BOTTLE DETAILS

• DISTILLER: Tequila Los Abuelos (NOM 1493)
• MASH BILL: 100 percent Webber blue agave
• AGE: 6 months
• YEAR: 2024
• PROOF: 93 (46.5% ABV)
• MSRP: $199
• BUY ONLINE: It won’t be released until late September, and even then, retailers aren’t guaranteed they’ll get it.

STEVE’S NOTES

SHARE WITH: Tequila lovers who will appreciate this rare and coveted pour.

WORTH THE PRICE: Yes.

BOTTLE, BAR OR BUST: Get a bottle if you can, but if you ever see it on a bar, buy it if the bottle isn’t too depleted.

OVERALL: Fortaleza Winter Blend is one of the most highly coveted releases in the tequila category. It’s already difficult to find regular releases of blanco, reposado, anejo and Still Strength from an artisanal brand producing only 36,000 9-liter cases annually. At approximately 10,400 bottles (about 866 9-liter cases), you begin to see how small this release is.

If you want a good idea of just how coveted it is, know that two trucks full of Winter Blend cases were stolen last year en route to the U.S. The theft amounted to nearly 5 percent of the distillery’s annual volume. That’s how crazy it’s become.

And, of course, the social media angst over it is worse than ever. A friend who joined me and several others on this year’s press visit to taste WB 24, posted a video of himself and some other content providers lazily yukking it up after we’d completed the tasting. Some who saw the post called him a few choice words and blamed him for adding to the never-requited desire of some to taste this release. Translation: He was made he didn’t get in on the fun. Don’t hate us ’cause you like our jobs.

But enough of the craziness. Let’s get into how this is made and how it tastes.

Winter Blend begins, as always, with 92 proof Fortaleza Still Strength blanco, which was poured into French oak casks that previously held cream sherry. After 4 months, the barrels were dumped, the liquid was mingled and returned to the barrels for 4 more months. The barrels were dumped and mingled once more, and then mingled with multiple barrels of Fortaleza reposado (some were 3 months, others 10 months). The final yield was 7,800 liters.

We tasted this at the distillery in Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico, out on the tip of a manmade peninsula in a large retention pond. It’s a beautiful spot which is shaded by an old and massive tamarind tree. There was a constant but gentle breeze that, pleasant as it was to our sweaty necks, it tended to steal a lot of the aroma from the glasses before us. In my notes I wrote, “TASTE THIS AGAIN WHEN YOU GET HOME.”

At the distillery I nosed aromas such as cooked agave, nutmeg, oak, nuts and baked croissant. It was medium dry on the palate and rich with golden raisins, roasted agave, pineapple and spice from the French oak casks. Despite the brevity of my notes, I loved it. I thought it sophisticated, complex and ideal for slow sipping with charcuterie or seafood.

Thankfully, everyone was sent home with a 375ml of the Winter Blend, which I opened a few weeks later. As expected, it was different in the breeze-free confines of my office. To wit:

The nose is bright and fruity, redolent of cooked agave and agua miel (liquid created by washing roasted, crushed agave to collect its sugars and then fermented). It’s nicely herbaceous, lightly floral and highly citrusy (lemon and lime peels). A little mint and papaya wriggle in before ending with golden apple. This bouquet is the aroma of production at Fortaleza.

It’s incredibly rich on the palate, coating, deeply honeyed and full of golden raisins. The second sip is slightly mineral with a dash of white pepper and miles dulces, the “sweet honeys” dripping from the agave when roasting. The influence of multiple barrels dominates the finish but pleasantly so: desirable tannic complexity without much dryness. The final sip brings abundant floral character before another wave of miles dulces rushes in. It is superb, a tequila release worthy of the hunt.

BRAND NOTES

As of yet, there are no brand notes.

Disclaimer: Bourbon & Banter received a sample of this product from the brand for review. We appreciate their willingness to allow us to review their products with no strings attached. Thank you.