The Santo Tomás Estate
- Founded: 1888 by Francisco Adonegui and Miguel Olmart
- Region and grape source: The winery owns most of the land in Valle de Santo Tomàs, (including the 150+ year old vines of the Único vineyard) as well as 20 hectares of land in the hamlet of San Antonio de las Minas in Valle de Guadalupe.
- Vineyard elevations and grape origins:
- Valle de Guadalupe - Estate vineyards 900 ft (granite and clay soils)
- Valle de Santo Tomás - Estate vineyards 500 ft (variable. High on the slopes it’s mainly granite composed of large granite stones while down in the valley it's sandy soils high in iron and other minerals.
- Winemaker: Cristina Pino (Spanish born, now a Mexican citizen, lives in Valle de Guadalupe)
- Notes:
- Cristina Pino is one of the most highly respected winemakers in the region and a perfect example of the many strong women that are a primary driving force behind the quality and elegance dominating the wines coming out of the region.
- Santo Tomás is the oldest winery in the Baja region. Jesuit missionaries first established vineyards, (now privately held) in 1791 in this valley, just 5 years after the US signed its Constitution. Over a century later, in 1888 the land was purchased by Francisco Adonegui and Spaniard Miguel Olmart and became Mexico's first large scale commercial winery.
- The largest landowners in the 5 valleys of northern Baja, Santo Tomás has access to some of the best fruit available. The quality and balance of their wines is a signature of the estate.
- Since Christina took over in 2019 she has been covering to lower yields, increased quality, and working towards fully organic farming.
Total production: 22 wines, 130,000 cases
2022 ST Merlot - Santo Tomás
Tasting Notes and Drinking Window:
This 2022 is another representation of the continual elevation in quality in the offerings from Santo Tomás, and an enormous amount of this has to do with their decision to bring on the talented Christina Pino in as winemaker. Given free reigns to alter the program as she saw fit, there was a massive change to all aspects of production from the fields to the bottle. Bravo.
The "ST" series from Santo Tomás focuses on the potential for a wine to deliver immediate pleasure. Their Merlot, like the rest of the series, is aged in stainless steel so what you get out of the wines from this series is a bright fresh showcasing of the naked qualities of the fruit. There are plenty of big bold, highly extracted wines out there, so let this be the one you turn to when light bright zingy fruit is more apropos.
Drinking window: Upon release - 4 years
Vintage:
2022
Blend:
100% Merlot
Producer:
Santo Tomás
Winemaker:
Christina Pino - Spanish, lives in Mexico
Vineyards:
Santo Tomas is the largest land owner in the region and this Merlot comes form a selection of the younger vines spread throughout the holdings. The range of soil types is vast but here they are mainly working with sandy soils that have some iron rich clay mixed in as well.
Aging:
Fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks
Farming:
Sustainable
Alcohol:
13.3%
