AN Viticultores: recovering Callet

At last week’s Barcelona Wine Festival, Francesc Giralt of AN Viticultores of Mallorca spoke about his winery’s project to recover for commercial production a grape indigenous to the island called Callet. The project was and continues to be challenging, but very rewarding.

As viticulture around the world increasing relies on fewer grape varietals for wine production, wines seem to have become more similar to each other. In every producing region, more and more acreage is devoted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay, plus a couple of others and perhaps, a local hero grape. Obviously, there are important reasons behind this trend. These "international" varieties are supremely suited for making the types of wines that consumer want to buy. But, as these varieties crowd out the others, there is a risk that the wines will end up all tasting alike.

So, in the mid-nineties, Francesc Giralt and his two business partners decided to try an make wine using Callet, a grape with low acidity and sugar. At first the project was just a kind of fun experiment, and then, as the results began to impress, it became more serious. The team needed to rely on the expertise of the old farmers from the island to understand the grape and where it was best grown. And, of course, there was sometimes little agreement among the farmers on this. Francesc related the story that one farmer told him to look for those vineyards near to where sheep liked to graze as they seek out sweeter grass that grows on clay soil types, which is good for Callet. However, his neighbour said that exactly the opposite was true. Now, after many years of working with the grape and the local growers that produce it, AN has a broad knowledge of the ideal vines from the right locations for creating the raw material for the AN range.

In 1994, the winery was founded and the first vintage was made using a 70/30 Cabernet Sauvignon - Callet blend. AN worked to develop wines that have higher percentages of Callet and in 1999 their first 100% Callet was produced. There was no 2002 vintage has the higher amounts of rain that year resulted in poor grape quality, but the hot and dry 2003 season was an ideal year.

AN in its 2001 vintage was made from 90% Callet with a balance of two other local grapes: Fogoneu and Mantonegro. The AN Son Negre is a 100% Callet and completing the product range is AN/2 which is a blend of Callet, Syrah, Cabernet, Mantonegro and other varieties.

At this presentation, Francesc presented the AN 2003 a 100% Callet which is a very delicate and subtle red wine, that completely goes against the trends of powerful, big tannic reds with lots of fruit and alcohol that are in fashion now. It is a unique and intriguing wine.

Congratulations to the AN team for contributing to the diversity of wines!