds it's reputation for delivering the most pure Hunter Valley fruit to the winery every year.
- Whether it be their elegant Chardonnay, flavour-packed Shiraz or classic Semillon, filling your glass with Montvalley wine is an experience truly exclusive to Naked. Drift away to your happy place with John and Dan's gorgeous wine, grown in a hidden slice of Hunter Valley heaven.
- Steve's passion and varied experience have led him to focus on new century wine styles that speak uniquely of his gorgeous home terroir in and around Orange, NSW.
- The complex possibilities of Chardonnay and the brooding just-another-sip qualities of Merlot have been the premier wines for Steve's portfolio at Naked. He is championing incredible cool climate wines; the styles currently taking NSW by storm!
- Steve's day job is part of an award-winning team, rolling and climbing between barrels for one of the region’s most recognisable brands. His exclusive boutique Made by Mobbs label is especially for Angels!
- This inventive husband and wife team are bringing their delicious Fuzzy & May label to Angels, and we're thrilled to bits at Naked HQ! Their unique wines have impressed from day dot when they invited some lucky Naked HQ folks up to their gorgeous cellar door.
- Damien and Jodie have honed their craft at a wide array of Hunter Valley based wineries - think Brokenwood, McGuigans, Briar Ridge and Wandin Valley. They also picked up amazing old world vintage experience in Campania, Italy.
- The first ever Semillon the pair produced in 2010 won both best current vintage Semillon and current vintage white wine at the Hunter Valley Wine Show! With Angel funding and support, it's only up from here as they can now access top class fruit & winemaking resources to keep improving year in year out.
- Naked funding will allow Paul’s expertise to be enjoyed by more than a few hundred people - before he became Naked, Paul created miniscule amounts of wine (in some cases as little as 40 dozen for one wine).
- Previously working for big wineries like Houghtons and Goundreys, in 2009 Paul turned his attention to creating his own, highly boutique wines from the oldest vineyard and cellar door in Denmark (WA).
- His first year as a go-it-alone winemaker saw his winery listed as a James Halliday Top 10 best new winery and Dark Horse winery. Paul was a man with experience, talent, and absolutely no money for grapes. Now thanks to you he has the support he needs… which means you’re in for a treat!
- HINT: Click the PLAY tab on the left to see Paul introduce himself!
- Leighton Joy's passion is to make wines the way that he wants to make them, filled with honesty and integrity. As his wines are from Single vineyards, each bottle is an expression of both the location and himself.
- Over the years, Leighton has stacked up the awards - including the Western Victoria Wine Challenge trophy for Best Shiraz and Best Wine!
- At the end of the day, the most important thing to Leighton is your reviews and feedback. It helps him grow, craft and create truly beautiful wine.
Ben Gould is a winemaker from WA with over 20 vintages under his belt. He started out picking grapes and has done every level of job there is.
Named in the Gourmet Traveller WINE magazine in the best of the best for 2011, and Gourmet Traveller class of 2011 Top Ten. Max Allen went on to review as "... a swag of wines that blew me away".
His wines are sourced from both his own certified organic and biodynamic vineyards, plus other conventional vineyards across Western Australia.
Ben managed to fund his family’s most recent vineyard purchase in the Margaret River region with help from his own direct customers, plus Angel assistance and collective orders from Naked Wines.
- Adam Barton began as a winemaker largely as a result of tasting a glass of the 1965 Lindemans Hunter River Burgundy which he described as "magic". Based in the Clare Valley, Adam has the freedom to explore different variteals and keep pushing the boundaries of experimentation to the delight of Angels' taste buds everywhere.
- Winemaking since 2001, the reason Adam's wines are so special is due to carefully selected vineyards, passionate grower partners & lots of care and attention to the smallest detail in the winery.
- Adam's Rabbit & Spaghetti range of Red wines are consistently loved by Angels, garnering a mammoth 90% or more buy-again rating year in, year out!
- Brian, from the Margaret River in WA has been producing for 30 years now and once managed a winery in Tunisia, Italy working out of an old colonial French Chateau making Carignan.
- Brian Fletcher works with exceptional and dedicated growers in Margaret River so has access to fantastic fruit and a wonderful region in Margaret River to work with.
- The upfront funding from the Naked Angels provides a fantastic opportunity for Brian to innovate without a total financial exposure. Brian cannot wait for the day he can talk directly to the angels and together they can create a new wine from scratch.
- Thomas Hordern is a rising star! Having been born and raised in the wine industry there is nothing he doesn't know about getting the best out of the grapes.
- Following in his father's footsteps, Thomas is a third generation winemaker and farmer. Winemaking has been in the family for 60 years with Thomas having over 10 years experience of his own.
- Thomas is extremely passionate about the Hunter Valley and would love nothing more than to show off the region to the rest of the world!
