Tequilera Profile - Ana Maria Romero, Mijenta Tequila

A Sensory EXPERIENCE

WITH MAESTRA TEQUILERA, ANA MARÍA ROMERO

By Megan Rider

As a Maestra Tequilera, Ana María Romero oversees the entire process of creating Mijenta Tequila, a sustainable artisanal tequila from the Highlands of Jalisco.

Ana María’s journey to Maestra Tequilera began with wine, as she has always been passionate about the aromatics of well-crafted wine and its reflection of the terroir of the grapes coupled with the expertise of the winemakers. As she became more interested in the story of tequila, Ana María spent her time researching the aromas and tasting notes of the spirit. She traveled to several tequila houses to document the subtle variations of textures and notes, which led to the publishing of her book, The Art of Tasting Tequila, in 2007.

“Ultimately, I identified 600 unique scents in tequila and mapped them onto an aroma wheel, which has since been adopted across the industry.” Tasting tequila, like tasting wine, is a sensory experience, according to Ana María. “I start visually, holding the tequila up to the light in a clear glass to really see the spirit. I’m looking at the color and viscosity to see what the body is like.

Then, holding the glass at an angle to expose as much of the surface of the liquid as possible to the oxygen, I smell at the rim of the glass to see what different notes I can identify. If you move around the glass—the top, the bottom, each side—you can pick up on different scents. Then I take a small sip to coat the tongue, followed by a longer sip while I breathe through my nose to tease out the many different flavors the tequila presents.”

Ana María emphasizes that the first taste of Mijenta is of the agave in every expression: Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo. “We begin with the perfect agave plants, hand-selected from the best plots, before slowly cooking them for many hours. We ferment the agave using our own special yeast that enhances the natural fruit characteristics before carefully distilling it to preserve all the flavors we’ve developed. When we age our tequila, we don’t have a set time for how long it remains in the barrels. When the flavor is exactly right, that’s when it’s ready.”

The promotion of biodiversity and minimizing the impacts on the environment are of utmost importance when crafting Mijenta Tequila. Not only are all the company’s products carbon neutral, but the labels are crafted from agave waste, the bottles are made from recycled glass, and the boxes are constructed from 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard.

When asked what makes Mijenta Tequila special, Ana María listed several aspects, such as the quality of the agave (100% Blue Weber agave), the terroir of the highlands of Jalisco, the way the agave is slow cooked, and the careful distillation process. As she works to capture the authentic flavors and aromas of the agave, Ana María believes that another aspect that distinguishes Mijenta from other tequilas is that no additives are used.

“To me, using additives defeats the purpose of tequila, which is to taste the agave. Why go through the whole process just to change the color, smell, taste, and body with additives?” As tequila continues to grow in popularity, Ana María hopes that consumers continue to seek out the true flavor of agave, like Mijenta Tequila so openly showcases.