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Fortaleza Blanco Tequila is produced with 100% blue agave grown for about eight years in the Tequila Valley at the Destileria La Fortaleza, NOM 1493, overseen by producer Guillermo Erickson Sauza. The agave is cooked by steam in small-batch stone ovens for 36 hours, then milled and stone-crushed by a volcanic stone tahona pulled by an electric tractor.
The mosto (combination of agave fibers and liquid) ferments in wood open-air tanks with a special strain of yeast. It is double-distilled in copper pot stills, first in a 700-liter still for ordinario (a product that is roughly 20% ABV), then in a 500-liter still to produce a tequila with an ABV of around 46%. The resulting liquid is proofed down to 40% with natural spring water from the Fortaleza’s estate aquifers.
Fortaleza’s blanco expression is unaged. It is bottled in glass containers that are hand-blown in Jalisco, Mexico. |