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
2018 Tempranillo (MAGNUM) - Santos Brujos
Tasting Notes and Drinking Window:
A hot and challenging vintage in Valle de Guadalupe separated those who were only looking to make money from those strictly dedicated to making exceptional wine with no exceptions. The 2018 stands in the shadow of giants as the winery continues to dazzle the world with its ability to fine tune itself and reach greater and greater expression of place, and I dare say it stands alone in its acuteness and breadth of expression. Natural wines that you would need to be told they are natural to know it these are extremely clean wines that nonetheless are made along in keeping with the prescriptions laid out by the biodynamic movement. While they are fine to drink now, they are agers, built for the long haul and will develop exceptionally for two decades or more.
1,200 cases made
Drinking window: upon release - 20 years
Vintage:
2018
Blend:
100% Tempranillo
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 10 miles from the Pacific at an elevation of 950 ft. Soils are a sandy clay marl.
Winemaking:
Wine is fermented on native yeasts in French oak barrels, racked and aged in new French oak for 12 months. Bottled unfiltered.
Sulfites: 13 ppm
Farming:
Biodymamic, organic, sustainable
Alcohol:
13.5%
