Reviews / Rezpiral Arroqueño - Berta Vasquez
Review · · by The Editors
Rezpiral Arroqueño - Berta Vasquez
Berta Vásquez's arroqueño, 19-year plants, 43.5% of discipline
Score: 4.5/5 agaves
- Producer: Rezpiral
- Maestro: Berta Vasquez
- Region: San Baltazar Chichicapam, Oaxaca
- Agave: Arroqueño
- ABV: 43.5%
- Price: $70 ($$)
Verdict
Arroqueño at 43.5% is supposed to read as under-proofed. Berta Vásquez's Series 7 is the exception that proves the rule – 19-year-old plants, tahona milling, cypress fermentation, and double distillation produce enough concentration to make up for what the ABV doesn't carry. This is the Rezpiral bottle that makes the case for the whole line. Put her alongside Lalocura's maestras; she belongs.
Berta Vásquez makes low proof read as high detail
Tasting notes
Nose: Dark honey. Then wet earth, cooked agave, wildflower, faint smoke
Palate: Low proof for arroqueño, and it works because Berta Vásquez's tahona-milled, cypress-fermented, double-distilled method concentrates everything the proof doesn't. Plant age does the rest; dense and layered at 43.5%
Finish: Warming, mineral. Very long
The bottom line
Buy – Berta Vásquez is one of the category's best, and this is her bottle