Wines without pedigree: from outsiders to Spanish icons of the future

By WineBottleMag
March 12, 2026
Future icons outsiders pedigree Spanish Wines
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The 2026 edition of Barcelona Wine Week featured an intense, juicy programme of tastings and masterclasses focused on the legacy and great family dynasties upon which the Spanish wine industry is built. While these remain central to the identity, continuity and resilience of the country’s wine industry, there’s another side to the same story, a complementary, parallel path equally important to the understanding of the quality and diversity of Spanish wines.

The incredible revolution that fuelled the ‘New Wave’ Spain phenomenon at the turn of the twentieth century was catalysed by mavericks without a legacy to either support or burden them; outsiders, from different walks of life, that arrived to viticulture and winemaking with fresh ideas and a fresh appreciation for tradition.

The other way

It was to explore this other narrative, shaped by daring entrepreneurship, child-like passion and reckless dedication that Mora hosted a discussion and tasting entitled ‘Wines without pedigree: The revolution of the outsiders’. He presided over a luxury panel of individuals who epitomise those forces of creativity and renewal; faces that, like Mora himself, represent some of the most groundbreaking projects of contemporary Spanish wine and served as inspiration for so many others.

Bodegas Frontonio, Aragón) on the stage were Jesús Barquín (co-founder of Equipo Navazos, Jerez), Daniel Landi (cofounder and winemaker at Comando G, Gredos, Madrid) and Jorge Olivera (owner and viticulturalist at his namesake winery in Huesca, Aragón).

The panel was at once representative and exceptional: these are examples of (outstanding) success that serve as flag-bearers for many others that, albeit with less visibility, have equally contributed to the evolution of Spanish wine in recent decades.

Much of this creative energy and entrepreneurial impetus comes from an ability to think laterally while bringing in the experience and outlook from different fields.

Redefining the canon

For Barquín, a lawyer with a longtime passion for wine, the motivation behind the Navazos project was ‘the certainty that there was a need to renew the Marco [de Jerez]’. For him, the perspective of an outsider brings in a level of objectivity and opens a wide range of possibilities through novel interpretations of both the potential and the challenges of a given region. The latter being, according to him, the basic requirement to produce a great wine. ‘A wine is not a reflection of great technique but foremost of great origin,’ Barquín said.

Landi agreed vehemently, adding that the ‘formatted’ approach learnt in oenology training thwarts the ability to truly connect with the land. He made a smart parallel with music: ‘A [musical] piece can be played following a score, technically perfect, note by note. But genius and true connection happen when you play from the soul, relying on instinct.’

‘A wine is not a reflection of great technique but foremost of great origin.’
Jesus Barquín

Having graduated in Humanities and Philosophy, Landi arrived at winemaking via a path paved with savviness and poetic inevitability, lined with equal amounts of determination and recklessness. ‘Arriving with a non-technical perspective allowed us [Landi founded Comando G with Fernando García] to explore different levels of width, depth and meaning,’ free from canonical reference points.

‘I’m also a child of shame,’ he said, explaining how viticulture was, for his parents and grandparents’ generation, a source of frustration and low-paid backbreaking work. ‘Grapes were paid at £0.20/kilo.’

Jorge Olivera speaking, flanked by Jesus Barquín and Dani Landi

(Image credit: Barcelona Wine Week)

Comando G’s inception stemmed both from a belief in Gredos’ potential to yield word class Garnachas (and overcome the Parker-pleasing reflexes of the 1980s and 90s) and a desire to return pride and grit to the local community. For Landi, Commando G’s success is measured less in high-scoring wines and more as a function of the thriving community of growers and employees it now supports.

Social impact is at the core of the identity of these maverick projects, which have created new opportunities in lesser-known geographies and for communities in deep social and economic crises. This in turn has expanded the geography and lexicon of Spanish wine beyond the ruling classics.

‘I didn’t choose the craft; the craft chose me.’
Dani Landi

The opportunity to ‘put a place on the map’ is one of the main factors that made Olivera, a mechanical engineer, leave his job and return to the village and vineyards in Huesca. ‘I now work much more than when I had a nine-to-five job,’ he said. ‘But this is not a job; this is a way of life.’

Indeed, these projects start primarily as life, rather than simply winemaking endeavours, reshaping the existence of their founders as well as of their communities. They have created new frameworks of meaning that are actively changing the geography of Spanish wine and creating opportunities for social and economic development. While also producing some of the country’s most exciting wines, slowly but surely establishing themselves as ‘icons of the future.