The Legends & Legacies series explores the past and future of tequila industry master distillers, brand owners, and other inspirational and influential leaders, who share their experiences in short form interviews.
In This Episode: Jose Ruiz of Viuda de Martinez
On this episode of Legends & Legacies, we sit down at the Ex Hacienda La Parreña with Jose Ruiz, owner of Viuda de Martinez (the widow Martinez). It’s a brand whose lineage the family traces back to a tavern founded in 1840, and which Jose describes as the longest linearly operating brand in tequila's history.
Jose Ruiz: The Past
Jose didn't grow up dreaming about the tequila business. As a kid visiting his father at the distillery, he wasn't in love with the idea at all.
"When I was a kid, I used to go to visit my father. So at that time when I was in elementary school, I was not really in love with the idea. But then I realized that this was something unique, and that was something that I would like to do for the rest of my life. So I was lucky to get the ownership of Viuda de Martinez. And now we are here."
Ask him where he'd go if he could travel back in time, and he doesn't reach for the golden age of anything. He goes straight to her.
"I would like to go back to the time where La Viuda (the widow) used to run the distillery. That's between 1872 to 1889, when she passed away. At that time — being a woman within this kind of industry, nowadays it's really hard for women to be in this industry. I can't imagine how difficult it was back then."
The Viuda de Martinez tequila lineup, with Maria Catalina de Jesús Jiménez Jiménez on the labels.
"I think that she was really a smart person and a smart woman. So that's where I would like to go back."
What he'd say to the widow Martinez
"I'm the guy who is trying to be part of your legacy, to continue your legacy. Maria Catalina, you have to be proud that someone is still thinking of you and trying to preserve your legacy. I think that she will be proud of what we are doing now."
What he'd change about the brand’s history
Here's where most brand owners hedge. Jose doesn't.
Would he change any part of the brand's history — the lean years, the ownership changes, the stretches when nobody outside Jalisco was talking about La Viuda?
"What La Viuda is now is because of the good times and bad times that La Viuda has faced through all these years. So I won't change nothing. Nothing at all."
Jose Ruiz: The Future
The past is settled. The future is not.
Five years from now, Jose wants La Viuda back where he believes she belongs — among the recognized tequila brands of the world.
"What I would like to happen is to get La Viuda back the place that she belongs. Being one of those really, really recognized brands in the world. Because it used to be, and it has to be there again."
That's an ambitious target for a brand most American drinkers have never seen on a shelf. Jose seems fine with the gap between where the brand is and where he thinks it should be. What he isn't willing to do is close that gap by inventing a new story.
"Doing what you really love, it's the best thing that could happen to a person. And that's what is happening to me right now. I really love this business. I really love, obviously, the brand, my family's history. And I really love to know everything about tequila — not only about my brand, but also about other brands."
Building backwards at Viuda de Martinez
The next chapter isn't a new expression or a redesigned bottle. It's a distillery.
Jose is planning to build one on the hacienda grounds in La Parreña — on the site where a distillery is believed to have stood around 1880, in a hacienda that was built to make tequila in the first place.
The plan, as he describes it:
A tahona set where the stone columns stand today
Fermentation across a wide open area connected to the original structure
The original hacienda walls left as close to untouched as possible
"We want to do something really unique, trying to respect the process — how the tequila used to be distilled back when La Viuda was producing in the original distillery. We don't want to touch that. We want to give the distillery the essence that distilleries back in that time used to have."
It's the rare tequila plan where the boldest move is restraint.
Thank You, La Viuda
We asked Jose what he'd say to her, standing in the distillery he hasn't built yet.
"I will always be thankful and I will always admire her. So thank you, La Viuda. To be honest, thank you. Thanks for everything that's happening now. I really have to say thank you."
Jose Ruiz is living his dream. He'd be the first to tell you it started as hers.
About the Author
Keith Bogart identifies as a tequila consumption machine; co-creator of Fuerte Fanatics (Facebook); owner of Carolinas Tequila Collective (SC/NC local tequila fans group), owner of Sip Happens LLC (brand representation); and co-creator of Siempre "Zombie!" high-proof Blanco.
Keith has well established industry connections and is sort of a decent guy actually.
You can find him on Instagram.
