Bodegas Menorquinas, Ferrer de Muntpalau, the origin of modern viticulture

Itziar Lecea / Photos Ferrer de Muntpalau - It was the year 1985, and in Menorca there was no commercialisation of wine produced on the island. However, driven by passion and a desire to be closely connected to the land, Crispín Mariano, a member of the family behind the well-known restaurant Ca n’Aguedet in Es Mercadal, turned his attention to the vines growing in one of the family’s orchards. It was this seed that led him, just a few years later, to produce the first bottle of Ferrer de Muntpalau.

The name Ferrer de Muntpalau is part of the wine’s very identity. The surroundings, the geography and the place itself were a way of reclaiming the memory of this knight, who came from Costa Nova and lived during the 14th century, as Crispín Mariano explains. He recounts that this knight “was the guardian of the northern coast of Menorca, according to a manuscript we were able to consult in the archive of the Crown of Mallorca. It was this bond with the land and history that made him the namesake of our wine,” he says.

It should be noted, however, that although Ferrer de Muntpalau is now much better known and was first bottled in 1989, the first wine to emerge from Es Mercadal was Vi d’en Bennàssar, in 1985, with a label designed by the painter Torrent. This marked the beginning of a tradition at Bodegas Menorquinas of associating each wine with a Menorcan artist.

“At that time, Vi d’en Bennàssar was released as a table wine, linked to a specific vineyard, such as the vines we already had on the estate,” explains Crispín Mariano. Ferrer de Muntpalau would come later, even though the vineyard was expanded gradually and without any ambition of large-scale production. “We have focused on doing things in a way where quantity has not been a priority; instead, we are guided by cultural, ecological and tradition-preserving values. Obviously, we have grown in hectares, but what truly drives us is preservation. Moreover, it should be noted that we were the first to produce a bottle of wine in Menorca to be officially registered in the Balearic Wine Register, marking a step beyond table wine. It was in 1999, thanks to the Balearic Government and our own commitment, that the Vi de la Terra Illa de Menorca designation came into being.”

Crispín Mariano’s wine not only draws from the history and tradition of the Es Mercadal area, but also helps to create it. This was the case with the Sant Joan wine series, for which he grafted vines from the orchard of Sant Joan de Missa in Ciutadella with the vines planted on his own estate, paying tribute to an episode in the life of the knight Ferrer de Muntpalau.

Culture is therefore very present in Mariano’s wines. Each wine series features images and artwork by Menorcan artists or historical imagery, such as the medieval coins of the Kingdom of Mallorca used in some of the labels.

Today, he markets the well-known Ferrer de Muntpalau as well as a “fusion” wine, as he calls it, designed more for summer consumption, blending the varieties Merlot, Muscat, Malvasia and Cabernet Sauvignon.

BODEGAS MENORQUINAS
Carrer de Tramuntana, 8A
07740 Es Mercadal
Visits by phone: +34 618 25 32 53