Sipping Off the Cuff | Tequila Villa Lobos Reposado

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• published: 02 Mar 2017
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About Tequila Villa Lobos Tequila Villa Lobos is the result of a friendship and close collaboration with two of the worlds most respected and trusted authorities on Tequila: Carlos Camarena and Dale Sklar. The agave used for Villa Lobos is entirely harvested by agaveros from the Camarena Family plantations in Los Altos, the celebrated Arandas highlands, thus ensuring only the sweetest & most mature are used. Villa Lobos is a perfect example of handcrafted Tequila made with passion and care in the traditional way. How Villa Lobos Tequila is made To see where Villa Lobos Tequila is distilled, is to go back over a century to one of the last distilleries of its kind in Mexico where production is still done by hand in the old fashioned way, slowly and with ‘corazon’ (heart). The agave used for Villa Lobos is entirely harvested by agaveros from the Camarena Family plantations in Los Altos, (the celebrated Arandas highlands), thus ensuring only the very finest plants are used. Carlos, like his Father before him Don Felipe, and his Grandfather before him, regularly walks through the agave fields to see how the plants are developing. The source of the liquid that ultimately after crushing, fermentation & double distillation, becomes Villa Lobos Tequila. ‘autoclaves’/ pressure cookers’) but this wouldn’t be good enough for Villa Lobos. Cooking The finest agave with the highest fructose levels are used to make Villa Lobos (lesser grades will be sold to other Tequila producers in the area). The specially selected Agave plants are slowly cooked in the old traditional brick ovens (almost all distilleries now use rapid cooking stainless steel ‘autoclaves’/ pressure cookers’) but this wouldn’t be good enough for Villa Lobos. The smell of the cooked Agave hearts is beyond description and is like the sweetest of honey… indeed it is called,‘Miel deagave’ (honey of the agave). Milling The agave is then crushed in the mill in order to separate the agave juice from the fibre. Natural spring water is then added to the juice before fermentation and squeezed and the juice is slowly fermented in large wooden fermentation tanks. (Wooden tanks have almost disappeared from distilleries now-a-days, as they are so much harder to work with, however their end result is beyond comparison.) Fermenting Only the local natural yeasts blowing in on the wind through the glass-free open ‘windows’ are used to ferment the juice, and slowly the bubbling of the juices starts as the yeasts convert the natural plant sugars into carbon-dioxide and alcohol. When the sugars are fully fermented, the juices are taken into the copper pot stills and slowly distilled twice to produce the ultimate tequila possible… The pride of the La Alteña distillery, Villa Lobos. The result of the first distillation is known as ‘ordinario’ and eliminates some of the fatty acids and oily compounds.We then carry out the second distillation to produce the smoothest Tequila we can make with the most delicate aromas and flavour. Only Villa Lobos Tequila is made by us in this way. In order to concentrate the flavours we do something unique to us … we keep the blanco in steel tanks for 6 months to allow it to rest and slowly oxidise, so its flavours and bouquetare enhanced. This delay is expensive…normally tequila blanco is bottled immediately by most Tequileros, however Villa Lobos is not ‘most Tequilas’! The blanco thus has an incredibly smooth finish with the famous spicy, white-pepper nose so beloved of the great Arandas Tequila houses. Aging Some of the Tequila (Reposado) will be taken away and left in American oak Barrels to mature for up to 12 months. They will take on the darker gold tones of the oak barrels; and some will lie for 1-2 years or even more and become even darker and smoother and labelled as Añejo (old). Just a few barrels will be retained for up to five years for bottling and labelling as Extra Añejo…an expensive luxury to slowly sip and savour for those special occasions ! A WORD FROM CARLOS I specially select each barrel after a personal tasting. Only the very best quality product will be bottled as Villa Lobos. This tequila is made to honour and respect the memory of my father Don Felipe Camarena and my grandfather, founders of the dynasty. In their name I am proud to bring you Villa Lobos, one of the greatest tequilas in all of Mexico. ¡Salud! FTC Disclaimer: All samples are received free of charge but no payment is accepted by Tequila Aficionado or its agents for reviews. All reviews are the opinions of those participating in the tasting and positive reviews are never guaranteed.