Tequila: Vino Mezcal

In the spirit of May and the upcoming celebration of Cino de Mayo I thought it would be a good time to talk a little about the other wine - vino mezcal.   Originating in Mexico, it is believed that the original mezcal (or mescal) wines were produced by the Aztecs for ceremonial purposes into a drink that is still around today called pulque.  The refinement of pulque into what many call tequila has its origins with the Spanish exploration of Mexico in the 1500's.  Once they ran out of brandy they needed to find a substitute and pulque was it.

Named for the City of Tequila, Mexico, today there are strict regulations on what can be called tequila, much the same way wine is subject to certain regulations if you say it from a certain region or use a varietal name on the label.  So let's start with the basics and work our way up to defining tequila.

All tequila is mezcal, but all mezcal is not tequila.  Mezcal is made from the piña, or heart (and sometimes called a pineapple), of the agave plant.  It looks very much like a giant yucca plant (see photo below) and similar to aloe plants. Native to Mexico and the  Southern United States, they grow wild and are cultivated for their sap and other edible parts.  The sap when harvested at the base of the budding flower becomes Agave nectar, a great cane sugar substitute used similar to honey in food preparations. It is this sap and starches in the plant that are processed to become our mezcal.  It's been claimed that if you heat mezcal to more than 1400° F you get tiny diamonds.

Back to making mezcal.  The agave takes about 8-12 years to fully develop to a point where the piña is large and mature enough to harvest.  The leaves are sheared off at the heart in a process called "jima" by a person called a "jimador".  Once the leaves are removed the heart is sheared off from the roots at ground level using a "coa de jima".  What that all means is a worker using a very sharp spade-like hoe chops the leaves off and cuts off the heart, which weights anywhere from 60-200 lbs.

Warning: Don't try this at home.  The sap of some agave is a skin irritant causing a rash that can last for weeks and re-occur for years.  Also the ends of the leaves have points like a needle that can puncture the skin and cause problems. 

The harvested piña are transported to the distillery where they are cut in halves or quarters, depending on size.  They are placed in a hornos, or oven (today most facilities use the equivalent of an autoclave) to roast for 20-30 hours.  This process helps to break-down the plant's starches so they can be converted to sugars and extracted.  Once fully roasted, the hearts are removed, passed through a shredder and sprayed with water to fully extract as much sugar as possible. The resulting liquid is called "aqua miel" or honey water, which is collected in a large fermentation tank.  Yeast is added or allowed to naturally occur, much like making wine. In fact, once this stage is complete - fermented to about 5% alcohol, you have mezcal wine.  If the end product is to be 100% agave, then the juice alone is fermented.  If the product is a "mixto" which means it's at least 51% agave and the rest is made up from cane or other sugar, they must be added to the miel before fermentation begins.

The mezcal wine is then at a minimum twice distilled similar to other spirits, such a vodka.  The end result is a blanco or plata.  The styles of mezcal are as follows:

          Blanco (white) or Plata (silver) - un-aged, bottled immediately after distillation

          Reposado (rested) - aged at least two months, but less than a year in oak barrels

          Joven (young) or Oro (gold) - a blend of part blanco and part reposado 

          Añejo (aged) - aged at least 1 year, but less than 3 years in standard size oak barrels

          Extra-Añejo (extra aged) - aged at least 3 years in standard size oak barrels

So at this point don't we have tequila? The answer is maybe. Tequila has two requirements: 1.) the agave plant used to make the mezcal must be Agave Tequilana also called Agave Azul, which you may know as Blue Agave; 2.) it must have been grown  in the Mexican state of Jalisco or specified regions of Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas.  You may be surprised to know that much of the tequila sold in the US is actually bottled in the US. The spirit is shipped in barrels, tankers, and rail cars to bottling facilities.  You can find authentic tequila by looking for the NOM (Norma Oficial Mexicana) followed by 3 numbers - four letters - and year.

Whether you ware making margaritas, a tequila sunrise, or straight up neat you now know what it take to bring this amazing distilled spirit to the party.  Many have a love - hate relationship with this beverage, but whether it's tequila or  mezcal, the end result is going to interesting.   As for me, I like a rustic mezcal from Oaxaca con gusano, that's with the worm.