Friday 15 July 2016

Very Old and Rare Tequilas

Very old and rare tequilas


Sergio Mendoza at the distillery ‘Tequileña’



On a recent trip to Tequila town, I had the grand experience to try some very old, rare tequilas at my friend’s family’s distillery. Sergio Mendoza works with his family on the brand Fuenteseca. This is made at their distillery, ‘Tequileña’, [NOM 1146] in the town of Tequila. The family have been running the distillery since 1980 and have been ‘agaveros’, agave farmers for 5 generations. Enrique Fonseca, Sergio’s uncle is the Master Distiller and Blender.

The barrels used for ageing are French Limousin, Nevers, Slovak (primarily used barrels from Burgundy, Cognac/Armagnac, and other varieties of wines) and small percentages of White American Oak.

I began my tasting with their tequila just off the still at 55% abv:  

Nose: tropical yellow fruits, acetone [this is good by the way],cereal [agave?] = wood fibers?, green papaya, alcohol, lily flower, gardenia

Palate: the same as the nose with the flowers coming at the end


Next I tried their 9 year, 43% tequila:

Nose: sherry, old wood, red stewed fruit, nutmeg, caramel, ripe tropical fruit

Palate: wood, fruit, dry


The next was their 12 year, 45%:

Nose: vanilla, creme caramel, dried coconut

Palate: creamy, sharp, bright fruits, finishes dry with spice [pepper], fruit at end is deeper


Next was an 18 year, 45%:

Lighter in color than the 12 year old

Nose: lower, more closed than the 12 year old, water like minerality, cedar, vegetable perfume

Palate: light, fine, surprisingly fresh for its age, good integration of alcohol, burnt orange zest


The following are comments from Sergio to me.

Fuenteseca is the root word from where our last name, Fonseca, originates. The tequilas you tasted are the oldest tequilas ever to be bottled. Some of them predate the CRT regulation for ageing. Each batch is unique in the sense that they come from a single harvest/vintage, that is, they are not blended from different vintages, but everything in each bottle comes from a single harvest. That said, there might always be new batches of the Fuenteseca 9 Year, but they will come from other harvests, so the actual year of harvest, more so than the age, is the most important information on the label.

The tequilas you tried are 
- 9 year - Cosecha 2003
- 12 year - Cosecha 2001
- 18 Year - Cosecha 1995 

Additionally we have a 
- 7 year - Cosecha 2005
- 15 year - Cosecha 1998 (my favorite)
- 21 year - Cosecha 1993


Thank you my friend Sergio. Anybody interested in these tequilas can contact Sergio directly at:


smg@donfulano.com

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