The Grandfather's Dream, the Pine Forest & the Perfume of Adventure
A grandfather who planted 3.5 hectares of Tempranillo in 1996 near a sanctuary surrounded by pines, a granddaughter and her husband who turned it into one of Spain's most poetic natural wine estates — Elisa de Frutos and Rubén Salamanca make oxidative whites in outdoor demijohns, skin-contact verdejo in amphorae, and old-vine Tempranillo that smells like thyme, lavender, and the ghost of an inland sea.
Origin — The Dream, the Sanctuary & the Mountain of Pine Cones
Mariano de Frutos always dreamt of producing his own wine. In 1996, he began that dream by planting 3.5 hectares of Tempranillo in the old vineyard areas of his ancestors — two small parcels called "El Canalizo" and "Montón de Piñas", near the Sanctuary of the Virgen de El Henar, surrounded by pine trees, 3 kilometres from the village of Cuéllar and 60 kilometres north of Segovia. He was a pioneer: when Mariano proposed the recuperation of wineries in Cuéllar, there was virtually no viticultural activity in the area. He became the first to replant, the first to believe that this corner of Castilla y León could make wine worth drinking.
In 2004, his dream took form as Bodegas de Frutos Marín, and the first wines were commercialised. The 2007 harvest was the first fully produced in the new winery. But the true transformation came with the next generation. Elisa de Frutos, Mariano's granddaughter, took over the commercial side. Her husband, Rubén Salamanca, took over the technical and winemaking side. Together, they form a perfect tandem — she with the vision, he with the craft — and they have steered the family estate toward something Mariano could never have imagined: natural wine, oxidative ageing, skin-contact amphorae, and a poetry that has made Malaparte a cult name from Tokyo to Brooklyn.
The name Malaparte is a tribute to the Italian writer and intellectual Curzio Malaparte — a figure of contradiction, brilliance, and fierce independence. It is a fitting namesake for a winery that refuses to follow the rules of the DO, that bottles its wines as simple Vino (formerly Vino de Mesa) when they do not conform to appellation criteria, and that treats wine as literature rather than commodity. Elisa and Rubén have recently been accepted into the Triple A movement (Agriculturalists, Artisans, Artists) and are part of the Raw Wine community — but these are affiliations, not definitions. Malaparte is defined by its own voice.
In recent years, they have expanded beyond Mariano's original Tempranillo. They have embraced white varieties — Albillo, Verdejo, Malvasía, Moscatel de Grano Menudo, Godello, Viura, Malvar, and Huerta — and launched experimental projects like Uvas Nómadas, a crowdfunding initiative where they find abandoned or neglected small vineyards, strike a one-year deal with the owner, work their magic, and let the participants reap the rewards in wine. It is viticulture as community, as adventure, as shared risk.
The Place — The Inland Sea, the Pines & the Limestone
Cuéllar sits on the high plateau of Castilla y León, 60 kilometres north of Segovia, at roughly 900 metres above sea level. Millions of years ago, this land was an inland sea, and the soils still carry that aquatic memory — layers of sediment, ancient seabed, and a scattering of minerals that reads like a miner's ledger. The climate is brutally continental: winters that drop to -10°C, summers that climb to 40°C, and a diurnal shift so dramatic that the grapes accumulate sugar by day and preserve acidity by night. It is not an easy place to farm. It is a place that demands respect.
5.5 Hectares in Two Parcels
The estate comprises 5.5 hectares across El Canalizo and Montón de Piñas — two small areas near the Sanctuary of the Virgen de El Henar, surrounded by pine forest. The vines are protected by natural vegetable cover and sit on layers of limestone mixed with sand and clay. Yields are deliberately low: roughly 3,000 kg/ha for Tempranillo and 2,000 kg/ha for Syrah, Muscat, and the old Garnacha. The land is not worked in summer; vegetation grows freely along the vine rows.
