Now as a Maestra Tequilera, Ana Maria Romero oversees all the course of of making Mijenta Tequila, a sustainable artisanal tequila from the Highlands of Jalisco. She shares her story and her artwork of tasting tequila with Chilled.
Inform us a bit about how you bought your begin as a Maestra Tequilera.
My journey to Maestra Tequilera started with wine. I beloved the aromatics and the way a well-crafted wine displays the terroir of the grapes, in addition to the experience of the winemaker. I used to be keen about bringing the complexity of wine to Spanish-speaking audiences. However tequila, at its coronary heart, embodies Mexico and its historical past. As I grew to become extra immersed within the story of tequila, I needed to share with the world the identical elements of the spirit that I really like about wine.
As an example, early in my profession, I devoted myself to researching tequila’s aromas and tasting notes. As a part of this work, I visited a variety of tequila homes to catalog and doc all of the delicate variations between kinds, together with taste notes and textures. Finally, I recognized 600 distinctive scents in tequila and mapped them onto an aroma wheel, which has since been adopted throughout the trade.
Turning into a Maestra Tequilera allowed me to share this very important piece of Mexico with the world. What I discover most fun is altering folks’s perceptions of tequila, what tequila might be and what genuine tequila is.
How has all of your analysis helped you in relation to making Mijenta tequila?
Creating the flavour of a tequila is like being a chef within the kitchen, and once I began to create my imaginative and prescient for Mijenta, I needed to seize the highlands of Jalisco in order that the tequila transports you the agave fields with their wealthy, crimson soil.
The agave plant is extremely versatile, and each variable is vital in shaping how a tequila in the end tastes, from the standard of the agave itself, the terroir, the fermentation, the distillation course of, the cooking temperature, and timing and, for aged tequilas, the kinds of barrels and period that it rests.
In each expression of Mijenta—our Blanco, Reposado and Añejo—the primary style is of the agave. To create the tequila, we start with the right agave vegetation, hand chosen from the perfect plots, earlier than slowly cooking them for a lot of hours. We ferment the agave utilizing our personal particular yeast that enhances the pure fruit traits earlier than rigorously distilling it to protect all of the flavors we’ve developed.
After we age our tequila, we don’t have a set time for a way lengthy it stays within the barrels. When the flavour is precisely proper, that’s when it’s prepared.
Inform us why sustainability is vital to you.
For me, Mijenta is the standard of the tequila, the ethos of sustainability and our dedication to the group. All these issues collectively make it a really particular model that I’m extraordinarily proud to be part of.
Sustainability is in regards to the future. Our aim is to behave responsibly now in order that we go away a greater world for future generations. We now have tried to be as revolutionary as we are able to, for example by creating our labels from agave waste, utilizing bottles made out of recycled glass and developing our containers from 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard.
Equally, to assist guarantee sturdy agave sooner or later, we make sure that 10% of the vegetation are with quiote, which permits larger genetic variation within the vegetation. Sooner or later, our aim is to depart 20% of the agave with flowers.
Speak to us in regards to the Artwork of Tasting Tequila. What’s vital to know?
Tasting tequila, like tasting wine, is about getting as a lot sensory expertise as you may of the spirit. What you see, scent and style will all let you know various things. The enjoyment is how these parts come collectively.
For me, I begin visually, holding the tequila as much as the sunshine in a transparent glass to essentially see the spirit. What I’m taking a look at is the colour and viscosity, to see what the physique is like.
Then, holding the glass at an angle to reveal as a lot of the floor of the liquid as attainable to the oxygen, I scent on the rim of the glass to see what totally different notes I can determine. If you happen to transfer across the glass – the highest, the underside, either side – you may choose up on totally different scents. With Mijenta, the primary notice ought to all the time be cooked agave.
Then I take a small sip to coat the tongue, adopted by an extended sip whereas I breathe by way of my nostril to tease out the various totally different flavors the tequila presents.
When tasting well-made tequilas, this course of could be very rewarding as a result of you may determine so many various taste mixtures.
What ought to folks find out about what makes Mijenta particular?
I’m biased as a result of I believe every thing about it’s particular! After all, there may be the standard of the agave, which is 100% Blue Weber agave, the terroir of the highlands of Jalisco, the way in which we slowly cook dinner the agave, and our cautious distillation course of.
However one factor I might point out is that Mijenta by no means makes use of any components, not like many different producers – even big-name tequilas.
To me, utilizing components defeats the aim of tequila, which is to style the agave. Why undergo the entire course of simply to vary the colour, scent, style, and physique with components?
In reality, utilizing components is a shortcut. As I stated, our tequila is finished when it’s carried out. However different producers need it to be prepared at a sure time with a sure taste. But it surely is probably not prepared but. Or they might not have used the standard elements or the suitable course of to realize the outcomes they needed. That’s why they use components.
However I believe they’re doing shoppers a disservice. As tequila continues to develop in reputation, one factor that I hope occurs is that customers hunt down the true taste of agave.
