Why it matters
The producer
Toni Gelabert was the first person in his family to make wine. He planted his first vines in August 1996 on Mallorca's eastern interior, near Manacor, and had his bodega standing a year later. Mallorca had almost no serious wine production at that point, and no family template to follow.
The bodega itself tells you something about how he thinks. When Gelabert built it in 1997, he brought Feng Shui architects from Palma to orient the building. It sits at an angle from the surrounding vineyard grid, positioned to channel light and energy flow through the working spaces. No other winery on the island had done this.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Mallorca's wine geography divides roughly between the mountainous north-west and the flatter, warmer interior east, where D.O. Pla i Llevant sits. The appellation label allows both indigenous Mallorcan varieties and international grapes, and the estates within it reflect that freedom: some have leaned hard into Bordeaux varieties, others have spent decades recovering what nearly disappeared from the island.
The Mediterranean climate gives long growing seasons and reliable sunshine, but the eastern interior can push grapes toward early ripeness. Farming choices matter here. Biodynamic cultivation, which Gelabert practises with lunar cycle scheduling for planting and harvest, slows the rhythm of the vineyard and keeps the fruit at a different register than conventional production under the same sun.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Seven hectares, biodynamically farmed from the estate's first season, following lunar cycles for planting and harvest timing. The 13 varieties spread across white and red grapes, indigenous and international, with Giró Ros occupying a dedicated 1.5 hectares of the white plantings.
Oak aging is confirmed for Son Fangos Negre: Callet and Merlot spend 12 months in both French and American oak casks before release. French oak tends to impart finer grain and red-fruit integration; American oak adds a slightly broader, vanilla-edged character. The combination gives Son Fangos Negre its layered mid-palate rather than a single oak signature.
Wines to know
The range in view
The white range runs across five bottles, covering Chardonnay, Riesling, Viognier, Macabeo, and Giró Ros. Torre des Canonge, made from the recovered Giró Ros, is the most singular bottle in the white range: an indigenous variety with almost no reference point elsewhere on the island.
The reds form a clear arc from entry to top. Son Fangos Negre opens the range with Callet, Mallorca's most planted indigenous red grape, blended with Merlot and aged 12 months in French and American oak. The colour is garnet with a cherry tinge, clear and bright. Ses Hereves moves into international territory: equal thirds Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah, a Bordeaux-influenced blend that sits at the mid-range of the estate. At the top, Illenc appears in a fine, medium-deep garnet with violet tinges, its nose moving through wet stone, oak, undergrowth, and truffle, its tannins fresh and soft with what the estate calls a gastronomic finish, meaning it earns its place at a table rather than standing apart from food.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Son Fangos Negre. It is made from Callet, Mallorca's indigenous red grape, blended with Merlot and aged 12 months in French and American oak before release. The colour is garnet with a cherry tinge. The wine spends 12 months in French and American oak casks. The Callet gives it a red-fruit brightness that the Merlot rounds out in the mid-palate. It sits at the accessible end of the Gelabert range, is widely listed, and carries both the estate's indigenous variety commitment and its cellar method in a single bottle that does not require any prior knowledge of Mallorcan wine to enjoy.