Raise a glass to Mallorcan wine

IT’S more expensive than wine from the mainland and you’ll rarely find it outside the island, but Mallorcan wine is now Spain’s third best seller.

Spanish Agriculture Ministry figures reveal that almost 1.7 million litres of Mallorcan wine was sold during the 2010-11 campaign. Broken down by region, for every three bottles sold in the peninsula, there was one sold in the islands and another sold abroad. 

Mallorca has 128 wine growers, who between them cultivate 434 hectares. The island has Spain’s third-highest number of people working the vines.

One local grower, Javier Servera of the Can Ribas de Consell winery, said that the success of Mallorcan wine was down to the decision two decades ago by the growers to concentrate on medium and high-quality wines.

The fruits of their labour are now paying off as the wines from their cellars become bestsellers. Meanwhile, the wineries of Santa María del Camí launched their young wines at their annual festival, with each grower presenting a bottle to the mayor.