If you have wondered what the castle is beside the Palma-Manacor highway at Algaida, wonder no more. It holds one of the newest business concepts in the wine world: Château Vino de La Isla!  Driving to lunch in Algaida on a hot summer day, the castle caught our eye beside the highway. Tawnee had read recently that it had become a winery, so, after a marvelous local lunch in the sleepy plaza, we decided that a glass of local wine at the Château was just the right dessert!  We arrived unannounced – as usual – and were greeted with a warm welcome.  Björn Jürgensen – the managing director and man of many responsibilities – immediately agreed to take us on a tour of the grand property.

The building was previously a leather production and retail facility, and in 2018 was bought by an innovative German business person (who remains anonymous) to allow interested Mallorca land owners access to the wine world. For people with a passion for wine, or for someone who has everything and would like to own or create something that few others have, what is better than wine made from your personal vineyards in your own terroir on Mallorca? It would make for personal happiness every time you sip it, be a marvelous addition when entertaining guests, and/or a great personal or company holiday gift!

Founded in 2016, the first wines produced at this facility were vintage 2020.  Understand that Vino de la Isla is not a cooperative of many people joining their grapes together to make wine:  They do not mix the grape batches, they make your wine your way!  This is a unique business structure where clients can make their own wine from start to finish, or get help where needed. Vino de la Isla is two companies in one: the wine making, and the wine selling. Clients can decide just how much they want Vino de la Isla to be involved.

For those who have or want a vineyard on their property, and desire to have their own limited-edition bottled wine, Vino de La Isla will make that dream come true! Vino de la Isla creates wines from the smallest wineries in Mallorca!

1. Clients can grow their own grapes and Vino de la Isla will produce their wine in designated tanks, with an enologist overseeing the process. Or,
2. Clients can have a consultation with a representative of Vino de la Isla who will advise on the best grapes to grow in the client’s particular terroir and microclimate, in combination with the type of wine the client likes to drink. Vino de la Isla will then participate in the vineyard process. They can do any part, or handle everything from planting to hand-harvesting, and from sustainable production to on-site and online sales; the client can participate in as much, or as little, as they would like.

If you make your wine with Vino de la Isla, you can say how much you want to retain for personal use, and how much you want to offer for the public to buy. Currently hosting around seventy clients, Vino de la Isla produces approximately 130,000 bottles of wine annually. Every winemaker gets to design their own label, and Vino de la Isla will print it at the Chateau and label your bottles accordingly. You get to choose your style of bottle and style of wine. Vino de la Isla will analyse your property, and personalize it from terroir needs to grape preferences, and/or yeasts and tank or barrel time used. They have 5 enologists to prepare the wine the way you want it, from dry to sweet and in between.

You have the land, a unique terroir. You choose the grape, style of wine, logo, label, bottle, and cork. You get a limited-edition wine to enjoy and/or sell. You choose, it’s your wine, your way, from your property!

With much of the facility currently under renovation, we were first brought to an enormous hall they are finishing as an event area for weddings, corporate events, and large tasting groups.

Then we were shown the fermentation room, where every client has their own tanks for fermenting. It really is as if multiple individual wineries just happen to be using the same location to carry out their manufacturing process.

Björn told us that the process of grape picking is all done by hand in small 10kg boxes to preserve grape integrity. The vineyard owners can participate in the process or Vino de la Isla will do it all. They hold high value in sustainability, so the processed grapes (known as the mash) are returned to each respective vineyard for use as compost. They are also conscientious about watering, choosing to water minimally, even during the hot Mallorcan summers. They tolerate less grape yield for that conscientious reason, and it also promotes deeper roots of the vines which benefits stability and strength. They use no herbicides, and choose to till in the vineyard row weeds instead.

Next, we were shown the brand-new barrel room, and then a bottle storage area still in construction. Currently, they do not have a bottling machine, but rent one when needed. This will be a future investment after all the current renovations are complete. They print all their own labels and all wine is sealed with cork, normally Portuguese. They have chosen not to produce any screw-on caps. We love the mix of tradition with modern innovation-meets-sustainability! We also learned that all the Vino de la Isla wines are certified Vi de la Terra, Mallorca.

This informative tour ended where we started, at the entrance where we now better understood the multitudes of different wine bottles from all the small vineyard properties of the island!

Nestled beside the enologists working on their wines and among wine bottles on display, we were shown a pre-paid wine dispenser of all their wines, with Wine by the Card technology. This was a Mallorca Wine Trail first! Wine by the taste or by the glass, that you can serve yourself! Drop-in guests can taste as many or as few wines as they want with 25 ml, 63 ml, 125 ml options – or dispense a full glass of a favorite! With a reservation, visitors can enjoy a tasting of five wines served with water, tapas & cheese, or take a wine-workshop of 4-5 hours.

We chose a few different wines to taste from the dispenser, while Björn explained where each was from and a little about the winery. Finally, we chose a favorite glass each to enjoy while we settled in the spacious and attractive chill-out garden to ‘have our dessert’. There, we were kindly served fresh water and local crackers to assist our palates and accompany our tasting experience.

We are so glad to have discovered this innovative start-up! Mallorca is full of surprises, and this discovery solved a big mystery on the Mallorca Wine Trail: there have been many local bottles we have seen on the internet or in the stores, where we could not locate the physical bodega/winery to add to our MWT Wine Trail map! Peeping through the castle door, we discovered that most of these mystery-wineries are a part of Vino de la Isla, and we were visiting their ‘bodega/winery’ tasting site that day! We hope to be able to discover more about each of the different small wineries, but that will be for another Mallorca Wine Trail day!

The good news is, Vino de la Isla is fairly active in the local fairs around the island so the wines are available island-wide, and perhaps you are lucky enough to know one of the boutique winemakers personally!