The Watercolour, the Limestone & the Grape That Remembers
In Campo Arcís, a hamlet of 400 souls in the heart of the Requena vineyards, Juan Piqueras and Susana López left their city jobs in 2016 to make natural wine from 17 hectares of family land — recovering forgotten varieties, reviving clay jars, and painting every label by hand.
Origin — 2014, the City & the Return
Bodegas y Viñedos Pigar was born in 2014 in Campo Arcís — a hamlet of barely 400 souls nestled in the heart of the Requena vineyards, in the province of Valencia. But the project's true beginning came two years later, in 2016, when Juan Piqueras and Susana López made a decision that would change their lives: they left their jobs in the city and returned to the village to dedicate themselves full-time to wine. This was not a career move. It was a return — to the land, to the family, to a way of life that the modern world had tried to make obsolete.
The name Pigar carries the weight of family history. The project is deeply rooted in the Pigar family of Campo Arcís — a lineage of viticulturists who have worked these soils for generations. When Juan and Susana returned, they did not arrive as outsiders with a business plan. They arrived as grandchildren coming home. The winery is a family adventure, and every bottle carries not only the juice of the grape but the memory of the hands that planted the vines decades before.
Their mission was clear from the start: to make natural wines using traditional methods, based on ancestral knowledge, balance, and sustainability. They would give value to ancient traditions, recover the use of clay jars (tinajas), and fight to maintain the heritage of native varieties that industrial agriculture had forgotten. In a region where cooperatives dominate and most wine is sold in bulk, Juan and Susana chose the path of the artisan — small production, hand labour, and total respect for the living vineyard.
Today, the couple cultivates 17 hectares of vines at 585 metres above sea level — 9 of which are dedicated to Pigar wines — using agro-ecological practices that respect every stage of the process. They sow legumes between the vines for natural ground cover, enriching the soil and enabling the vines to adapt to the vagaries of the climate. They preserve autochthonous grape varieties. And they ferment with the indigenous yeasts from the grape skins themselves, without filtration or clarification, to preserve the lively, authentic character of each wine. In June 2022, a new member joined the family adventure: little Aritz — the bear in Basque — raised with the same values of freedom, respect, and love that the couple finds in every bottle.
The Place — The Hamlet, the Limestone & the Forgotten Varieties
Campo Arcís sits in the Utiel-Requena region of inland Valencia — a high plateau of continental-Mediterranean climate where the summers are torrid, the winters are cold, and the rainfall is scarce. The estate's 17 hectares lie at 585 metres above sea level, on limestone and clay soils that give the wines a distinct mineral backbone and a freshness that defies the heat of the plateau. This is not coastal Valencia of orange groves and beaches. This is inland Valencia — austere, agricultural, and viticulturally ancient.
The Parcels — Family Land, Old Vines & Low Yields
The vineyards are divided into small family parcels — each with its own name, its own history, and its own character. La Casa Alarcón is a dry vineyard with low yields, source of the highly concentrated grapes for ChaChaCha. Casa Lázaro is a multivarietal vineyard of almost 90-year-old vines — the source of Las Tres Viejas. La Serratilla is a very special plot of barely 800 Bobal vines on limestone soil, planted in 1970 by grandfather Juan García — a unique vineyard for its stony, calcareous earth. And El Orillón, Las Casillas, and Los Morenos are parcels of old bush vines — some nearly 100 years old — that produce less than 3 kilograms per vine, with very concentrated bunches and small grains. These are not industrial vineyards. They are family archives written in vine.
Agro-ecology, Legumes & Living Soil
Juan and Susana work the vineyards with agro-ecological practices — not merely organic, but holistic. They sow all kinds of legumes around the vines — clover, vetch, beans — creating a vegetable cover that protects the soil from erosion, fixes nitrogen, and provides a habitat for beneficial insects. These are small steps, but they are deliberate ones: the couple understands that the health of the wine depends on the health of the soil, and that the soil is a living organism, not a substrate. No pesticides. No herbicides. No shortcuts. Just patience, observation, and the accumulated wisdom of generations who farmed this same land before them.
Bobal — The Soul of Requena
Bobal is the defining red grape of Utiel-Requena — a thick-skinned, late-ripening variety that has survived decades of industrial neglect to become the region's most prized native red. It is a grape of extraordinary colour, fresh acidity, and wild berry character — capable of producing wines that range from light and glou-glou to dense and age-worthy, depending on the parcel and the vintage. At Pigar, Bobal is treated with the reverence it deserves: hand-harvested from old bush vines, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and raised with minimal intervention. The result is a Bobal that tastes of Requena itself — of limestone, of altitude, of the dry wind that blows across the plateau.
