The Mina Penélope Estate
- 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.
- 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: 8 wines, 1,200 cases
2023 Rosé - Mina Penélope
Tasting Notes and Drinking Window:
The 100% Montepulciano rosé from Mina Penélope is always a pleasure, as winemaker Veronica Santiago is constantly engaged in the effort of dialing in her process and understanding better the nature of what her land and plants can deliver. The 2023 vintage represents only a minor tweak on the 2022, (which is still singing as I write this) as she seems to have reached the zenith of her preferred style. Light and crisp, but bounding with ripe fruit on the nose and the mouth, this is certainly a serious rosé, and one that quite honestly gets better over a several year arc.
Only 120 cases made
Drinking window: Upon release - 4 years
Vintage:
2023
Blend:
100% Montepulciano
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, 2 miles from the Pacific. The vines were planted in 2007 in soils of decomposed granite and clay.
Winemaking:
Grapes were harvested at night to maximize freshness and maintain the highest possible levels of acidity, hand destemmed, pressed and left to macerate with the skins for only the briefest time (about 20 minutes according to Veronica) and then fermented for 17 days in stainless steel tanks. Once fermentation is complete, the wine is racked and aged in stainless steel tanks for 4 months before release.
Sulfites: 50 ppm
Farming:
Organic, sustainable
Alcohol:
11.8
