Bodegas
de Santo Tomas and Viña de Liceaga
By
Dick Avery
The Santo
Tomas Valle in Baja California Norte was founded in 1769 by Fray Junipero
Sierra (yep, that famous Dominican who founded most of the missions
up and down the Mexico and California coasts). He promptly named it
the Valle San Francisco Solano. Things stayed pretty quiet until the
Dominican order took over the colonization of all of Baja Norte under
the leadership of Father Jose Loriente. Fr. Loriente set up shop in
a mission in 1791, and being the good scholastic that he was, named
the winery Santo Tomas de Aquino in honor of the great philosopher
of the Middle Ages.
Fr. Loriente
immediately got things humming by planting two thousand Mission grapevines
(a grape varietal that today is cultivated primarily for table grapes-
sooo, next time you pick some table grapes at your favorite food mart,
thank ol’ Fr. Loriente), plus one hundred olive trees.
Fast
forward to the 1960s. After changing hands several times, Elias Pando
assumed control of the winery. Elias, a serious wine lover and collector,
rolled up his sleeves, and began to expand the company. He led off
by bringing Dimitri Tchelitcheff, son of the famous Andre Tchelitcheff,
who had revolutionized the California wine industry (see Atencion
article, 5/16/08 issue, p. 53). Tchelitcheff wasted no time in a massive
modernization program, buying stainless steel fermentation tanks and
small capacity oak barrels for aging the wines.
In the
80s, Hugo Acosta, the Andre Tchelitcheff of Baja wines, changed the
direction of the winery to the small production, high quality operation
it is today, producing 19,000 cases annually of award winning Merlot,
Cabernet, and Tempranillo, to name a few. All grapes are from their
own vineyards.
In the
never ending quest for the good juice, your intrepid reporter has
tasted through most of their middle-price-range offerings. I found
the reds to be quite good, especially the Cab, Merlot, and Tempranillo,
offering up intense, rich, flavorful, high extract lip-smackers. An
Italian red varietal you don’t see very often, Barbera, is exceptional.
Their blancos, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Viognier, are delicious
when drunk young. An outstanding portfolio!
Bodegas
de Santo Tomas celebrates its reputation as the “oldest continuously
producing winery in Mexico”. Its goal is to “have Santo
Tomas wine on every table in Mexico”. They are well on their
way!
Meandering
along the Ruta del Vino takes one through some beautiful countryside
of eucalyptus trees and olive groves with low hills strewn with boulders,
some the size of automobiles. Here, tucked into a pretty grove of
eucalyptus, is Viña de Liceaga.
Eduardo
Liceaga was totally unaware that, in the early 70s, he would purchase
a world renowned winery. He was busy as a professional engineer for
a construction company in Tijuana, totally engrossed in a number of
building projects. But, like many professionals, he thought he could
do better on his own, so in the late 70s, started his own company.
He had grown up on his grandfather’s ranch; in the early 80s
he bought 50 acres in the Valle so his children could have the same
country lifestyle he had enjoyed.
Having
tagged along with his grandfathers when they purchased wine, he grew
up with an appreciation of the good juice, and he began to consider
the possibility of producing wine.
Jumping
in with both feet, he initially planted ten thousand table-grape vines,
the product from which he sold all over Mexico. Soon, however, he
began to make grafts to convert to wine-grape vines. The first harvest
yielded a rip-roaring 120 cases, mostly consumed by family and friends.
But, he thought the wine wasn’t too shabby, and, encouraged,
he purchased his own vinification equipment and cranked production
up to about 3,000 cases, where it is today, with most of the grapes
outsourced.
Viña
de Liceaga produces a fairly broad array of wine offerings. Most reds
are blends such as the Castillo de Las Mines, a 60/40 Merlot/Grenache
or the Viña de Liceaga, a 90/10 Merlot/Cabernet Franc teeth-stainer
that spends two years in American oak before release. They’re
most proud of their Merlot de Viña Liceaga, a gold medal winner
in the 2002 San Francisco Wine Competition that also received “Best
of Nation” mention. The whites, I found, were pleasant and tasty,
but not remarkable. But hey, this is primarily red wine country, right?
The visit
to this up-and-coming winery and its friendly staff, unfortunately,
had to end on a sad note. Eduardo passed away recently and the reins
are now in the capable hands of his widow. Demonstrating wonderful
collegiality, several of the other wineries in the Valle have jumped
in to help her continue Eduardo’s mission of producing the best
wine in the Baja! It’s a good bet she’ll succeed!
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