Understanding tequila
One plant, five official categories, one region, and a set of rules that permit rather more flexibility than the shelf suggests. Here is what each term on the label is actually promising you.
The rules that define it
Tequila is a denomination of origin. It can only be produced from blue Weber agave, and only within Jalisco plus a defined set of municipalities in Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit and Tamaulipas. The Consejo Regulador del Tequila oversees compliance, and every certified distillery carries a NOM number that appears on the bottle.
Two words on a label carry real weight. 100% de agave means every fermentable sugar came from agave. Without it, the spirit is a mixto: at least fifty-one percent agave, with the remainder made up from other sugars, usually cane. Both are legally tequila. They are not the same drink.
| Term on label | What it guarantees |
|---|---|
| 100% de agave | All sugars from blue Weber agave. Must be bottled in the region. |
| NOM number | Identifies the distillery, not the brand. Several brands often share one NOM. |
| Hecho en México | Required origin statement. Present on essentially every bottle, so it distinguishes nothing. |
| Additive free | Not a regulated claim. It is a producer statement, verified only by third parties outside the CRT. |
The ageing ladder
Colour on the shelf runs from water-clear to deep copper, and it is tempting to read that gradient as time. Sometimes it is. Regulations allow up to one percent additives by volume, a group that includes caramel colouring, oak extract, glycerin and sugar syrup, so colour alone is not evidence.
Blanco
Bottled at or near distillation strength after little or no rest. Everything the agave, the fermentation and the still contributed is still on display, which is exactly why it is the hardest category to hide behind.
Joven
A legal catch-all. It can be a blend of blanco with an aged tequila, or a blanco coloured and softened with permitted additives. The category name tells you very little on its own.
Reposado
Rested in oak. Vanilla, baking spice and a rounder texture arrive, and some of the raw vegetal character retreats. Barrel size and previous fill matter more than the month count.
Añejo
Aged in oak vessels no larger than 600 litres. The wood is now a lead voice rather than a supporting one. In small barrels, agave can disappear entirely.
Extra Añejo
Introduced as a category in 2006. Often compared to aged rum or whisky, which is the point and also the criticism: at this length, telling it came from agave takes attention.
Where the flavour actually comes from
Category tells you about the barrel. Production tells you about the spirit, and most of it is decided before a barrel is involved.
- Cooking. Traditional brick ovens work slowly and develop deep cooked-agave sweetness. Autoclaves are faster and cleaner. A diffuser skips roasting almost entirely, extracting sugars from raw shredded agave with water and acid, which yields volume and a notably thinner spirit.
- Milling. A tahona, the stone wheel, presses fibre and juice together and tends to leave a fuller, earthier texture. Roller mills are efficient and give a cleaner result.
- Fermentation. Open-air tanks and wild yeast add fruit, funk and variability. Closed stainless with cultured yeast delivers consistency.
- Distillation. Copper pot stills are standard. Where the distiller makes the cuts decides how much of the heavier, oilier character survives.
If a bottle carries no ageing statement and tastes overwhelmingly of vanilla, the wood is doing work that the agave did not.