SEIS14 Grand Sotol Joven

SEIS14 Grand Sotol is a sotol from Aldama in Chihuahua, where its name nods to the 614 dialling code. It is distilled from Dasylirion texanum, a desert spoon species endemic to the borderland between Mexico and the United States and a subtype of Dasylirion wheeleri. Sotol is not an agave but a separate desert plant, and this one is handmade in small batches by sotolero maestro Carlos Aragon Herrera at his Hacienda Casa Ruelas. Sotol holds its Denomination of Origin from 2002.
The wild hearts are harvested after twenty five to thirty years, baked in the old clay oven of Casa Ruelas, mechanically milled and fermented in open wooden vats with native yeast, then twice distilled in a copper still. The aroma is clean and herbal with damp earth and new wood, while the palate is sweet with freshly mown grass and minerals, a soft pear drop note and a touch of nuttiness, closing long, woody and green at 45%.