The wines of Son Antem Alaró, Mallorca, Spain (updated with new releases)
Website: https://www.sonantemalaro.es/en/
Mallorca isn’t well known as a wine island, but there are some interesting projects here, and a recent addition to the fine wine scene here is the Son Antem project, which was started by a wine-importing couple in Sweden, Johan and Marin Lidby. I tried through the range and came away impressed.
Son Antem Alaró has 18 hectares of vines, all hand managed by the Lidby family.
Son Antem Malva 2024 Vino de la Tierra Mallorca, Spain
14% alcohol. This white is powerful, rich and intense with a lively acid line lying under the rich pear and peach fruit. The limestone gives the bracing acidity that provides a nice foil for the bold, slightly pithy fruit. Such nice intensity to this distinctive white wine, with a lively acid character driving things. 93/100
Son Antem Aura 2024 Vino de la Tierra Mallorca, Spain
13% alcohol. This white is made from the Giró Rus variety. Bold, rich and textural with some honey, nut and spice characters as well as some pear and peach. There’s innate richness, but it stays fresh and crystalline, with a touch of aniseed and some grainy detail. 92/100
Camins de Son Antem Callet 2024 Vino de la Tierra Mallorca, Spain
12.5% alcohol. This is a lighter-coloured red wine with beautiful aromatics of sweet strawberries and some glace cherry. In the mouth it is very textural with white pepper, cherry, strawberry and fine spicy notes. Lovely fine-grained texture here. Sleek and sweetly fruited with finesse. 94/100
Son Antem S’Era 2024 Vino de la Tierra Mallorca, Spain
12.5% alcohol. Relatively pale in colour, this is is juicy, fine and delicate. There’s a rich mid-palate core of sweet cherry and plum fruit with some damson bitterness, and also some dried herb character. The variety here is Callet, and it seems brilliantly adapted to this warm climate, with some rose, cherry, aniseed and mediterranean herb notes. It’s a little compressed on the finish, with some tannin and acid providing structure, but overall this is really compelling. 94/100
Camins de Son Antem Negre 2024 Vino de la Tierra Mallorca, Spain
14% alcohol. Manto Negro, Monastrell and Syrah. This is sleek, ripe and textured with appealing black cherry and berry fruits. There’s an innate richness and ripeness, but it’s hemmed in by a bit of grainy structure and just enough acidity. And the fruit character stays deliciously floral and fresh. 93/100
Older notes:
Son Antem Camins de Mallorca Giro Blanco 2023 Mallorca, Spain
12.5% alcohol. This is concentrated and grainy and salty with sweet, textured, ripe pear and citrus fruit (a touch of mandarin and lemon). This has such a lovely mineral flow on the palate with real finesse. Very expressive: ripe but well defined. 94/100
Son Antem Malva 2023 Mallorca
14% alcohol. This is really rich and expansive with sweet pear and table grape fruitiness, as well as some spicy highlights and a touch of saltiness. Rich, exuberant and really fruity, this has lots of personality, and good acidity balancing the sweet fruit. 91/100
Son Antem Camins de Mallorca Rouge 2022 Mallorca, Spain
12.5% alcohol. Lovely aromatics here with sleek cherries, raspberries and some aniseed, as well as a hint of pepper. The palate has a sweet fruit core with nice spicy detail. Pure and refined with warm Mediterranean herb notes but always so balanced with real finesse. Grainy and delicious. 93/100
Son Antem Alaró S’Era 2023 IGP Mallorca, Spain
12% alcohol. This is varietal Callet. Quite a pale cherry red colour, in the in-between land, not quite rosé, not quite red wine. Very fine and supple with sweet red cherry fruit and a silky elegance, and just a hint of structure. Has lovely texture and warmth with rounded sweet cherry fruit. 94/100
Son Antem Vespre 2022 Mallorca, Spain
12.5% alcohol. This is supple, expressive and elegant with real elegance, and a sweet, textured mid-palate with stony cherries and plums, and then notes of herbs, pepper and fine spices framing the fruit on the finish. This is very fine: restrained, sappy and showing warm-climate elegance. 94/100
Son Antem Sa Tanca 2022 Mallorca, Spain
13% alcohol. This is Manto Negro, from iron-rich stony soils. Beautiful aromatics: sweet cherry and raspberry fruit with some nice spicy detail and a beautiful flow across the palate. Ripe but really elegance with great purity. 95/100
