Oaxaca · Tradition
The mezcal process
From the earth to the bottle: tradition, time and culture.
Stage 1 of 3
Stage 01
Cultivation and harvest
Agave is planted on the most varied terrain. For generations, mezcal agaves have been selected from wild plants for the shape, size and flavour of their piñas.
How the espadín maguey reproduces
- Offsets
- Plantlets
- Mecuates
- Rhizomes
- Quiote
Time to maturity
10+
years
- Young plant
- Growth
- Mature maguey
- On steep slopes, 1,000 to 2,500 magueys are planted per hectare.
- On stony ground, slightly fewer.
- Where the land is hard to clear, no more than 400 are planted.
- It can take ten years or more for the plant to reach full maturity and be ready to fell.
- It is farmed organically, as we would say today: it grows naturally, with no pesticides or fertilisers.
- Every year it must be weeded and given room to grow.
- And time, a great deal of time, keeping it free of pests.
From agave to bottle
- Cultivation
- Maturation
- Cutting
- Piña
- Processing
- Distillation
- Bottling
- Distribution
Mezcal is not simply a drink: it is the fruit of generations of knowledge, work, time and tradition.