30 to 74+ Year-Old Vines
The Tempranillo is roughly 30 years old, trained on double cordon royat trellises. Syrah and Muscat are younger, around 6 years. But the treasure is a small plot of 74-year-old bush-trained Garnacha in a village in the south of Segovia county, on sandy soil, yielding just 2,000 kg/ha. These old vines — plus the recovered parcels of the Uvas Nómadas project — give Malaparte its depth and its link to the pre-industrial past.
Organic Certified, Biodynamic Since 2020
All viticultural practices follow organic principles, certified by CCL Certificaciones. Since 2020, Elisa and Rubén have incorporated biodynamic preparations into their farming. No pesticides. No herbicides. The vineyard is allowed to coexist with the surrounding pine forest, lavender scrub, and wild herbs. The result is not just clean fruit but fruit that carries the scent of its environment — a perfume that no laboratory can replicate.
The Scent of the Field
Malaparte's website reads like a prose poem about smell. "When you walk through the vineyard, in a second, you bring clothes caught on forever perfume of adventure. The scent of thyme, lavender, rosemary, odor open field, later, hunting and feathers. Jaras pungent in summer. The lavenders are inseparable motif scrubland. St. John's wort, which fills the air with its rugged aroma. The sage, in the past used to heat and aromar furnaces, is another of the tender feelings of our field." This is not marketing copy. It is a manifesto.
Winemaking — When the Hand of Man Gets Camouflaged
Malaparte's philosophy is expressed with a clarity that borders on the mystical: "The wine must be a reflection of something simple in itself, that binds us to earth as the strain it is to land. Perfection in its preparation is to make the art so integrated into the wine that goes unnoticed — and this happens when the hand of man gets camouflaged in the wine so that it appears that the grapes are not touched, respecting the natural cycles and placing value on the various effects of the weather on the vineyard and respecting them."
In practice, this means indigenous yeasts, spontaneous fermentation, no filtration, no clarification, and minimum quantities of added sulphites across the range. Elisa and Rubén use a variety of techniques depending on the wine: stainless steel tanks for freshness, old French barriques for structure, traditional Spanish tinajas (clay pots) for texture, and large glass demijohns placed outdoors for oxidative ageing. The diversity of vessels is not eclecticism. It is a toolbox for different expressions of the same land.
The OX Blanc is the most radical expression of this philosophy. A blend of white varieties — Albillo, Huerta, and Verdejo leading — is fermented with indigenous yeasts and then aged outdoors in large glass demijohns for 12 months, where a layer of flor develops under the sun and wind. The result is a deep golden wine with aromas of dried flowers, preserved citrus, and nuts, rich and structured, with a lightly oxidative character reminiscent of biologically aged wines, yet balanced by a core of freshness. It is Jura meets Segovia — and it could only come from Malaparte.
For the reds, the approach varies by cuvée. Espantalobos sees 15 days of skin contact, fermentation in stainless steel with oxygenation and frequent pump-overs, then 16 months in old French barrels (225 and 300 litres). Pico Lunar Amphora spends 8 months in clay amphorae, giving it a buttery, caramel, forest-frond character that is entirely distinct from the barrel-aged wines. The common thread is respect for the raw material — and a refusal to let technique overshadow terroir.
The Wines — From the Mountain of Pine Cones to the New Wave Girl
Malaparte's range is a tapestry of techniques, varieties, and creative impulses — from the serious, barrel-aged Tempranillo of Espantalobos to the decadent, amphora-aged orange wine of The New Wave Girl. Many wines are bottled as simple Vino because they do not conform to DO criteria — a choice that liberates Elisa and Rubén to experiment without bureaucratic constraint. Production is small: roughly 20,000 bottles annually.