The Forgotten Whites — Tardana, Tortosí, Royal & Valencia Blanc
While Bobal dominates the reds, Pigar's true distinction may lie in its white and pink varieties — many of them neglected, abandoned, or on the verge of extinction. Tardana — also known as Planta Nova — is a native Valencian white of extraordinary acidity and late ripening. Tortosí is a rare, almost vanished variety that survives in only a handful of old vineyards. Royal is a pink-skinned grape used for the estate's ancestral sparkling wine. Valencia Blanc and Airen are the workhorses of the region, dismissed by most but cherished by Juan and Susana for their honesty. And Macabeu and Moscatel de Alejandría add aromatic complexity to the portfolio. Together, these varieties form a living museum of Valencian viticulture — a library of grapes that Pigar is determined not to let close.
Winemaking — The Clay Jar, the Indigenous Yeast & Only Grape
Juan and Susana's cellar philosophy is captured in a single, absolute sentence: ONLY GRAPE. Their job as viticulturists is to take care of the land, maintaining the essence of all their wines, using native yeasts from the skin itself during fermentation. They do not filter. They do not clarify. They keep their wines alive, with their own personality, without losing the varietal character. This is not a slogan. It is a technical protocol — and a moral one.
The clay jars (tinajas) are central to this philosophy. Juan and Susana have recovered the ancestral use of clay vessels for fermentation and ageing — a practice that predates both oak barrel and stainless steel in the Mediterranean. The jars allow micro-oxygenation without flavouring — the clay breathes like wood but imparts no vanilla, no toast, no spice. It simply allows the wine to evolve, softening tannins, stabilizing colour, and preserving the pure expression of the grape. The Orange Tardana is fermented with skins in clay jars for 25 days — a length of contact that would be unthinkable in steel or wood, but which the clay makes possible through its thermal inertia and gentle oxygenation.
The ChaChaCha — the estate's celebrated Chardonnay — is made using the Black Chard method: natural, wild yeasts, no added sulphites, aged on lees in a ceramic egg. The ceramic egg, like the clay jar, encourages natural convection — the lees remain in suspension, bathing the wine in texture and complexity without the need for battonage. The result is a Chardonnay that is simultaneously rich and precise — tropical and mineral, generous and disciplined.
Every wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts — no selected strains, no enzymes, no chaptalisation. Some wines see stainless steel. Some see used French barrels (400 litres). Some see clay jars. Some see ceramic eggs. The vessel is chosen according to the variety, the parcel, and the vintage — but the principle never changes: let the grape speak, and get out of the way. The wines are bottled without filtering or clarifying. They may contain natural sediments. They are alive. And they are exactly as the vineyard intended them to be.
The Wines — From the Orange Tardana to the Ancestral Royal
Bodegas y Viñedos Pigar produces a wide and vibrant range of natural wines — around ten different cuvées each harvest: whites, oranges, reds, still and sparkling. All are made with indigenous yeasts, minimal or zero sulphites, and no filtration or clarification. The range is vinified in stainless steel, barrels, amphorae, or ceramic eggs — whichever vessel best serves the grape. Some are produced under the Utiel-Requena appellation. Others are Vino de Mesa — table wines that refuse to conform to appellation rules in order to remain true to their natural philosophy. Production is tiny. Character is immense. And every label is an original watercolour.
Pigar "ChaChaCha"
White — Campo Arcís, RequenaThe estate's celebrated Chardonnay — 100% Chardonnay from the La Casa Alarcón parcel, a dry vineyard with low yields that produces highly concentrated grapes. Made using the Black Chard method: natural, wild yeasts, no added sulphites, aged on lees in a ceramic egg. The ceramic vessel encourages natural lees suspension and micro-oxygenation without flavouring. The result is a wine of extraordinary texture and clarity — stone fruit, citrus, and a mineral freshness that speaks of the limestone beneath the vines. A Chardonnay that proves natural wine can be both generous and precise. ~13% ABV. Zero added sulphites. Unfiltered.
Pigar "El Ardachero"
White — Campo Arcís, RequenaA Mediterranean white made from 100% Chardonnay — round, smooth, and sunlit. Total production is currently around 10,000 bottles across the entire estate, making this a wine of genuine scarcity. The Ardachero captures the warmth of the Requena plateau — ripe stone fruit, white peach, and a gentle, creamy texture from lees contact. Fermented with indigenous yeasts and bottled without filtration. A wine for those who understand that Chardonnay does not need oak to be rich — it needs honest grapes and patient hands. ~13% ABV. Minimal sulphites.
