Don Mateo de la Sierra Alto Mezcal

Don Mateo de la Sierra is the vinata of maestro mezcalero Emilio Vieyra in Pino Bonito, Michoacán, in the Río Balsas region, named for the ancestor who settled there and founded the distillery in 1840. Emilio, the sixth generation to make mezcal, works alongside his parents, was instrumental in bringing Michoacán into the mezcal denomination of origin, and became the first certified mezcalero in the state. This Alto is made from Agave inaequidens, known as maguey alto, both wild and sustainably cultivated, from Rancho El Limón, a 400-plus-acre family property managed as a nature reserve. The piñas are cooked in a conical earthen oven, crushed in a small mechanical grinder, fermented naturally in underground wood-lined tanks with spring water, and double distilled in the family's hybrid Filipino-style stills built from copper and pine and fir wood, the largest of their kind in the state. It rests in glass for at least six months and is bottled at about 46% ABV, varying by batch. Importer Skurnik describes it as lively and zesty, with green aromatics of hard cheese, fresh dandelion, peppercorn, damp leaves, menthol, key lime and wet soil, and VinePair rated it 92 points, calling it bright, piney and dank.

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