Spain · Balearic Islands

4Kilos Vinícola

Old-vine Callet specialist in southeast Mallorca, working from a converted sheep barn on red ferrous-clay soils outside Felanitx.

The producer

Francesc Grimalt spent twelve years at Ánima Negra, the estate that changed what Mallorcan red wine could be, before founding 4Kilos with Sergio Caballero. The winery operates from a converted sheep barn outside Felanitx on red ferrous-clay soils called call vermell, and its central work is Callet, an indigenous Mallorcan grape with low tannins and moderate alcohol that Grimalt had learned to trust on good clay over more than a decade.

The wine, also called 4Kilos, is single-varietal old-vine Callet produced at around 15,000 bottles per vintage. Old-vine roots in call vermell soils pull spice and earthy complexity into the fruit that younger plantings do not deliver. Grimalt ferments 4Kilos in open-top oak vats, building texture without forcing extraction from a grape that does not offer much tannin to begin with. The range extends into blends with Fogoneu, Manto Negro, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah, where old-vine Callet contributes aromatic lift and Mallorcan soil character to varieties with firmer tannin frames. Grimalt manages the vineyards as biodiverse ecosystems, keeping cover crops and minimal intervention across parcels he treats more like managed forest than monoculture.

Known for

Single-varietal Callet from old vines on call vermell (ferrous-clay) soils

Notable facts

The story

The Milk Fridge Vintage

Francesc Grimalt and Sergio Caballero took over a sheep barn outside Felanitx and made their first wine without a conventional winery in place. There were no temperature-controlled tanks, no fitted press room, no cellar infrastructure. What they had was the barn, a budget of roughly 4 million pesetas between them, and a clear plan for the Callet they wanted to work with. The fermentation happened in milk refrigeration units, the sealed cold-storage equipment used on dairy farms, adapted and pressed into service as fermentation vessels. Grimalt had twelve years at Ánima Negra behind him. The milk-fridge vintage produced wine. The barn became a winery. The name 4Kilos came from the founding sum.

From the atlas

4Kilos Vinícola

At A Glance

The Producer

Francesc Grimalt spent twelve years at Ánima Negra, the Mallorcan estate that changed what the island's red wines could be. He joined in 1994, working as a partner and winemaker. That time gave him a precise understanding of Callet, the indigenous Mallorcan grape Ánima Negra had helped rescue from obscurity. When Grimalt left, he took that understanding and applied it to a new project.

His partner in 4Kilos was Sergio Caballero. Between them, the two founders had roughly 4 million pesetas and a converted sheep barn outside Felanitx. The name 4Kilos came directly from that founding sum.

The winery has stayed small and focused. Old-vine Callet on call vermell soils is at the centre of everything Grimalt makes.

Place

Felanitx sits in the southeastern interior of Mallorca, away from the tourist coast. The land here is quiet and agricultural. 4Kilos works vineyards on the red ferrous-clay soils the locals call call vermell, a name that describes the colour as much as the composition. These soils drain well, warm quickly, and give the wines a distinctive earthy depth that cooler or sandier parts of the island do not produce.

Mallorca sits in the western Mediterranean, and the climate is warm and dry through the growing season. That warmth suits Callet, which ripens reliably but does not push to high alcohol the way thicker-skinned varieties do in similar conditions. On old vines in call vermell, Callet concentrates without losing its characteristic freshness.

The Balearic Islands do not carry the appellation weight of mainland Spain's classified regions. What they have is a coherent set of indigenous grapes, a specific soil type in the southeast, and a small group of producers, 4Kilos among them, who have built their ranges around those materials rather than international varieties planted for export.

Soil And Site

Call vermell soils are ferrous-clay: iron-rich, deeply red when dry, moderately retentive of moisture without becoming waterlogged. The iron content and clay base hold heat through the growing season and release it slowly at night, which keeps ripening even and allows the grapes to develop fruit concentration gradually. Old-vine Callet roots into these soils more deeply than younger plantings, drawing on reserves that give the wine spice and complexity absent from younger parcels.

Grimalt manages the vineyards with a biodiversity-first approach, treating each parcel as a managed ecosystem rather than a monoculture. Cover crops, minimal intervention, and attention to the surrounding plant and insect life are part of the farming method. The philosophy is close to the logic that governs organic and biodynamic work elsewhere in Europe, applied to a site where the indigenous grape and the local soil type are themselves the primary resources.

Story

When Grimalt arrived at Ánima Negra in 1994, Callet was not taken seriously. The variety had low tannins, moderate alcohol, and no international profile. It was widely blended away or declassified. Grimalt spent his years at Ánima Negra learning that old vines on good clay soils could transform what the grape delivered. When he left, he was ready to build a range around Callet entirely.