Pigar "Las Tres Viejas"
Orange — Campo Arcís, RequenaAn orange wine of extraordinary rarity and beauty — named before the couple even knew which varieties composed its coupage. From the Casa Lázaro parcel, a multivarietal vineyard of 90+-year-old vines: 45% Tortosí, 40% Airen, and 15% Valencia Blanc. The three varieties are harvested at the same time, partially destemmed, and macerated on skins for 7–10 days, then aged for 9 months on fine lees. Bottled without filtering or clarifying. The result is a wine of amber colour, botanical complexity, and savoury depth — tree fruits, fennel, Mediterranean herbs, and salt. Textured, alive, and utterly distinctive. Only 900 bottles. Zero sulphites. 100% natural.
Pigar "Orange Tardana"
Orange — Campo Arcís, RequenaA bold, textured orange wine from the Tardana variety — also known as Planta Nova — a native Valencian white grape of extraordinary acidity and late-ripening character, with a splash of Moscatel (around 10%) for aromatic lift. The grapes are fermented with skins in clay jars (tinajas) for 25 days — a length of maceration made possible by the thermal inertia and gentle oxygenation of the clay. No additives. Sulphite-free. 100% natural. The result is a wine of deep amber, grippy tannin, and complex aromatics — dried apricot, orange peel, wild herbs, and a stony minerality that speaks of the limestone soils. A wine for the adventurous and the patient. ~13% ABV. Zero sulphites.
Pigar "Bobales Perdidos"
Red — Campo Arcís, RequenaThe estate's profound, multi-parcel Bobal — from El Orillón, Las Casillas, Casa Lázaro, and Los Morenos — parcels with old bush vines of almost 100 years of age, producing less than 3 kg per vine. 99% Bobal (with a tiny field blend). 20% whole grape, 80% destemmed without squeezing for greater aromatic extraction. Fermented with autochthonous yeasts from the vineyard, with daily pump-overs and cap punch-downs by hand. Malolactic fermentation and subsequent ageing in used French barrels of 400 litres for 7–12 months. Bottled without filtering or clarifying. No additives. Sulphite-free. 100% natural. A wine of colossal concentration and honest power — dark fruit, wild herbs, and limestone minerality. ~3,500 bottles.
Pigar "Bobal La Serratilla"
Red — Campo Arcís, RequenaA high-expression Bobal from a single, extraordinary parcel — La Serratilla — barely 800 vines on limestone soil, planted in 1970 by grandfather Juan García. This is a unique vineyard: stony, calcareous, and steep — a place where the Bobal vine has had to struggle for half a century, sinking its roots deep into the rock. The result is a wine of intense colour, extraordinary concentration, and a mineral spine that separates it from softer, more commercial Bobals. Hand-harvested, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and raised with minimal intervention. A single-vineyard wine that is also a family memoir — the grandfather's vines, the grandson's hands, the same limestone. ~14% ABV. Minimal sulphites. Extremely limited.
Pigar "La Cuvée de Susana"
Red — Campo Arcís, RequenaA young, fresh, and vibrant Bobal — named for Susana, and made in her spirit: approachable, honest, and full of life. 100% Bobal from old-vine organic vineyards, hand-harvested in whole clusters, with a short maceration of 5 days in stainless steel. The result is a wine of summer strawberry fruit, wild herbs, and a gentle kiss of tannin — light enough to chill, serious enough to satisfy. Serve it slightly cool and drink it with friends. This is the glou-glou side of Pigar — the wine that proves natural Bobal can be as joyful as it is profound. ~13% ABV. Minimal sulphites. Unfiltered.
Pigar "Ancestral Royal"
Sparkling Rosé — Campo Arcís, RequenaAn ancestral method sparkling rosé — 90% Royal, 5% Bobal, and 5% Tortosina — made with just one fermentation (the ancestral way, before Champagne's double fermentation was invented). The grapes are pressed, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and bottled before fermentation is complete, trapping the natural CO₂ in the bottle. Bottle ageing on lees. The result is a wine of garnet, pink, and gold tones — fine, natural bubbles, wild strawberry, rose petal, and a saline freshness that speaks of the Requena plateau. It may contain natural sediments and crystallizations — signs of life, not flaws. ~850 bottles. Zero sulphites. Unfiltered. Disgorged by hand.
