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Tag: Mallorca

Wine of the Week

Genuine gorgollasso

On the last day in Mallorca, 3rd January, I visited Carlos Rodríguez Furthmann in the small town of Selva. He is a veteran vigneron, but he does not own any vineyards, and for this project he buys all the grapes. This creates freedom, but in reality he says he continues to work with only the same few farmers.

The wine is made from gorgollassa, a red indigenous grape variety that Carlos calls his favourite. Elegant and subtle are two adjectives that he uses to describe it. One part of the wine was aged in 500-litre French oak barrels, another in a Mallorcan clay amphora and the remaining in stainless steel. Spontaneous fermentation. Nothing was added to the wine apart from a low dose of sulphites. It was not clarified or filtered. 

Gargo 2019 (Selva Vins)

Ruby red. Red fruits (cherry, raspberry), herbs, blackthorn (endrina), a bit earthy. Light and fresh in the mouth, smooth tannins, a slight bitterness in the finish, everything well-balanced.

Price: Medium

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Mallorcan countdown

Looking forward to spend the new year weekend in Mallorca I have begun to count down with a few wines.

Ca’n Verdura is located in Binissalem, the most historic wine town in modern times, giving name to that DO in 1991. They grow mainly native varieties such as mantonegro, callet and moll.

Supernova 2022 (Ca’n Verdura)

This wine is made from the moll variety, from a vineyard planted in 1958 on clay, limestone and gravel. The farming is organic (though not certified), and it was fermented with ingenious yeasts in stainless steel and barrel.

Light yellow with a green hint. Yellow apples, melon, white flowers and a stony minerality. Medium full, lightly creamy lees character, adequate acidity, salty, and a green touch in the finish.

Negre 2021 (Ca’n Verdura)

This is some kind of entry-level, unpretentious red, made primarily from mantonegro (60%), complemented with merlot, cabernet sauvignon, monastrell and the local callet. The mantonegro is old-vine and the rest is from different vineyards of variable age and a diversity of soils (red clay, gravel, white clay).

Dark cherry. Red fruits (cherry), ink, herbs. Medium-bodied, fruity all the way, a touch menthol and coffee. Energetic and appealing.

Francesc Grimalt is a leading figure in the restoration of the callet grape variety. In 2006 he teamed up with musician Sergi Caballero and founded the 4 Kilos winery, based in Felanitx, not far from the city of Manacor. The name is an expression for 4 million pesetas, which was their initial investment to launch the company. They practice an environmentally-friendly agriculture with minimal intervention.

Motor Callet 2021 

One of the wines tried was Motor Callet. The vintage was the same as in a previous post. I include it in the picture, and you can read more of the company and the wine here.

The Island Syndicate 2019

While the MC is dominated by red fruits, this one is darker, in colour and fruit quality, a mix between dark and red fruits. It’s a callet 60%, and also mantonegro 30% and fogoneu 10%. With this, Francesc Grimalt wanted to make a wine that smelt “like his childhood”. The wine is made with natural yeasts he found from the now-defunct co-operative winery in Felanitx ‘Es Sindicat’.

Dark cherry colour. Aroma of dark and red fruits (blackberry, cranberry, redcurrant), Mediterranean herbs, plums. Medium-bodied, a good acidity, traces of almond, some coffee. The overall feeling is though the one of a light and appealing wine.

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Wine of the Week

Premsal at Zaza

I tasted this wine with its maker Carlos and his wife at wine bar Zaza in Barcelona during the Vins Nus and Vella Terra fairs of April.

Carlos Rodríguez Furthmann began his project in 2015, focusing on native varieties made by minimal intervention. He is found in the small settlement of Selva in north-central Mallorca, where he farms around one hectare organically from clay and limestone soil, while purchasing a small amount of other grapes from local growers.

Premsal is a native Majorcan grape variety, here grown in a single vineyard in Felanitx. The winemaking process involves spontaneous fermentation, with part of it kept on its fine lees for two months.  A small percentage of the wine is fermented in a Mallorcan clay amphora. Only a small quantity of sulphites were added. The wine is not clarified or filtered. 

Premsal 2018 (Selva Vins)

Light straw colour. Aromatic, red apples, melons and citrus. Medium-bodied, dry, with good acidity.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Motor with drive

Francesc Grimalt is leading figure in the restoration of the callet grape variety. In 2006 he teamed up with Sergi Caballero and founded the 4 Kilos winery. The name is an expression for 4 million pesetas, which was their initial investment to launch the company.

4 Kilos is based in Felanitx, in the inland of Mallorca. On this well-known holiday island the climate is mild Mediterranean, with dry and warm summers and very little rainfall. Francesc and Sergi practice an environmentally-friendly agriculture with a minimum of intervention.

The soils are clay loam containing ferric oxide. After the manual harvest with grapes selected in the vineyard, the juice was fermented in cubs (brick and concrete vats traditional in the area). Here the wine was aged for about 3 months. There was no added sulphites during the process.

Motor Callet 2021 (4 Kilos)

Ruby red. Aroma of mature raspberries and orange, and a layer of herbs. Juicy in the mouth, expressive, round and at the same time a fresh drive, some coffee in the back palate.

Price: Medium

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