About Us
SOMOS, means ‘WE ARE’ in Spanish.
And with the name comes community, a sense of living intensely, not being afraid to experiment, a reminder to truly experience life and to live in the moment.
These are the wines of Mauricio Ruiz Cantú.
Mauricio has a long winemaking journey that spans working in Spain, Mexico, and Australia.
When he was in his late teens, and after working in a large winery in his native Mexico, he decided to migrate to Australia to attend Adelaide University for Viticulture and Oenology.
After finishing university, and with the goal of crafting classic, old-vine, small-batch expressions of Australian soils to introduce into his native homeland, he created “Juguette” meaning ‘Toy’ in Spanish – Because it was his play project while working as a winemaker at a larger commercial winery.
Nowadays, Juguette is Australia’s best known wine brand in Mexico.
SOMOS
Somos was created after Juguette, almost as a consequence of it, as these wines are radically different.
Instead of working with the classic varieties of South Australia, these wines are experimental and boundary pushing, these wines represent what we’re most passionate about, expressed through a kaleidoscope of alternative varieties, styles and intriguing flavours. We work primarily with lesser-known —climate-appropriate— Italian and Spanish varieties, and make them in entirely unconventional ways, with a lo-fi and sustainable ethos.
There is a strong focus on biodynamic and organic fruit, as well as vineyards that are part of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA).
The Somos range currently features a motley crew of well suited, yet often obscure varieties from McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills such as Aglianico, Vermentino, Mencia, Barbera, Pinot Meunier, Cabernet Franc as well as avant-garde winemaking styles like skin contact (orange) whites and Pet Nat.