Tua Rita is one of the relatively young, upstart producers in coastal Tuscany that have become Italian “cult” producers. The family-run operation makes Super Tuscans as well as Syrah, Merlot and white wines.

Beringer Vineyards was started by German immigrant brothers in 1876. They built a mansion like those they admired in the Rhine Valley. Today, the estate is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Jean-Louis Chave universally admired as one of the world’s great wine estates. Robert M. Parker Jr., a self-proclaimed fan, has called Jean-Louis and Gerard Chave, the son and father who run the estate, some “of this planet’s greatest winemakers.”