The Mina Penélope Estate
Founded: 2014 by Verónica Santiago and Nathaniel Malagón
Region and grape source: Wines are primarily made from organically grown estate vineyards tucked into a tight fold on the valley wall of Valle de Guadalupe. They source from additional select vineyards as needed from vintage to vintage. All are organically maintained.
Winemaker: Verónica Santiago (Mexican born, studied agriculture at University of Monterrey)
Vineyard elevations and grape origins:
- Valle de Guadalupe - 1,000 ft - (Nebbiolo, Mourvedre, Montepulciano, Aglianico, Syrah, Grenache, and Sauvignon Blanc). Decomposed granite and clay soils.
Notes:
- Production is minuscule; everything is done by hand by a husband and wife team who are the definition of the passion one finds in the small growers of the region.
- Vineyard site is 15 years old and Nathaniel Malagon who tends the vineyards comes from one of the oldest grape growing families in Valle de Guadalupe.
- Winemaker Veronica Santiago is one of the most well-respected winemakers in the valley and her pallet has shown itself in blind tastings to be one of the best. The wines she and Nathaniel are making are at once elegant, informed, and remarkably rustic old world in style. These wines follow closely the natural wine making style championed in the Loire and Saone valleys and emulate closely the body compositions and flavor profiles of the wines made in this area with minimal intervention.
Total production: 9 wines, 1,300 cases
2020 Mina Tinto - Mina Penélope
Tasting Notes and Drinking Window:
An elegant wine of medium body that presents in an old world style with its fruit restrained within layers of secondary notes coming from the vineyard management, aging approach, and gentle winemaking style. As with almost all of Veronica’s red wines, this is ready to drink on release but will hold and develop nicely for a decade or more.
97 cases made
Drinking Window: Upon release - 12 years
Vintage:
2020
Blend:
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Carmenere
Producer:
Mina Penélope
Winemaker:
Veronica Santiago - Mexican
Vineyards:
All grapes were sourced from estate vineyards in Valle de Guadalupe, ejido of San Antonio de Las Minas. The vineyards are planted across an undulating hillside at a elevation of 900 to 975 ft elevation at 2 miles from the Pacific. The vines were planted in 2007 in soils of decomposed granite and clay.
Winemaking:
All grapes were harvested from estate vineyards on October 1st. Grapes were pressed and fermented on the skins and seeds in stainless steel tanks before being racked into 1st, 2nd and 3rd use French and American oak barrels and aged for 12 months before bottling.
Sulfites: 55 ppm
Farming:
Organic, sustainable
Alcohol:
13.5%
