Don Mateo Mezcal Cupreata

Don Mateo works in the Rio Balsas region of Michoacan, where sixth generation Maestro Emilio Vieyra makes mezcal among the pine forests of the family Rancho Limon, a reserve of more than four hundred hectares. This 2020 release is drawn entirely from wild Cupreata, Agave cupreata, with just 528 bottles filled, and it carries Bat Friendly certification for letting some agave flower to feed pollinators. It is a joven, bottled at 46%.
The wild agave is cooked in an underground pit, milled mechanically and fermented in subterranean wood pits lined with encino, using spring water. Distillation is a double pass through internal copper and wood stills, after which the mezcal rests at least six months in glass to settle and integrate. The nose is floral and fresh, the palate fruity and faintly ethereal with little smoke, and the finish runs mineral with a touch of pepper. Complex without being overwhelming.