The decision to found 4Kilos with Caballero was also a decision about scale and independence. Neither founder came from inherited vineyard land or established wine family capital. Grimalt had developed his technical knowledge through practice rather than formal inheritance. The 4 million peseta budget forced them to work with what they had: a sheep barn, borrowed cold equipment, and a clear commitment to the grape and soil they already understood.

The range that grew from that beginning has stayed anchored in Callet. Blends incorporating Fogoneu, Manto Negro, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah appear alongside 4Kilos, but Callet drives the winery's direction and gives 4Kilos its clearest claim in the Mallorcan wine landscape.

Vineyards And Cellar

Grimalt hand-selects grapes at harvest. Selection at this scale is a quality decision first: Callet's thin skin and low tannin profile mean that damaged or unripe fruit has a proportionally larger effect on the finished wine than it would in a high-tannin variety where extraction can paper over inconsistency.

Fermentation depends on the wine. Stainless steel preserves freshness and primary fruit, useful for lighter blended wines where the goal is clean, direct red fruit character. Open-top oak fermenters are used for 4Kilos, where the gentle oxygen exposure during punching down helps build texture without forcing extraction. Callet's naturally low tannins mean the winemaking approach is about building mouthfeel through careful handling rather than through tannin management.

The converted sheep barn that houses the winery is functional and unadorned. The infrastructure grew from the first vintage, when the absence of conventional equipment led Grimalt and Caballero to ferment in milk refrigeration units. That first vintage worked, and the winery has expanded steadily from there without losing the directness of the founding approach.

Wines

The wine, 4Kilos, is a single-varietal Callet from old vines on call vermell soils, produced at around 15,000 bottles per vintage. It goes through open-top oak fermentation and is the clearest statement of what old-vine Callet on ferrous-clay delivers: dark red fruit, iron-tinged earth, spice from the older root systems, and a supple body with modest tannin. The low-tannin profile keeps the wine approachable young while the soil complexity gives it enough weight to hold for several years.

Grimalt builds blended wines using Fogoneu and Manto Negro alongside the international varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah. These blends use Callet as a spice and texture contributor rather than the primary frame. In blends where Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah provides the tannin backbone, old-vine Callet brings aromatic lift and a distinctive Mallorcan earthiness that keeps the wines from reading as generic Mediterranean reds. Fermentation for these wines uses stainless steel to preserve freshness, with the blending work done to hold balance across varieties with very different tannin and alcohol profiles.

The range is small by design. Grimalt is not building a large commercial portfolio; he is exploring what a specific set of Mallorcan soils and indigenous grapes can deliver across a handful of clearly differentiated wines.

In The Glass

Old-vine Callet from call vermell soils opens with dark cherry and dried plum over a layer of iron-tinged earth and warm spice. The nose is quiet rather than expressive, building slowly rather than announcing itself. On the palate, the body is medium rather than full: Callet's low tannins produce a smooth, almost silky texture without softness or dilution. The fruit sits in the mid-palate, concentrated from the old vines and the clay warmth of the soil. The spice note persists through the middle of the mouth and into a finish that is clean, moderately long, and noticeably earthy. Alcohol is present but measured, which keeps the finish dry rather than warm.

The blended wines show a different side of the range. Where Callet sits alongside Syrah or Cabernet, the tannins firm up and the body becomes fuller, the Callet's contribution shifting from primary fruit to aromatic complexity and the particular red-clay soil character that unifies the range.

A Bottle To Understand It

The 4Kilos wine is the bottle to start with. It is single-varietal old-vine Callet from call vermell soils, fermented in open-top oak vats and produced at around 15,000 bottles per vintage. In the glass it is a medium-bodied, low-tannin red with dark cherry, iron-edged earth, and a spice note that comes specifically from old-vine root depth on ferrous-clay. The texture is smooth and direct, the finish clean and dry. It is not a muscular wine; the pleasure is in the combination of fruit concentration, soil character, and the particular softness that Callet delivers when handled carefully. Start here to understand what Grimalt is doing with the grape and why the call vermell soils matter to the result.

Anecdote

Francesc Grimalt and Sergio Caballero took over a sheep barn outside Felanitx and set about making their first wine. There was no winery in place, no temperature-controlled tanks, no press room fitted for vinification. What they had was the barn, a clear plan for the Callet they wanted to work with, and a budget that totalled roughly 4 million pesetas between them. The fermentation for that founding vintage happened in milk refrigeration units, the kind of sealed cold-storage equipment used on dairy farms, adapted and pressed into service as fermentation vessels. Grimalt had twelve years of Ánima Negra behind him. The milk-fridge vintage produced wine. The barn became a winery. The name 4Kilos came from the founding sum.

Final Word

4Kilos still carries that founding logic: a single indigenous grape, old vines, red ferrous-clay soils, and a cellar approach built around the grape's natural character rather than against it. Grimalt's years at Ánima Negra gave him the technical foundation; the 4Kilos project gave him the freedom to test how far Callet could go on its own.

Sources

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