Reviews / De Matachines Peñasco
Review · · by The Editors
De Matachines Peñasco
Peñasco salmiana at 47.9%. The De Matachines peak
Score: 4.5/5 agaves
- Producer: De Matachines
- Maestro: Martin Hernandez
- Region: Peñasco, San Luis Potosí
- Agave: Salmiana
- ABV: 47.9%
- Price: $70 ($)
Verdict
Martin Hernandez's Peñasco salmiana at 47.9% is the De Matachines bottle to hunt. It's austere in the way Sonoma pinot isn't, Ahualulco more so – the agave's bitter-mineral spine fully present and uncompromised. Buy this over any southern wild agave at the same price if you want a genuinely different grammar. Northern mezcal's high-water mark on this catalog.
Salmiana in the right hands is the mezcal Oaxaca can't make
Tasting notes
Nose: Crushed herbs with roasted corn, bitter chocolate
Palate: Salmiana from Peñasco under Martin Hernandez's hand at 47.9% – concentrated, bitter-mineral, structurally unlike anything Oaxaca ships
Finish: Cool, bitter-dry – very long
The bottom line
Chase it down. The bottle that makes the case for Potosí mezcal