Del Maguey San Jose Rio Minas Mezcal

San José Río Minas is a Vino de Mezcal — Del Maguey's very limited series of one-off village finds — and, in the brand's words, a living example of the saying that you don't find mezcal, mezcal finds you. Ron Cooper, the Taos artist who founded Del Maguey in 1995 on the single-village idea, came across it in the remote Northern Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, a high, dry, indigenous Mixtec region far from the Tlacolula and Ocotlán valleys where most of the brand's villages sit, and released it in small quantities under the village's name. Made in the traditional way — agave roasted in an earthen pit, crushed, naturally fermented, and twice-distilled by the local family — with the agave variety, palenquero, and ABV printed on the label of each release; check yours. Mixteca mezcals have a reputation among enthusiasts for a distinctive, often wilder character than the central-valley bottlings: expect a nose of cooked agave and green herb with a mineral, high-desert edge and a clean smoke, opening into a rustic, textured palate with savory depth, earthy sweetness, and a long, dry finish that tastes of somewhere specific. Honest note: this is a collector's bottle from a limited series — a sipper for drinkers who've worked through Del Maguey's core villages and want the rare ones. In a copita, neat, with the label in front of you. The certified-organic hand-blown bottle with the Ken Price label. Mezcal that found Ron Cooper.

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