The Santo Tomás Estate- Santo Tomás is the oldest winery in the Baja region. Jesuit missionaries first established vineyards, (now privately held) in 1791, just 5 years after the US signed its Constitution. Over a century later, in 1888 the land was purchased by Francisco Adonegui and Spainard 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. - Winemaker Laura Zamora passed the baton she held since 2003 to the talented Christina Pino in 2019 and the first results of Christina's efforts are all that we'd hoped for. Expect to see this estate delivering increasingly high levels of quality. Christina plans to lower yields, increase quality, and work towards fully organic farming. Total production: 22 wines, 130,000 cases
2019 Unico - Santo Tomás
Tasting Notes and Drinking Window:
This is the highly anticipated arrival of the first vintage of Santo Tomas’ fabled Unico from their new winemaker Christina Pino. Under Christina’s leadership since 2019, Santo Tomas has risen to ever greater heights with a complete overhaul of vineyard management practices, a deep reorganization of vinification approach and a potent boost to quality in general. In general, yields went down significantly as pruning approaches oriented towards quality replaced those favoring quantity and this combined with a much tighter berry selection reduced their overall production by 1/3rd. Though Christina has been running the show for 3 years already, this is the first Unico that has been released under her stewardship and it’s everything one would hope it could be. Resembling a top pedigree Bordeaux in structure and finesse, she saved only the perfect fruit for this bottling and the proof is obvious in the glass. Rich and voluptuous with elegant tannins that make it accessible in the moment but indicate it will be capable of many years of development in the bottle, it’s an incredibly lovely showpiece of what Christina can do with the best fruit when the holdings of such a spectacular estate are at her disposal.
Drinking window: Upon release (with a 45 min decant) - 15 years
Vintage:
2019
Blend:
50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 50% Merlot
Producer:
Santo Tomás
Winemaker:
Christina Pino - Spanish, lives in Mexico
Vineyards:
Valle de Santo Tomas - Unico comes from the estate's oldest vines, many of which are over 100 years old. The soil is primarily decomposed sandstone and red clay mix.
Winemaking:
Fermented in 1st use French oak barrels and then racked off the skins and aged for an additional 18 months in 1st use French oak.
Farming:
Sustainable
Alcohol:
13.8%
