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T 
equilaterroir 
can
 
you
 
tell
 
a
 
tequila
 
by
 
its
 
region
?
By Jack Robertiello
Ever since
Patrón
blazed a path o success by ocusing on high-end imagery, many other tequilas have been developed with highhopes or similar results. And some have succeeded.According to the most recent statistics released by the DistilledSpirits Council o the United States (DISCUS), tequila boomed lastyear at the very highest end, with volume up among super-premiumsby 10.6%, the astest growing part o the business. And while te-quila is only the seventh leading spirits category in volume, with 10.6million 9-liter cases sold here last year, it accounted or nearly $1.6billion in gross revenues in 2008, making it the th largest revenue-producing category.DISCUS revealed that value–priced tequilas last year were up6.4% in volume; premium, the largest category by ar, was down1.3%; while high-end premium was down 9.2%. For comparison pur-poses,
 Juarez
is a typical value brand, while
Cuervo Especial
is apremium,
Sauza Hornitos
a high-end premium and
Don Julio Anejo
 a super-premium.Super-premium tequilas were one o the high points or the entirespirit business in 2008, according to DISCUS. Those brands (mostlyextra
anejos
aged a minimum o three years, but also aging and nish-
A 
s Americans continue to getsmart about tequila – what itis, where it comes from, howit’s supposed to taste and how to drink it –more and more brands are being made andmarketed with U.S. consumers in mind.
 
ing experiments) including
Cuervo Reservade la Familia
,
Gran Centenario Leyenda
,
Partida Elegante
, Bordeaux-barrel nished
Gran Patrón Burdeos
and others, have im-pressed journalists and consumers alike.Additionally, the quality halo emanatingrom these brands is just another way thattequila is seen to be improving. Not bad ora spirit that even a ew years ago many con-sumers still thought o in terms o salt andlimes, worms and rat parties.This summer, Patrón will implementa summer mixology program, highlight-ing the versatility and mixability o PatrónSilver and Patrón Citronge, through threekey drinks: “Patrón Pomegranate”, “PatrónGraperuit” and “Patrón Pineapple”. Salessta will promote these signature cocktails inboth the o- and on-premise.Things have gotten so hot that moreand more retailers, especially those doingbusiness in Caliornia and the southwesternstates, are having a hard time keeping thosesuper-premiums on the shel.Says Zack Romaya, owner o two SanDiego area wine and spirits shops, the expen-sive tequilas he stocks in his Old Town Wineand Spirits shop fy out the door: “It used tobe that single malts were the big high-endspirits, but or me now, unusual and veryexpensive items like the $2,500
Dos Lunas
,or the $1,300
 Asom Broso
11 year old, areattracting the collectors.” Romaya stocksaround 500 tequilas in his store, many o them in the $40-$70 range, but except orold avorites like Cuervo Gold and Sauza,ew o his customers seem to be looking or
mixto
tequilas. His tequila customers are di-vided airly equally into two areas o growth:women looking to explore the smoother sideo the spirit through
reposado
, and men whoare avoring both silver and
anejo
.It was the ideal time or Cuervo’s sig-nicant launch o 
Especial Silver
in thepremium price tier. Toby Whitmoyer, branddirector o the Jose Cuervo portolio or Dia-geo, notes that 60% o growth has come romsilver tequilas. “Having a silver version o Cuervo is a massive growth opportunity,”he says. “This particular launch is the singlebiggest opportunity that Cuervo has had in avery long time.” Very smooth with a slight,sweet taste o agave, the Especial Silver tar-gets males 21-29 (“the bullseye target is 21-24, a consumer a year or two out o collegending his way in the world”) designed to beconsumed as a rozen shot, although it workswell in margaritas, too. Looking ahead tothe summer, Whitmoyer says that Cinco deMayo through mid-September, is otherwiseknown as “Cuervo Season”. They plan onspending more than $30 million on ads andpromotions ocusing on launch support, thenew ad campaign o “Living NotoriouslyWell” and on-and o-premise activities re-volving around the margarita.
Product Differentiation 
Meanwhile, new brands, like
Lunazul
(whichtook a silver and a gold medal at last year’sSan Francisco World Spirits Competition)and
El Diamonte del Cielo
(praised by bothPaul Pacult’s Spirit Journal and by the Bev-erage Testing Institute) continue to arrive,looking or an edge. The crowded market-place is spurring brand owners and importersto rene their marketing pitches.Sapphire Brands'
Cielo Tequila
has de-veloped an original favor prole through itstri-barrel aging process. Both its
reposado
 and
añejo
tequilas pass time in sherry, Portand bourbon barrels which impart subtle fa-vors to the spirit.One point o dierence beyond the in-herent qualities o unaged silver, lightly agedWhile tequila has undergone a renaissance in recent years, Mezcal is still somewhatshrouded in obscurity. While both are produced rom the agave plant, the process orMezcal diers.
One To Try:
Scorpion, one of the leading Mezcals, known for its USFDA-approved scorpionin the bottle. They've just brought in the Oro de Oaxaca Mezcal, one of the most popularMezcals, that comes with a small bag of "sal de gusano" (worm salt) on each bottle as well asthe Mijes Mezcal, the new Mijes Joven variety in a blue blown-glass bottle with a cork/waxstopper.
potlighton mezcal
S 
•
While tequila is made exclusively romthe Blue Agave plant, mezcal can bemade rom many types o agave.
•
Tequila only has to be made with51% agave, but all mezcals must contain100% agave.
•
Mezcal is synonymous with the Oax-aca region, tracing its roots back to morethan 400 years; tequila is associated withMexico's Jalisco region.
•
“Worms,” the larva o one o two mothsthat live on the agave plant, are ound insome bottles o mezcal, not tequila.
 
