The Santos Brujos Estate:
- Santos Brujos is one of the few wineries in the region that has taken the steps to become certified organic and biodynamic. Certified by the CCOF, USDA and Demeter, they perhaps more dedicated to this approach than anyone else we have seen thus far. Even the name "Santos Brujos", which translates to "Saintly Witches" makes reference to the practice prescribed by Rudolf Steiner, (the founder of Biodynamic farming) by which the amendments to the soil and plants are prepared and stirred at length by hand.
- All wines come from estate vineyards that are organically and biodynamically farmed.
- All of the wines are made in a 'natural' style with native yeast fermentation, no additives, and have very minimal sulfites added at bottling for stability.
Total production: 5 wines, 2,000 cases
2023 Chardonnay - Santos Brujos
Tasting Notes and Drinking Window:
Year in and year out this is one of the most impressive white wines from Mexico. A top-notch chardonnay that is made using a combination of oak and stainless steel this has all of the complexity of oak combined with the laser sharp focus of fruit derived from the stainless steel. In this vintage the weather was cooler overall with much more rain than is typical, culminating in a spike in temperatures at the end of the summer that allowed for perfect ripening of fruit while maintaining low ph (high natural acid). This ideal combination yielded an excellent result in the finished wine and production was extremely good as well.
553 cases made
Drinking window: Upon release - 12 yearsVintage:
2023
Blend:
100% Chardonnay
Producer:
Santos Brujos
Winemaker:
Luis Pecina Garcia - Spanish born, lives in Mexico
Vineyards:
Valle de Guadalupe - Estate vineyards, located in the center of the valley approximately 8 miles from the Pacific at an elevation of 900 ft. Soils are a sandy clay marl.
Winemaking:
Harvest occurred in the middle of the night on Aug 8th. Harvest and selection was by hand in small crates to prevent bruising. After pressing the juice was split into two parts: 40% fermented in stainless steel tanks and the remaining 60% into 1st use light toast French oak. Fermentation occurred spontaneously with native yeasts over a period of 3 weeks and the wine was left to age in their respective vessels for another 3 months before being reunited in a larger stainless tank for continued slow evolution. Bottled unfiltered.
Sulfites: 37 ppmFarming:
Biodynamic, organic, sustainable
Alcohol:
13.5%
