Cascina Val Liberata

The Cascina Val Liberata winery is a young company that was founded in 2014 as a result of Deirdre O'Brien and Maurizio Caffer's desire to start producing wine. The estate is located in the Piedmont region, a land of ancient traditions in the field of viticulture, which has always been part of the region's agricultural culture. Of the 10 hectares of the property, about 3.5 are dedicated to viticulture, while the rest are occupied by woods and meadows, which contribute to an environment that is rich in biodiversity. The vines are cultivated on the hills of Basso Monferrato, in the Villamiroglio and Odalengo Grande area, in the province of Alessandria.

With great loyalty to the most ancient customs of the area, Cascina Val Liberata has decided to cultivate only indigenous Piedmontese grapes that are typical of Monferrato. These include the ever-present Nebbiolo, Grignolino and a rare, almost completely abandoned red grape variety, Slarina. The vines are planted using the "giropoggio" system and are managed with biodynamic methods. The winery follows the lunar calendar and uses only biodynamic preparations to make the vines more resistant to disease and to increase the natural vitality of the soil. In order to reduce the use of copper as much as possible against downy mildew attacks, vegetable extracts are used. To defend the vines from powdery mildew attacks, mine sulphur mixed with clay and calcareous powder of marine origin is used. These natural remedies help maintain a healthy natural ecosystem.

Green manure is spread between the rows of vines to ensure that the soil is supplied with all the necessary nutrients. One of the special features of Cascina Val Liberata is that it has focused on the recovery of a grape variety that has almost completely disappeared. The Slarina grape is an ancient Piedmontese variety, which was cultivated in the Monferrato area in past centuries. It is also known as Cenerina because of its abundant bloom. The plants have very low natural yields and at the beginning of the 20th century, especially in post-phylloxera replanting, it was abandoned in favour of more productive varieties such as Barbera and Bonarda. In 2007, Slarina was finally included in the National Register of Vine Varieties, thanks to the work done by the CNR of the University of Turin's Faculty of Agriculture. In 2014 Cascina Val Liberata planted the first vineyard of Slarina and today it is possible to taste this fine and elegant red wine, which displays excellent qualities to offer very interesting wines.