Palenqueros Tepextate Baltazar Cruz Gomez (70cl, 48.5%)

This mezcal is a joven made by Baltazar Cruz Gómez from wild-harvested Tepextate maguey in San Luis del Río, in the Tlacolula district of Oaxaca. The agaves are cooked in a conical stone oven, crushed with a tahona pulled by a mule, and fermented for four days with natural yeasts in pine wood vats. The mezcal is double distilled in a traditional 300-litre copper still fired with wood, then bottled uncut at 48.5%. Batch BC-TE01 yielded 1,071 bottles. The profile combines sandalwood, sun-dried flowers and exotic fruits with honey-sweet agave, bitter tree sap and herbs, plus mineral and salty notes. The nose shows sandalwood and sun-dried flowers with a fine spice note, then exotic fruits and refreshing citrus; the palate is sweet and full-bodied, with honey-sweet agave giving way to bitterness, pine and eucalyptus, then fresh lemon; the finish is long and velvety with balanced smoke, lime and grapefruit.