Reviews / Palenqueros Tepextate
Review · · by The Editors
Palenqueros Tepextate
Cruz tepextate at 48.5%. Clears the proof floor, just barely
Score: 3.5/5 agaves
- Producer: Palenqueros
- Maestro: Baltazar Cruz Gomez
- Region: San Luis del Rio, Oaxaca
- Agave: Tepextate
- ABV: 48.5%
- Price: $70 ($$)
Verdict
Tepextate below 48% is underproofed; at 48.5% Palenqueros and Cruz clear the minimum bar without overshooting it. The resulting bottle is honest but a bit restrained for a species that usually wants to declaim. Track against Palenqueros' house-level tepextate and other Cruz bottlings; this is the quieter one in a flight.
A tepextate that behaves – maybe too much
Tasting notes
Nose: Green pepper. Then gardenia, wet slate, a mineral top
Palate: Classic tepextate vegetal-floral register with 48.5% giving the species enough air, but the expression is more polite than most Cruz bottlings we've tasted, a shade quieter than expected
Finish: Dry, herbaceous
The bottom line
Reach for it in a Cruz flight. Not the first tepextate to buy