Pigar "Ancestral Chardonnay"
Sparkling White — Campo Arcís, RequenaA 100% Chardonnay sparkling wine made by the ancestral method — 100% natural, just one fermentation, direct pressing, and bottle ageing on lees for 5 months or more. Bottled without filtering or clarifying. The result is a pet-nat of extraordinary purity — fine, persistent bubbles, lemon zest, white peach, and a creamy, lees-derived texture. No dosage. No sulphites. No intervention. Just the grape, the yeast, and the bottle. A wine that captures the joy and irreverence of natural sparkling wine — the kind of bottle that makes you want to open another before the first is finished. ~13.5% ABV. Zero sulphites.
Pigar "Ancestral MussKat"
Sparkling — Campo Arcís, RequenaA pet-nat of explosive aromatic intensity — 100% Moscatel de Alejandría with 5 days of skin contact in stainless steel before bottling for ancestral fermentation. The Moscatel brings intense floral perfume — orange blossom, jasmine, and rose — while the skin contact adds texture and grip. The bubbles are natural, fine, and persistent. The finish is saline and refreshing. A sparkling wine that refuses to be an aperitif — it demands food, it demands attention, and it demands that you take natural sparkling wine seriously. ~13% ABV. Minimal sulphites. Unfiltered.
Pigar Experimental / Limited Releases
Variable — Campo Arcís, RequenaJuan and Susana's experimental edge — small-lot cuvées that push the boundaries of what natural wine in Requena can express. These may include extended skin-contact whites beyond the standard Tardana, single-parcel bottlings from specific slopes, carbonic maceration reds, or wines aged in alternative vessels beyond clay jars and ceramic eggs. The common thread is zero or minimal sulphites, indigenous yeast, and total creative freedom guided by the vintage and the vineyard. These wines are not always available. When they are, they are shared with the small community of collectors who understand that Pigar's experiments are not gimmicks but genuine inquiries into what the limestone of Campo Arcís can express when fear is removed from the cellar.
Legacy — The Watercolour, the Clay Jar & the Grape That Refused to Be Forgotten
Bodegas y Viñedos Pigar matters because it is one of the most romantic and rigorous natural wine projects in the Valencian Community — the work of a couple who, in 2016, left everything behind to return to a hamlet of 400 souls and make wine the way their grandparents did. In a region where bulk production and cooperative anonymity have long dominated, Juan Piqueras and Susana López have proven that natural farming, indigenous yeast, and zero sulphites can produce wines of extraordinary character and international recognition — from varieties that most growers have abandoned in favor of homogenized, high-yielding clones.
Their legacy is agricultural. By farming 17 hectares at 585 metres on limestone soils, by preserving 90-year-old multivarietal vineyards, by recovering Tardana, Tortosí, Royal, and Valencia Blanc from the edge of extinction, and by planting legumes for natural ground cover, Juan and Susana have created a model for Valencian viticulture that is closer to a garden than to a factory. The parcels of La Casa Alarcón, Casa Lázaro, La Serratilla, and Los Morenos are not merely vineyard names. They are chapters in a family history.
Their legacy is also oenological. The Las Tres Viejas — 900 bottles of orange wine from 90-year-old vines of three nearly forgotten varieties, 7–10 days skin contact, 9 months on lees, zero sulphites — is a wine that almost no one else in the world could make, because almost no one else has those vines. The Bobales Perdidos — 3,500 bottles from 100-year-old Bobal vines, sulphite-free, aged in used French oak — proves that natural wine can achieve concentration and complexity without additives. And the Ancestral Royal — 850 bottles of pink sparkling wine made by a method older than Champagne — demonstrates that the most ancient techniques can produce the most modern pleasures.
And their legacy is artistic. Susana's watercolour labels — original paintings on every bottle — transform the wine from commodity into object d'art. The hand-painted disgorgers, the attention to visual detail, and the refusal to outsource creativity to a design agency are all part of the same philosophy: if you make something by hand, you should finish it by hand. The label is not packaging. It is a promise — that what is inside was made with the same care that Susana puts into every brushstroke.
From the city to the hamlet, from the clay jar to the ceramic egg, from the grandfather's 1970 Bobal vines to the son Aritz born in 2022, Bodegas y Viñedos Pigar is a testament to what happens when a couple decides that the best way to live is to return to what matters — the land, the family, the grape, and the patience to let them speak. The watercolours are wet. The clay jars are warm. And the drinker is welcomed into a family.