Leyendas Maguey Arroqueno

Verdict

Angélica García Vázquez is one of the maestras whose name deserves to be on the bottle, and Leyendas has had the discipline to put it there. Her arroqueño from San Baltazar Chichicapam reads as what the agave sounds like when nobody is trying to flatter it – weighty, brown-sugared, with the mineral undertow that separates real arroqueño from its pretenders. Worth tracking next to Lalocura's arroqueño: a different hand, the same commitment.

Tasting notes

Nose: Dark chocolate, dried cherry, roasted pepper, warm stone

Palate: Dense and slow-opening, with the arroqueño's characteristic meaty-sweet weight carried by a confident 46.2%. García Vázquez lets the agave do what arroqueño does – nothing is prettied up

Finish: Long, warming, faintly chocolatey

The bottom line

Honor the name on the label. Buy it