Espantalobos
Flagship red — Cuéllar100% Tempranillo — the wine that started it all. From 35-year-old vines on limestone and siliceous soils at 900 metres, trained in pergola and guyot. Hand-harvested in 12kg crates with double manual selection in vineyard and cellar. 15 days of preferment skin contact with temperature-controlled fermentation, oxygenation, and frequent pump-overs. Only the free-run juice is used. Malolactic fermentation in barrel. Aged 16 months in old French oak barrels (225 and 300 litres). No filtration, no clarification, natural cold stabilisation. Dark cherry red. Intense black fruits, compote, coffee, caramel toffee, granite, liquorice, cloves, moist earth. Sincere, silky, voluminous, wild but balanced. 91 Peñín. 99 Double Gold, San Francisco International Wine Competition. ~1,900 bottles.
Montón de Piñas
Natural Tempranillo — Cuéllar100% Tempranillo from the namesake vineyard — natural farming, no pesticides or herbicides, indigenous yeasts, spontaneous fermentation, skin contact, unfiltered. Plummy ruby with a wash of blue. Strawberries, raspberries, gentle creaminess, cherries, plums, black and white pepper, and a good fern touch. On the palate: red and green strawberries, blueberries, a smidge of skittles, lemon bright squeeze, and a peppery dash that reminds one of wild pepperweed. Perfect chilled drinking — the natural wine side of Malaparte, more playful and immediate than Espantalobos but no less authentic.
Las Lomas
Tempranillo-Syrah blend — Cuéllar90% Tempranillo, 10% Syrah. Intensely fresh fruit on the nose with hints of soft balsamic and eucalyptus, wonderfully scented with the herbs of the area — thyme, rosemary, lavender. The Syrah adds a dark, spicy backbone to the Tempranillo's red fruit. Aged in old barrels. Medium-bodied, dry, with a lush, complex finish and great acidity for balance. The blend that shows Rubén's technical skill and Elisa's sense of harmony.
Pico Lunar Amphora
Amphora-aged Tempranillo — Cuéllar100% Tempranillo, fermented with indigenous yeasts and spontaneous fermentation, then aged 8 months in traditional clay amphorae. Deep purple with a ruby rim. A puff of buttery caramel morphs into cherries, biscotti, raisins, cola, forest fronds, and a whisper of absinthe. On the palate: plums, cherry jam, dried cherries, raisins, hay, sage and thyme bouquet garni, smoke. Silky and smooth despite 14.1% alcohol — the amphora tames the heat and adds a mineral, earthy dimension that barrel ageing cannot replicate. A celebration of Tempranillo and Segovia in a beautiful, dangerous bottle.
OX Blanc
Oxidative white blend — CuéllarThe radical one. A popurrí of white varieties — Albillo, Huerta, and Verdejo leading — fermented with indigenous yeasts, then aged 12 months outdoors in large glass demijohns, where a layer of flor develops under the Castilian sun and wind. Deep golden in colour. Aromas of dried flowers, preserved citrus, nuts, toasted dried fruit, and a salinity reminiscent of wines aged under flor. On the palate: rich, structured, lightly oxidative yet balanced by a core of freshness and a long, savoury finish. The most distinctive wine in the range — Jura meets Segovia, sherry meets mountain white. A true original.
The New Wave Girl
Skin-contact Verdejo — Cuéllar100% Verdejo — natural farming, no pesticides or herbicides, indigenous yeasts, spontaneous fermentation, and skin contact in clay amphorae. Hazy orange-gold. Decadent aromas: deep fresh-squeezed oranges, tangerines, kumquats, tangelos and their blossoms, warm summer peaches and apricot with a touch of musk. On the palate: ripe peaches, Valencia oranges, zest, a sliver of pineapple, a creamy feel evened with a tart pop and a shake of salt. The name evokes 1980s vinyl and Echo and the Bunnymen — a wine that asks you to drop the needle and keep things spinning. Malaparte's most joyful, most Instagrammed, most unmistakable bottle.
Dindi Blanco
White blend — CuéllarA white blend from Malaparte's white varieties — Albillo, Verdejo, Malvasía, and others — made in a fresher, more immediate style than the oxidative OX or the skin-contact New Wave Girl. Medium-bodied, dry, drinking like a Grenache Blanc with stone fruit, mineral, and nuts on a lush, complex finish with great acidity for balance. The entry-level white that over-delivers for its modest price — proof that natural wine does not have to be challenging to be serious.
