Excellia Reposado Tequila 750ml

Excellia™ Tequila is crafted exclusively from blue agave and goes through a unique double ageing process in Cognac and Grand Cru Sauternes casks. Produced in Los Altos, Excellia™ Tequila combines its Mexican origins and savoir-faire – brought by renowned tequila master distiller Carlos Camerena – with the expertise of Jean-Sébastien Robicquet, founder of Ciroc and Maison Villevert. Excellia™ Tequila is the perfect blend of elegance, sophistication, and roundness.

With its golden straw color, Excellia™ Reposado reveals a complex nose mixing honey, toasted wood, mushroom, dried lavender, jasmine, and violet notes. The nine months ageing in grand cru sauternes wine casks and cognac barrels provide a round and extensive mouthfeel with rich honey, cigar-box, and caramelized-agave/pumkin notes mixed with subtle rancio and orchard fruits. The finish is long and satisfying with spicy and earthy notes. Respecting the characteristics of a tequila from "Los Altos," Excellia™ reveals stunning and innovative aromas thanks to its unique ageing.

The Agave Harvest
Excellia™ is made from 100% blue agave. This agave requires a lot of patience and care. Just how vineyards produce quality grapes after 8 years, the agave plant needs 8 to 10 years before it reaches maturity. Once the agave is considered ripe and ready (red marks on the piña), the Jimador cuts out by hand the long and sharp leaves and separates the piñas (the core of the agave) from the plant. The piñas are then loaded in a truck to be transported to the distillery: La Alteña.

The Cooking
Once unloaded at the distillery, the piñas are cut in quarters with a hatchet and placed by hand into a stone and brick oven. Most distilleries use stainless steel autoclaves baking the agave in a few hours but caramelizing the piñas which can add bitter flavors. At la Alteña, the piñas are slowly steam-cooked during 36 hours and then cooled down for another 36 hours. The steam method allows the piñas to slowly bake to perfection. Just like cooking in a traditional terracotta pot, the brick oven preserves the natural flavors of the ingredients and enhances the sweet and round characteristics. The cooked piñas are then shredded and crushed to extract the agave juice, also called honey water.

The Fermentation and Distillation
The agave juice is collected in large wooden vats and naturally ferments during 7 to 10 days with indigenous yeast. Excellia™ is then double distilled in copper pot stills.

The Ageing Process
A unique ageing in Grand Cru Sauternes wine casks and in Cognac barrels completes this very authentic tequila making-process. The sauternes wine casks have been used to produce only one vintage, meaning two or three years. The young wood of the Sauternes casks rapidly grants the tequila elegant sweet and fruity notes. The cognac casks have been used for more than 20 years to age renowned cognacs. The aromas are therefore deeply seeped through the wood and they are released more slowly and subtly than the sauternes.