From the atlas
Ànima Negra
At A Glance
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| Location | Felanitx, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Founders | Miquel Ángel Cerdà, Pere Obrador, Francesc Grimalt |
| Grapes | Callet, Manto Negro, Fogoneu |
| Vineyards | 34 ha owned; up to 70 ha from suppliers |
| Consultant | Xavier Ausàs (former technical director, Vega Sicilia) |
| Range | ÀN/2, ÀN, Son Negre |
The Producer
In 1994, three Mallorcan wine lovers made a decision that went against everything the island's industry was doing: they would make wine exclusively from Mallorca's native red varieties, the grapes that bulk producers and exporters had spent decades quietly replacing with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Miquel Ángel Cerdà, Pere Obrador, and Francesc Grimalt set up at Son Burguera, a property in the municipality of Felanitx whose winemaking cellars had been in use since the thirteenth century. The project had an explicit argument: that Callet, Manto Negro, and Fogoneu were capable of producing serious wine, and that these three grapes could anchor Mallorca's wine future.
To make that argument credible, they hired Xavier Ausàs as consultant. Ausàs had served as technical director of Bodega Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero's most deliberate and long-ageing estate. His presence at a newly founded island project signalled that Ànima Negra intended to work at a different level from most of what surrounded it.
Thirty years on, the estate is the reference producer for native Mallorcan red varieties. The founding bet held.
Place
Mallorca sits in the western Mediterranean, off the coast of Valencia. The island's wine history is old, its modern fine-wine history is short. Felanitx lies in the southeast of the island, inland from the coast, in a landscape shaped by dry summers, thin topsoil, and a Mediterranean climate without the cooling Atlantic influence that modifies temperatures on the Spanish mainland.
Dry farming is not a choice here so much as a condition: rainfall is low and irrigation is not available to the old vineyards. That scarcity concentrates what the vine produces. Callet, Mallorca's signature native red grape, responds to this climate by developing bright acidity and a medium-light body rather than the heavy, extracted character that Spanish reds from continental zones often carry. The wines from this island sit apart from Rioja and Ribera del Duero in weight and colour, but they carry their own kind of depth.
The appellation covering Felanitx and surrounding southeast Mallorca is Pla i Llevant, a Denominació d'Origen that frames much of Ànima Negra's production. The estate's upper-tier Son Negre wine falls outside this frame, released under Vi de la Terra Mallorca, which gives it more flexibility in vineyard sourcing and ageing decisions.
Soil And Site
Son Burguera's vineyards are dry-farmed, with no supplemental irrigation. The estate has studied its soils carefully over thirty years of ownership, mapping how different parcels perform under Mediterranean summer conditions. Specific soil types have not been published in detail. What the estate has documented is the behaviour of old vines under stress: selective hand-harvesting across parcels, and a willingness to leave fruit on the vine longer than standard practice when the vintage allows it. The Son Negre parcel, home to the estate's oldest vines, is harvested only when the fruit and subsequent ageing reach a standard the estate considers genuinely exceptional.
Story
When Ànima Negra launched in 1994, Mallorca's wine scene was oriented toward international varieties and the tourist trade. Callet was a grape that local farmers knew but that almost no producer was bottling under its own name. Manto Negro and Fogoneu were similarly sidelined. The three founders made a founding decision to work only with these grapes, not as a regional-marketing exercise but as a genuine winemaking conviction.
The choice of Son Burguera as the estate base brought physical continuity with Mallorca's older wine culture: the cellars had been producing wine on this site since the medieval period. What changed in 1994 was the direction of that production, from bulk supply to estate bottling, and from international varieties back to the indigenous ones.
The appointment of Xavier Ausàs as consultant deepened the project's technical ambition. Ausàs brought a discipline formed at Vega Sicilia, where wines age for years before release and viticulture is treated as a long-term investment rather than an annual calculation. That influence is visible in the estate's most rigorous decision: the Son Negre parcel is withheld from sale in years when the wine, after ageing, does not reach the estate's own standard. Revenue is secondary to the wine.
By the time Ànima Negra had been operating for a decade, the estate had helped shift how serious wine buyers thought about Mallorca. The native-variety argument had been won, at least among the producers who followed.
