After being made since inception at Cascahuín (NOM 1123) in El Arenal in the Jalisco Valley, El Gran Legado de Vida recently made a big change. The brand is now being crafted at Destiladora Juanacatlan (NOM 1551) located between Guadalajara and Lake Chapala.
All distillery changes create different flavors. This is inescapable. However, because El this brand owns its own agave, grown in Michoacán, the raw materials stayed the same. This new batch of Reposado from El Gran Legado De Vida is still traditionally made, and if anything the agave shines through more than it did at the previous distillery.
The agaves are cooked in a brick oven, and the finished product is rested for approximately four months in multiple types of oak barrels, including American and French oak.
Nose: The aroma is layered and complex, featuring cooked agave up front, mixed with some minerality, oak, vanilla, butter, cinnamon and citrus.
Palate: On the palate, those same notes carry through, with the cooked agave, oak, vanilla, cinnamon, butter while being easy sipping.
Finish: Where this really shines is on the finish, as the sweet cooked agave profile from the Michoacán agaves really shines with lovely lingering notes of vanilla, cinnamon and butter with a light touch of oak.
Sometimes tequilas switching distilleries can create skepticism, but this one is working out beautifully.
NOM | 1123 |
|---|---|
Agave | Jalisco (Los Valles) |
Cooking | Stone / brick ovens |
Extraction | Roller mill |
Water | Deep well water |
Fermentation | Stainless steel tanks |
Still | Open-air stainless steel tanks without fibers |
Age | 4 months in Cognac casks, French oak, American white oak, and Bourbon barrels |
ABV | 40% |
