Fortaleza Blanco Tequila - Still Strength

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 46% | Chill filtration: Yes | Colouring: No

Special Features:

Fortaleza Blanco Still Strength presents the tequila without dilution after distillation: it is bottled at 46%, with no water added beforehand. Rather than drawing character from cask maturation, this blanco keeps the agave spirit itself at the centre. It rests in stainless steel tanks and has no contact with wood.

Blue Weber agave is the sole raw material. It is cooked in a stone or brick oven and crushed using a stone tahona. Fermentation in open wooden vats is followed by two distillations in copper pot stills. The glass bottle offered here is hand-blown in Mexico and contains 0.7 litres.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: On the nose, fruity impressions mingle with cooked, fully ripe agave. Green olives and earthy notes add to the aroma.
• Palate: On the palate, buttery notes meet olives, earth and black pepper. Vegetal accents complement the flavour.
• Finish: A lively combination of lemon and pepper persists through the long finish.

Distillery/Bottler:

Fortaleza is the work of Guillermo Erickson Sauza, whose family has been involved in tequila production for five generations. His great-great-grandfather Cenobio Sauza founded the family's tequila business in 1873. When the company was sold in 1976, the family retained the property housing the small La Fortaleza distillery in the town of Tequila. The distillery had already closed in 1968 and become a museum.

In 1999, Guillermo began restoring the old facilities to working order; the first bottles went on sale in 2005. Production resumed using specific methods passed down from earlier generations: ripe agaves are loaded by hand into the thick-walled brick oven and slowly steam-cooked. After crushing with the stone wheel, the fibres are separated and composted. The extracted must goes into the wooden fermentation vats together with agave syrup collected from the oven. Small copper pot stills then carry out the double distillation.

Facts: