Del Maguey Wild Tepextate Mezcal

Del Maguey Wild Tepextate is a single village mezcal made only from rare, wild grown Tepeztate, the Agave marmorata that ripens over decades in the stony Oaxacan highlands. It comes from the same mezcalero behind Del Maguey Tobala, a maker the house long kept anonymous. Del Maguey, founded in 1995 by Ron Cooper, defined the single village idea, sourcing each bottling from individual family palenqueros and naming it for their town.
Tepeztate usually reads green, herbal and spicy, but this bottling sits to one side of that, with a nose of cherry candy, rose petal, a light nuttiness and a dusty, distinctive lift. The palate brings candied fruit, cinnamon and honeysuckle alongside celery leaf and a savoury smoked note, with a very light creaminess and a floral edge. Bottled at 45%, it keeps the maguey front and centre, a snapshot of one slow growing wild plant.