Vineyards And Cellar
The estate owns 34 hectares and works with up to 70 hectares of supplier vineyards across the island. The owned parcels include old-vine Callet at Son Negre, which provides the fruit for the estate's highest-tier wine. Dry farming across all parcels means the vine root systems work deeper into the soil to find water, and yields stay low without artificial intervention.
Hand-harvesting and selective picking are standard practice. At Son Negre, selectivity is taken further: individual bunches are assessed, and the decision to harvest is made parcel by parcel rather than across a single pass.
Oak ageing is confirmed across the range: ÀN/2 carries vanilla and a wood-derived spice that come from barrel contact. The estate has not published details of oak type, barrel size, or ageing duration. What the wines show is that oak is used to support fruit rather than cover it.
Wines
ÀN/2 is the entry-tier red and the estate's most available wine. The blend is 65% Callet, with Manto Negro and Fogoneu making up the balance alongside approximately 15% Syrah. The Syrah is the only non-native variety in the range; it provides the colour depth and body weight that Callet does not naturally supply at this proportion. Spiced, darkly fruited, and moderately oaked, with cherry, cinnamon, and a mineral edge running through the mid-palate.
ÀN is the core expression, built from old-vine Callet without the Syrah component of the entry tier. It reads brighter and more concentrated than ÀN/2: the Callet character is more exposed, the fruit sits higher in the glass, and the wine carries more potential for bottle development. This is where the native-variety argument is made most directly.
Son Negre is the estate's upper tier, sourced from the oldest Callet vines at the Son Negre parcel. It appears only in years when the fruit and ageing reach the estate's own threshold. No annual release is guaranteed. Son Negre is the most concentrated and age-worthy wine in the range, but its scarcity means it functions as a proof of concept as much as a commercial product.
The range architecture is deliberate: a supported blend for entry, a pure varietal for the core argument, and a conditional single-vineyard ceiling.
In The Glass
ÀN/2 opens with dark cherry, forest berries, and cinnamon, with a lightly smoky mineral thread underneath. In the mouth, the Callet acidity keeps the mid-palate lively despite the oak and the Syrah body; the wine does not sit heavy. The finish has chocolate and vanilla from the barrel contact, but the fruit drives it.
ÀN reads differently: the same cherry and mineral character, but without the Syrah weight. The acidity is more evident, the fruit sits higher and earlier in the palate, and the finish is drier. This is Callet without a safety net, and on good vintages from Son Negre's parcels it confirms what the founders believed: the grape could carry a serious wine on its own.
Son Negre adds concentration and depth to the Callet profile: the same cherry-cinnamon signature, but with more intensity through the mid-palate and a finish that stretches further. In years when it appears, it is the most complete expression of what this island's oldest vines can produce.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with ÀN/2. At 65% Callet supported by Manto Negro, Fogoneu, and 15% Syrah, it gives the fullest picture of the house's working method in a single bottle: native varieties in the lead, a small amount of Syrah for body and colour, and oak ageing that adds spice without dominating the fruit. Dark cherry, cinnamon, smoky minerality, and a clean finish with vanilla from the barrel. It is the most available wine in the range, the most approachable, and the clearest single demonstration of what Ànima Negra is trying to do with Mallorca's native grapes.
Anecdote
Son Negre is harvested from the estate's oldest Callet vines, selected bunch by bunch in years when the vintage warrants it. After harvest, the wine ages. And then the estate waits. Not every year does Son Negre appear: the decision to release is made only when the wine, after its full ageing period, reaches what the estate considers a genuinely unique result. In years when it does not, the wine is not released. No announcement, no discounted second label. The vines at Son Negre keep producing, the cellar keeps ageing, and the answer is simply no. The wine has appeared in a handful of vintages since 1994. A parcel that old, on an island this dry, with that policy attached to it, produces something the rest of the range cannot replicate: a wine that genuinely had to wait to exist.
Final Word
Ànima Negra made its name by refusing the path that most of Mallorca's wine industry was following in 1994, and thirty years later that refusal has become its defining characteristic. Callet is now a credible fine-wine grape. Son Burguera is a reference address for Mallorcan red wine. The native-variety argument, which once required a founding act of conviction to make, is now simply the estate's fact.
Sources
- https://www.annegra.com/en
- https://www.spanishwinelover.com/176-winerie-anima-negra
- https://www.enterwine.com/en/world-of-wine/wineries/anima-negra-viticultors
- https://www.annegra.com/en/our-wines-annegra
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/7012001/