La Medida Mezcal Tepeztate

La Medida is an Oaxacan house that gathers more than forty small producers under one label, led by Julian Vidal Gomez Rodriguez, who has spent four decades working with traditional makers. This bottling is a single agave Tepeztate, Agave marmorata, harvested wild near San Pedro Totolapan in the Tlacolula district at around 1,700 metres, a plant that needs twenty five to thirty years to reach maturity. It is a joven, bottled unaged at 45% to let the species speak.
Tepeztate is one of the most vegetal and slow growing magueys, and it shows here in herbaceous green pepper and jalapeno, wet wood and freshly cut grass, lifted by a faint floral edge. The pit roasting brings a gentle smoke and a touch of baked sweetness, while the palate runs to ripe orange, banana and a long fruity finish of passion fruit and grape. The result is bright, herbal and distinctly wild.