Arnau Galmés has decided to expand the bulk wine business that, until recently, his family had been running with the marketing of bottled wines. Vins de Ca’n Mec entered the bottled wine trade two weeks ago and the public response, in his opinion, has been good, both restaurants and individuals have accepted the new products for consumption.
Vins de Ca'n Mec Petra introduces three new varieties on the market
Since March, the wine market has had three new varieties signed by Ferrer i Galmés: white, rosé and red, “The acceptance has been good. Normally, the wines appear on the market in December, and we, due to a series of circumstances, released them later. But, even so, the quantity demanded has been quite large,” explains Arnau Galmés, manager of the Vins Ca’n Mec winery.
The quantities produced are not very large: “We prefer to make little wine of quality rather than produce large quantities and the quality is inferior”, says Arnau, “we have to defend what is ours, because there is a tourism that is looking for roots and we want to get closer to them than to massification”.
In deciding to enter the bottled wine market, they claim not to have had many problems. “It is logical that we encounter technical and marketing obstacles, but they have always been minor and we have been able to resolve them easily,” explains the manager. They entered the Mallorcan market with a very small production. “The wine we bottled the least amount of was the white, and it was also the one that was finished the earliest. It is a variety that is not very rooted in Mallorca, so we only put out 1,500 cases.”
The cellars are divided into: a room where the “bocos” (butts with a capacity of between 500 and 600 liters) are located, a laboratory where all the analyses are carried out after fermentation, and stainless steel tanks where the wines are boiled. Arnau explains that “the special wines rest in oak barrels that are different from the others, as it is a type of wood that helps them ferment better”.
The Vins de Ca’n Mec do not yet have a designation of origin, but it is something they have in the pipeline. “We are within the Ví de la Terra group and we have a specific denomination that bears the name Plá i Llevant, but we hope to soon have the denomination of origin.”
Currently in Mallorca, the wineries of Binissalem are the only ones that have the label of denomination of origin, although in the rest of the island there are also other wineries. Specifically, in “Plá i Llevant” there are five: two in Petra (including Vins de Ca’mn Mec), one in Felanitx and another two in Manacor and Porreres. Binissalem, thanks to the Franja Roja, one of the most important wineries in the area, the designation of origin has undergone a remarkable boost.
Arnau Galmés declares that they do not want to compete with certain regions, including La Rioja, since “there are very different characteristics and conditions in each area that we have to defend and fight for”.
Among the projects they have in the pipeline are several products: “vi de missa” (also called “vi dolc” or “vi bollit”) and wine aged in oak barrels. In addition, construction has begun on a winery located next to the museum and the house where Fray Junípero Serra was born, aimed at consumers and, above all, tourists. This new store will be carefully decorated and will be decorated with popular handicrafts. “It will be something that enters through the eyes, because some customers are not only conquered by the palate” in the words of Arnau Galmés. “That’s why we have taken so much care in the design of the bottles. We have put watercolor labels with different motifs of the island: a view of Petra for the rosé, an image of Na Foradada for the white bottle and one of the Cathedral for the red,” he says.
For the selection of the vines, Vins de Ca’n mec has been in contact for many years with a group of winegrowers who offer them a series of varieties. These varieties are: Cabernet – S’Auvignon for the aged wine, Tempranillo, Prensal, Callet and Manto Negro. “They are people we have always known, who worked with our grandparents. We know the farms and the type of crops they have,” Arnau explains.
The idea of expanding the bulk wine business run by the Ferrer-Galmés family with bottled wines came to Arnau at a very early age. Throughout his life he has worked in bulk wine and, after finishing his studies in Oenology at the University of Valencia, he decided to continue with the family business and expand the variety of products. He explains that “we have to do new things, we couldn’t stay stuck in the same place for a long time”.
New aromas
Arnau Galmés and his father are the main responsible for the winery Vins de Ca’n Mec in Petra. The image above shows the design with which they present the three varieties of wine they have introduced in the market: rosé wine with the image of Petra, white wine with a view of Na Foradad and red wine with one of the Cathedral. In the image below, Arnau is shown in the laboratory at the back, where he analyzes a sample of wine fermented in one of the oak barrels.