reposado
, aged
anejo
and longer aged ex-tra
anejo
, has oten been argued amongtequila connoisseurs: whether tequilasmade in the Los Altos highlands (Aran-das, Jesus Maria, Atotonilco el Alto) di-er signicantly rom those rom the Jaliscovalley (Tequila, Amatitan, El Arenal).Highland tequilas are said to be moreruity and sweet, while lowland brands aresaid to be more spicy, herbal and earthier.These qualities are mostly evident in silverand sometimes
reposado
tequilas, which o-er more natural agave favors and aromasbeore the impact o new or used barrelstakes hold.“Some o my customers know aboutthe areas around Jalisco and the towns andhighlands,” says Mario Alejandro Marquez,Tequila ambassador at San Diego’s CaéCoyote. “And I do see more o an interestin those dierences. I always say that i theywant a tequila with more sweetness, theymay want to try one rom the highlands,because the agaves there seem to get riperquicker. When I’m there and compare thepiñas o the highlands, they are huge whilethose in Jalisco might be smaller.”The highlands are somewhat cooler,which may aect the growth o the agave,as may the higher iron content visible inthe rich red soil there. The result, Marquezsays, can mean that lowland tequilas aredryer and more peppery while the high-lands more sweet and crisp.“Some people rom Los Altos like toadvertise that there’s a huge dierence be-tween the agave rom the highlands andthose rom the valley,” says Ruben Aceves,international brand development directoror Casa Herradura, producer o 
Herradura
,
El Jimador
and
Don Eduardo
. “We haveproved that i you produce tequila that is100% rom Los Altos, they will tend to besweeter, ruitier with a more foral favorprole. I you produce one that is 100%rom the valley, the tequilas will be spicier,with pepper, mint and a little bit o cinna-mon and citrus.”But the company’s research indicatesthat sugar content rarely diers betweencomparable agaves rom the two areas,though the sensory notes that come romcompounds called terpenes are somewhatdierent.More importantly, many lowland pro-ducers, including Herradura, use pinas rom
last year, discusreported that thevolume ofsuper-premiums was up
10.6%,
the fastest growingpart of the business.
 
in 2008, tequilaaccounted for nearly
 $1.6 billion 
 
in gross revenues,making it the fifthlargest revenue-producing category.
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