The first time I tasted a Planta Nova wine, the winemaker told me, "This variety used to be very common here, and it almost disappeared."

Those words changed everything.

I discovered that Valencia had dozens of native Valencian varieties — Bonicaire, Forcallada, Arcos, Merseguera — that nearly vanished after the phylloxera epidemic. While large wineries were uprooting old vines to plant Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, these genetic treasures survived in isolated plots thanks to stubborn winemakers who refused to uproot them.

The irony: those "rare" wines that nobody wanted are now the ones sought after by the most demanding critics in the world.

Terroir Radical exists to give voice to that resilience.

We work exclusively with small Valencian producers who make natural, biodynamic, and minimal-intervention wines from recovered varieties, pre-phylloxera vines that survived against all odds. Some work within the official Designations of Origin. Others, outside of them, because their winemaking methods don't fit the regulations.

Here, we don't care about official labels. We care about the terroir. Every bottle we sell tells a story of resilience.

When you buy here, you're not just getting any wine. You're getting the story of someone who said "no" when told to uproot their old vines. The courage to make wine without industrial recipes. The stubborn belief that the terroir of the Valencian Community is worth more than any other designation, more than any trend.

Being radical means not asking permission to recover what was on the verge of disappearing.

Here you'll only find natural, biodynamic, and minimal-intervention Valencian wines made by independent winemakers who are bringing back to life varieties that the market tried to bury.

Living wines. Wines with history. Wines that speak of the place where they were born.

Welcome to the resistance.

Manifest

Location of wine production at the beginning of the 17th century in the Valencian Community

Who are we?

Representation of men working in winemaking

Landscape of the Terres dels Alforins region. Fontanars dels Alforins

Why the Valencian Community?

Because here, what disappeared in the rest of Spain survived.

When phylloxera ravaged Europe, the major wine regions opted for high-yield international varieties. Here, 23,000 winegrowers refused to uproot their vines. They preserved the native Valencian varieties that no one else wanted in isolated plots: Bonicaire, Forcallada, Planta Nueva, Giró, Arcos, Tardana, and others.

Between 1975 and 2005, more than 60,000 hectares of old vines were uprooted. But some resisted.

Today, the Valencian Community boasts one of the greatest genetic diversities of grape varieties in the Mediterranean, ranging from Bobal in Utiel-Requena to Merseguera in Alto Turia, and from Monastrell in Vinalopó to Giró in Marina Alta. Each region is a different terroir. And each terroir tells a story of resilience.

Terroir Radical works with winegrowers who said "no" to monoculture. These are the ones who are reviving varieties on the verge of extinction and who believe that the Valencian terroir deserves to be expressed unfiltered, uncorrected, and uncompromised.

Our selection criteria

We select each wine with the same criteria we would use to choose a bottle for our own table. We work exclusively with small Valencian producers who share our vision of wine:

Respectful Viticulture

Vines cultivated without herbicides or synthetic chemicals. Organic, biodynamic, or conversion farming. Living soil, biodiversity, natural balance. Each producer chooses their own path, but all share a deep respect for the vine.

Honest Winemaking

Spontaneous fermentations with native yeasts. Minimal winemaking intervention. No technical corrections that mask the origin. The wine expresses the year, the place, and the variety as they truly are, without filters or embellishments.

Commitment to Valencian Heritage

We prioritize producers who work with native varieties: Bobal, Monastrell, Merseguera, Giró, Verdil. And we especially value those who are reviving varieties on the verge of extinction: Bonicaire, Forcallada, Planta Nueva, Arcos, Tardía, etc. This genetic heritage is irreplaceable.

Human Scale

Winemakers who know every plot, every vineyard, every barrel. Projects where one person or one family controls the entire process, from pruning to bottling. Limited productions that prioritise quality over volume.

Passion and Perseverance

We seek out producers who make wine out of conviction, not because it's trendy. People who reclaim abandoned plots, who vinify "unmarketable" varieties, who maintain old vines when it would be more profitable to uproot them. Winemakers who chose the difficult path because they believe in it.

Not all our producers hold official organic certification, but they all adhere to the same principles. Not all are within the Denominations of Origin, but they all express the Valencian terroir with honesty.

What matters is in the glass: living wines, wines with a story, wines that speak of the place where they were born.