The story of the Ànima Negra estate runs remarkably parallel to that of La Buena Vida. Miquel Àngel also started out in 1994, together with his cousin Pere. And just like me back then, they didn’t know much and were more naive than brilliant… 😉
When they wanted to get started, there were no ‘decent’ grapes left to buy. Only the cheap Callet, which the local farmers used to make a bit of rosé at 9% alcohol. Callet was all they could afford. All the “Cabernets” and other varieties “en vogue” in the nineties were scarce and unaffordable.
And so, without even realising it, they became the pioneers of the local grape varieties. Nobody took them seriously at the time. Look, something else we have in common:
La Buena Vida also became the pioneer of the pioneers in the Spanish wine landscape, and nobody took us seriously at first either…
And what happened? Those red wines based on
Callet gave
a completely different picture of Mallorca and the Mediterranean landscape than all the modern grape varieties planted over the previous 15 years. These were wines that truly captured the landscape, the taste and the scent of Mallorca.
Terroir wine was still a new concept back then that nobody used. And they were already making them, without really being aware of it.
On Mallorca itself, nobody wanted them. The name was too bold (“Ànima Negra” means “black soul” and was launched after a long night out and a heavy hangover – once again, a copy-paste of how La Buena Vida was launched 😊), the label too strange, etc.
So they had no option but to leave the island and look for export markets. There too, they were pioneers. In the nineties, 99% of Mallorcan wines were drunk on the island itself. Not a single estate needed export back then. Ànima Negra did!
And that is exactly why they became THE cult wine of Mallorca in no time. Found only on the wine lists of the finest restaurants around the world, yet almost impossible to get on the island itself. Talk about a paradox.
Over the years, their style became even more polished and more distinctly Mediterranean.
Today, their wines smell more than ever of the island: that typical Mediterranean garrigue. Just thinking about it brings out the sunshine…
The ultimate example of this evolution is the new AN/2 2024.
Just arrived with us and deliciously elegant, Mediterranean, with soft, supple tannins and lovely red fruit. Ready to drink, with plenty of ageing potential too.
This wine has it all! Fantastic, isn’t it?
Fancy a quick escape to idyllic Mallorca too?