Cascina Val Liberata is an organic and biodynamic farm set up in 2014 by Deirdre O’Brien and Maurizio Caffer in Villamiroglio, a village in the hills of Monferrato in Piedmont. The farm is made up of 10 hectares, of which 3.5 hectares are composed of vineyards. The remaining is made up of forest and meadows as well as walnut groves and some vegetable cultivation.

Deirdre and Maurizio relocated from London 10 years ago and set about planting a vineyard in the storied hills of Monferrato. They focused on producing the ancestral varieties of the place, including Slarina, an elegant and aromatic old Piemontese variety that was mostly abandoned due to its low yields. They farm 3 varieties: Slarina (1.5 hectares), Nebbiolo (1.5 hectares) and Grignolino (0.5 hectares). The vineyards follow the contour of the hills (giropoggio) and used chestnut posts in order to minimise environmental impact such as soil erosion.

They follow the biodynamic calendar and use biodynamic preparations to enrich the vitality of the soil. In autumn planting a cover crop in alternate rows in order to create a green manure to improve the fertility of the ground. They also use herbal extracts to reduce the amount of copper used in the vineyard. They use a mix of natural sulphur (not petroleum derived) with bentonite clay and calcified seaweed to protect the plants form the range of cryptogamic diseases.