Diane Arbus was an acclaimed American photographer renowned for her striking portraits of individuals whose unconventional appearance often led to them being labeled as freaks. Arbus harbored a fascination for those on the fringes of society—social outcasts, the diverse, and the eccentric—who gazed directly into her lens, laying bare their most distinctive features. In doing so, Arbus challenged the norms and the secure. Today, her photographs are celebrated as masterpieces of art.
Just as Diane Arbus depicted, through her photographs, a different world—the one she had discovered; the vintner José Ramón Domenech, the sommelier Pilar Esteve, and the agronomist Joan B. Llobel, through their collaborative venture Fil·loxera & Cía., unveil from Fontanars dels Alforins (Valencia), wines of a highly personal nature crafted with indigenous grape varieties and reviving some grapes considered at risk of extinction.
Fil·loxera & Cía Mujer Caballo Azul is a red wine that, by its name, could be included in Diane Arbus's collection of exquisite oddities, yet, to our fortune, is the delightful yield from a small plot dating back to 1972 where the native arcos grape thrives on stony, sandy-loam, and cool soils, cultivated with the utmost respect for the environment.
The harvest is carried out manually, and the fermentation of the must is conducted with wild yeasts. The resulting wine undergoes an 8-month maturation in used barrels, allowing it to refine its aging process without overshadowing its fruity essence.
Fil·loxera & Cía Mujer Caballo Azul is a red wine that presents us with the opportunity to savor the beauty and grace of the arcos grape, which, shaped by the expert hands of Fil·loxera & Cía., reveals to us—as does each photograph by Diane Arbus—a curious, distinct, and exceptionally grand work of art.