Panduro Vinos, Mianes 2023

80% Mantonegro and 20% Callet

Mallorca, Spain

Deep colored rose. Mantonegro is direct pressed after 2 days of skin maceration. Callet is harvested early, de-stemmed, macerated for 7 days. Separately aged for 6mos. in used 500L French oak barrels. NO ADDED SULFUR, VEGAN

A buoyant, jubilant expression of Mantonegro and Callet. Cloud-like, transportive, the realization of a dream: light, refreshing juice in the face of oppressive heat.

If you’re setting sail from Barcelona, point your compass south and head for the Balearic Islands. When you arrive at the Puerto de Palma de Mallorca, you may feel besieged by tourists but keep pressing on northeast toward Santa Margalida. Traffic jams will give way to vast, wide open expanses of olive groves, almond trees, and, barring the occasional vineyard-turned-vacation home, old vines of ancestral heritage: Callet, Escursac, Mantenegro, Argamussa, Batista….Navigate down a series of dusty desert roads and you’ll stumble upon Vins Galmés i Ribot - a compound home to Cati Ribot and a collective of winemakers she has generously allowed into her fold.

Among them you’ll find Ibon Apezteguia, a sweet, gentle soul who has taken up nomadic winemaking between here and Jumilla on the mainland, where he maintains a plot of sixty-year-old Monastrell. It’s hard not to immediately fall for the lineup of bottles he has thoughtfully arranged for your arrival alongside a plate of Panades Mallorquines. After he uncorks them and pours you a taste, you can let your guard down and give yourself permission to fall in love. This is Panduro, his fleet of Mallorcan jewels — wines of quiet charm and incredible lightness that defy the blazing Mediterranean climate.

The story begins in 2015, when Ibon met Henrik Falk, a Swedish chef living in Mallorca. They became friends, bonding over a mutual love of artisanal olive oil (Ibon worked in the business at the time) and decided to try their hand at making wine. Around that time, Cati Ribot invited them to come produce wine in her family’s facility alongside other Mallorca winemaking greats like Eloi Cedo. Ibon and Henrik’s first vintage was a “disaster” but they pressed on, so to speak, and in 2018 produced their first “decent, drinkable” wine.

In the intervening years, Henrik has relocated back to Sweden, visiting to work harvest, and Ibon runs the show. He tends to three hectares of Callet and Mantenegro in Felanitx, as well as a hectare’s worth belonging to two older Mallorcan men with whom he collaborates on farming in Porreres. Working with them is one of the hard-won perks of the job. ‘There’s still a lot to discover on the island - a sort of anthropology,” Ibon says, describing the thrill of meeting these people and their elegant old vines. “It’s amazing - they’re happy, they have a goal. I always bring them some wines to drink. They love it and I have access to beautiful vines thanks to them.”