SISTEMA VINARI, FATO 2019

Few wines speak so strongly of where they’re from as those produced by Eloi Cedó Perelló on the island of Mallorca.

Originally from Montsant, Eloi’s project started back in 2010 when he began making a string of one-off wines from the vineyards farmed by friends around his native Catalunya. In 2012 he produced the first vintage of his now iconic cuvée, Chateau Paquita. A tribute to his late mother, this arresting blend of Mallorcan varieties was one of those wines that simply stops you in your tracks – a truly unique expression of man, grape and place.

An island of incredible beauty, Mallorca also offers a unique climate for growing grapes. Though it spends most of the year bathed in sunshine, the vineyards benefit from both the breeze of the Mediterranean and the cool, dry winds of the Mistral. The fascinating local varieties are grown over what the locals call Call Vermell – red, clay soils that are incredibly rich in iron and lend the wines a distinct minerality.

Eloi farms a collection of tiny plots dotted around the island in the villages of Felantix, Porreres, Consell and Santa Margalida. They range from a hectare to just a tenth of that size and the oldest vines were planted in the sixties. He farms organically, employing biodynamic principles and in the bodega displays a real lightness of touch, adding nothing at any stage.

Eloi’s wines have an uncanny sense of place. Though their heady flavours of sunkissed fruit, bitter herbs and sweet sea breeze transport you straight to the island, they are delicate, nuanced and incredibly light on their feet.

The wine formally known as ‘Chateau Pacquita’, this is a blend of old vines of Callet, with Manto Negro and Escursac from younger plants grown on various plots over the island’s emblematic red clay soils. The majority of the Callet was destemmed and macerated on the skins for a month, while the Manto Negro destemmed and macerated for two weeks and the Escursac fermented as whole bunches for a fortnight. The three wines were assembled in old casks and left to rest for six months. Compact and elegant, the nose carries delicate scents of sea breeze, herbs and iron, while the palate brings pomegranate, minerals and dry herbs, making for a wine with an incredible sense of place.