Dindi Ancestral
Ancestral method sparkling — CuéllarAn ancestral-method sparkling wine from Malaparte's white varieties — bottled before primary fermentation is complete, allowing the wine to finish fermenting in the bottle on its own lees. Cloudy, vigorous, and joyfully irregular. A wine that explodes with foam when opened and tastes like the pine forest in mid-summer: herbs, citrus, wildflowers, and a mineral backbone from the limestone soils. The party wine of the range, and a rare example of ancestral-method sparkling from Castilla y León.
Le Méprisé
Limited red — CuéllarThe scorned one — a wine whose name suggests rebellion against convention. A limited-production red from selected parcels, made with the same natural philosophy but perhaps from fruit that the DO would reject, or with techniques that appellation rules forbid. Fermented with indigenous yeasts, aged in old barrels or tinajas, bottled without fining or filtration. Dark, brooding, and complex — a wine for those who understand that the best bottles are often the ones that refuse to fit in.
Uvas Nómadas
Nomadic grape project — Castilla y LeónThe nomadic grapes — a crowdfunding project where Rubén and Elisa find an old or neglected small vineyard somewhere in Castilla y León, strike a one-year deal with the owner, farm it organically, vinify it naturally, and let the participants reap the rewards in wine. Each vintage is different: one year it might be Garnacha Tintorera from an abandoned plot, the next a field blend from a forgotten hillside. The only constant is the Malaparte philosophy: respect the land, camouflage the hand, let the vineyard speak. A pretty darn good investment — and a model for how natural wine can extend beyond estate boundaries.
Legacy — The Perfume of Adventure
Vinos Malaparte matters because it is one of the most poetically honest wine projects in Spain — a family estate where the grandfather's dream of planting Tempranillo in 1996 has evolved, through a granddaughter's vision and her husband's craft, into a laboratory of natural wine that refuses to be categorised. In a region where the DO rules would force them to filter, to clarify, to conform, Elisa and Rubén have chosen to bottle as Vino — table wine — rather than compromise. The DO's loss is the drinker's gain: oxidative whites aged under the sun, skin-contact verdejo in amphorae, ancestral-method sparklings, and Tempranillos that smell like the pine forest they grew in.
Their legacy is agricultural. By farming 5.5 hectares organically and biodynamically, by recovering old Garnacha vines in the south of Segovia, by launching the Uvas Nómadas project to save abandoned vineyards across Castilla y León, they have preserved a piece of the region's viticultural memory that would otherwise have been lost to cereal fields and forest. Mariano de Frutos was a pioneer in 1996. Elisa and Rubén are pioneers now — for different reasons, but with the same soil under their fingernails.
Their legacy is also methodological. The OX Blanc — aged outdoors in glass demijohns where flor develops naturally — is unprecedented in Castilla y León and rare anywhere in Spain. It demonstrates that oxidative ageing is not the property of Jerez or the Jura, but a technique that can be applied wherever a vigneron has the patience and the faith to let the elements do their work. The New Wave Girl — skin-contact verdejo in amphorae — proves that orange wine can be decadent rather than austere, joyful rather than challenging.
And their legacy is literary. No other Spanish winery writes about its land with the sensuality that Malaparte does. The website is a prose poem of scent: thyme, lavender, rosemary, sage, rock roses, pine, hunting, feathers. The names — Espantalobos (the wolf-scarer), Montón de Piñas (the mountain of pine cones), The New Wave Girl, Le Méprisé (the scorned one) — tell stories rather than selling products. Even the back labels read like fragments of a novel. This is wine as literature, as adventure, as perfume caught on clothes forever.
From the inland sea to the mountain of pine cones, from Mariano's first Tempranillo cuttings to the outdoor demijohns where flor grows under the Castilian sun, Vinos Malaparte is a testament to what happens when a family refuses to let the land forget. "The end of summer is approaching, the shadows of the pines begin to be lengthened. It's time to harvest."