Somos

Somos means ‘we are’ in Spanish, an ode to the close bond between winemaker Mauricio Ruiz Cantú’s Mexican roots and his adopted South Australian home. A chance encounter with a couple of Aussie consultants in Baja convinced Mauricio to study oenology and viticulture at the University of Adelaide. Upon graduating in 2013, he and fellow student Ben Caldwell created a successful export brand called Juguette (aimed at the Mexican market) before launching Somos in 2015. In 2023, the duo went their separate ways, with Mauricio retaining ownership of both brands. While Mauricio didn’t move back to Mexico as planned, he still makes wine on the Baja peninsula under his family-owned label Dominio de Las Abejas, meaning ‘domain of bees’. Here, Mauricio sources fruit from small growers in McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills, with a preference towards climate-appropriate Italian and Spanish varieties. -HALLIDAY TEAM