Somos means “we are” in Spanish. The “we” is a duo of Australian Ben Caldwell and Mexican Mauricio Ruiz Cantú.  The Somos story began while Mauricio was studying oenology and viticulture at the University of Adelaide in 2010.  Following graduation, he returned to his native Mexico with a small shipment of Barossa Shiraz he made for fun and named it Juguette, a Spanish word for toy.  His market was primarily friends and family but sold a bit in distribution to help fund his trip home.

The wine was received with great enthusiasm and he reached out to his friend from college, Ben, looking to grow this brand.  Mauricio spent most of the year in Mexico establishing a distribution network while Ben tended to the vines and wines back in McLaren Vale. In less than five vintages Juguette grew from 150 to 15,000 cases and it was time for a new project.  The food Mauricio ate back home in Baja California was fresh, bright and textured.  He and Ben felt they wanted to make wines complementing these notes.