First Single-Estate Tequila in the United States Now Available in 22 Markets
Corona del Mar, California - Altamar Brands, LLC announced today that Tequila Ocho, the first ultra-premium single estate vintage tequila to be introduced to the United States market, is releasing its 2010 vintage in time to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. The Plata variety, from Los Corrales, is available now. The 2010 release of Reposado and Añejo from Los Corrales will be released in August and early 2011, respectively. (San Augustine 2010 Añejo is in market now).
"To celebrate Cinco de Mayo, we recommend you do so the way our family would: over a lovely dinner. Enjoy Ocho as an aperitif to stimulate the palate, followed by a perfect pairing with a cheese course, seafood and as a compliment to aged meat," says Tomas Estes.
Ocho's agave is sourced from "single estates," meaning a single piece of land with its own microclimate. Access to the Camarena family's multiple estates, at highly varying altitudes, allows Ocho to showcase different aroma and flavor characteristics in each vintage harvest. The brand represents the unveiling of "terroir" as a genuine product concept in tequila and confirms that it exists as much in agave as it does in grapes. This concept is well understood in wine, but has not been seriously explored in spirits. Whereas most spirits focus their production on delivering a consistent character profile for their product, Ocho is unique in its delivery of complexity of character through its use of multiple estates at different altitudes in different climates.
Tequila Ocho is the product of collaboration between third generation Tequilero Felipe Camarena and Tomas Estes, Ambassador of Tequila to Europe. What differentiates Ocho from other tequilas and makes it unique in its category is its rarity. Because of the time it takes an agave to mature, each estate cannot be replenished for almost ten years after each harvest, thus making each vintage of Ocho a rare and collectable tequila. Ocho was launched on August 8, 2008, in California, and the first vintage was sold out in less than six months.
While Ocho's product concept is highly innovative, the process by which the tequila is made remains highly traditional. All agaves are slow-cooked at low temperatures in stone ovens and fermented naturally with airborne yeast. The distillation is done very slowly at low heat to retain the maximum agave flavors. No chemicals are used. The artisanal approach is intensely handcrafted at every step of production, including the packaging, when each bottle is numbered by hand and stamped with the estate name of each vintage.
"Agave is rich and complex. It imparts vastly different flavors when harvested from different microclimates at different altitudes. No one has ever demonstrated this before in tequila," says W.L. Lyons Brown, CEO of Altamar Brands. Ocho will demonstrate there is "terroir" in agave. "The wonderful taste nuances in the 2010 vintage from Los Corrales showcase this concept."
Rancho "Los Corrales" is located in Los Altos and means the corrals or 'place to keep livestock'. It has high temps of 80F and lows of 48F producing extremely high sugar-content in the agave plant. Los Corrales grew 20,800 agave plants and this is the first time that agave has been planted here. The soil is deep red, with no rocks present and the land is triangular. The agave plants were harvested at eight years old and matured fast due to the rich soil in which they were grown.
Tequila Ocho 2010 Vintage from Los Corrales will be available in markets such as: Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Miami, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Houston. 2010 Ocho is currently available in Plata and will be sold at $60 per bottle. Reposado will be available in August for $70 per 750ml bottle. Añejo will be available in early 2011 and retail for $80.
2010 Tasting Notes
2010 Tequila Ocho Plata, Los Corrales – Color: brilliant, clear and viscous. Nose: very lively, fresh agave, acidity leads, sugar follows [tropical fruits], candied green fruits, charcuterie, earthiness. Palate: peppery attack, agave followed by vegetal notes, mellows goes to 'creamy' fruit, finishes in mint dryness with coffee, cacao and fruit returns
2009 Tasting Notes
2009 Tequila Ocho Plata, Las Pomez – Nose: Sweet molasses, butterscotch and ripe agave opening up to cooked pumpkin and hints of peppermint. Palate: fresh, lively, round sweetness, subtle tropical fruits and a hint of cinnamon.
