Callet Blend

An Negra Vit ‘AN’ 2005

When most Aussie think of Mallorca they think of Christopher Skase, perhaps a party island culture, or maybe a boat load of poms completely binned out of their brains on the beach. But not wine. I’ve known that wine was made here but I never had an idea of the quality available. If it’s anything like this stuff, bring it on.

I haven’t got a lot of information on these guys, but from the look of it 3 guys set out to turn a dairy farm into a winery by sourcing indigenous Callet and Montenegro grapes from old sites around the island (over 100 of them!). They spent a couple of years working out how to make the wine and now seem to be on song.  AN is a blend of mostly Callet with a dollop (5%) of Montenegro from 50 year old vines. Fermentation is mostly in concrete tanks, with a few oak vats used as well. Then into new french oak for 17 months.

The colour is deep and dark with violet on the rim. An intense, smokey nose of plums and mulberry with a bit of earthy dark cherry and wild herbs. Very clean and focused in the mouth, smooth with velvety tannins and plenty of acid for a clean, long finish. Scorched earth, cinnamon and nutmeg over the top of some juicy, meaty fruit: blackberry and mulberry with a core of ripe cherry. It drinks almost like an Italian wine, it has overwhelming smoothness and structure but there is something wild about it too. 93 Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Price: $115  Closure: Conventional Cork

Web: www.annegra.com