Arroqueño, Valles Centrales
VALLES CENTRALES
These are a series of expressions made by Don Valentin Cortes at his home palenque in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca where his family is from. Each batch will be decided by Don Vale based on his inspiration.
MAESTRO
Don Valentin Cortés
EDITION
2nd
MAGUEY (AGAVE)
Arroqueño (A. Americana var. Oaxacensis)
VILLAGE
Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca
OVEN / FUEL
Conical earthen pit / black oak
MILL
Tahona
FERMENT
Wild fermented in pine vats (with bagasso)
DISTILLATION
2x in 300 liter alembic of copper (with bagasso)
NOTES
Aroma - toasted cedar, raspberry shrub, november rain
Taste - charred green beans, tarragon, agave
Texture - bold, numbing, spicy oils, long finish
ABV
Varies by batch
Harvest
The harvested agave are shaved of their leaves to prepare for roasting.
Cook
Cooked for several days on oak in an earthen pit, the complex carbohydrates are slowly converted to accessible sugars.
Plant
This particular variety of Agave Americana can take many years to mature and usually lend an entourage of complexity to a mezcal.
Mill
Crushing by tahona gently processes the cooked agave, so that fermentation can occur naturally.
Ferment
Natural fermentation in pine with bagasso, or the agave fibers, is when many of the chemical compounds are created that give us interesting flavors.
Distill
Distillation is done twice in copper alembic stills of about 300 liters.
