Libre y Salvaje: wine made by gravity
Cariñena is both a place and a grape. D.O.P. Cariñena is a wine region in Aragón, and Cariñena, also known as Carignan, is a red variety that most likely originated there. Howver not every wine from the region is made from the Cariñena grape, and Libre y Salvaje's own wines lean on Garnacha just as much as Cariñena itself.
Libre y Salvaje at a Glance
- Location: Almonacid de la Sierra, Sierra de Algairén, D.O.P. Cariñena, Aragón, Spain
- Founder & Winemaker: Igancio Marin
- Annual Production: Not supplied
- Farming: Organic, regenerative
- Speciality: Old-vine Garnacha and Cariñena, made with minimal intervention
- Signature Style: Deep, dark, characterful reds and a small-batch skin-contact orange wine
A winery built to need almost nothing
Libre y Salvaje farms organically in Almonacid de la Sierra, in the Sierra de Algairén, on centuries-old vineyard land. The winery itself is four levels, gravity-fed, moving fruit from the top of the building down through each stage of winemaking without a single pump. It's a genuinely old approach, and it means the wines get made with as little mechanical or chemical intervention as possible.
We first tasted Libre y Salvaje a while back, and stocked a couple of wines that largely flew under the radar. When retasted them again in March, they were so good, we had to bring them back. They're returning to the range this summer.
Camino del Bosque 2023 (£16.50)
A blend of old-vine Garnacha and Cariñena, each variety vinified separately, the Garnacha in stainless steel and the Cariñena in concrete and French oak, before coming together. Soft, bold and fruity, with silky tannins and a generous finish. This is a wine for easy, sociable drinking, not deep thought. If you already like our Brindisi or Carlone Primitivo, this sits in the same camp.
Seleccion Garnacha 2023 (£21.00)
Fermented in concrete and matured for twelve months in foudre, which brings texture and roundness without adding new oak character. Fresh, fruity and generous, with enough layers to keep giving on a second and third glass.
Narancha 2021 (£26.50), Very Limited - only twelve bottles
An orange wine: Garnacha Blanca with around 5% Moscatel de Alejandría, both vinified on their skins for around 75 days. Expect ripe apricot, a perfumed lift from the Moscatel, orange peel and a warm dusting of spice, our own tasters have called it "Christmas pudding with grit." This is a wine for people who already know they like the style, and there are only twelve bottles in the allocation. Once it's gone, it's gone.
Low intervention, high character
Libre y Salvaje is exactly the kind of producer that gets lost when Spanish wine gets reduced to a handful of famous names. Centuries-old vines, a building designed around gravity instead of machinery, and wines with real verve at the end of it. Shop the Libre y Salvaje range.
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