The history of Son Prim wine estate is the history of the farming of the vineyard, the wine and also of Jaume Llabrés. In his work as a restorer of antique furniture, sunlight and fresh air was significantly lacking, and served as a good excuse to begin ‘restoring’ his family’s vineyards.

In the family house in Sencelles, known as Son Prim, where in the small cellar, wine was made year after year for household consumption and to give to ‘friends’, Jaume has one of his most unforgettable memories: when he was a young boy (very little he supposes) after tiring everyone out with his insistence, he was allowed to go to ‘help’ his grandfather and his father to tread the grapes. What a sensation that was!

It has been 15 years since the six hectares of vineyard located across various plots of land on the road from Inca to Sencelles were replanted. ‘Our interest in improving the quality of wines made us consider a new work concept and we started from the beginning: the vines. They were replanted in 1993, substituting the old plants with more suitable varieties for producing aging wines like Merlot, Cabernet and Syrah.’

The next step was to modernize the wine cellar, not the manner in which wine was made -stresses Jaume- the best way to modernize it was to make it new and so a new winery was constructed and inaugurated the wine harvest of 2004.

Jaume farms close to six hectares of his own property, and the soil is made up of red clay, which is known as ‘call vermell’ in Mallorca, sands, limestone and a significant amount of boulders. The clay stores many nutrients for the roots and retains rain water which even though the area is flat, does not run and sinks deeper into the ground. All of this constitutes a soil in which the roots reach a great depth and develop their radicular system, making the plant seek out better nutrients. In order to maintain the structure of the soil and to benefit its microbial flora, mineral fertilizers are avoided and the soil is only aided with organic matter every two or three years.

A red wine trio

The result: monovarietal wines made to stand the test of time, with a marked personality which reflects the singularity of foreign varietals like Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, as well as the land they spring from.

The most original of the wines produced by the winery is made using this last varietal: a white merlot. This year 50.000 bottles of red wine will be produced and 4000 of white wine, and they will mainly be distributed within Mallorca.

When Jaume talks about wine, his eyes light up, and he refers to it as ‘a fascinating product, surprising and different every vintage. It is the most civilised concoction I know, expressive and communicative.. what else can one ask for?’

His challenge? ‘To make quality wines which are attractive and which help us to enjoy life.’