I began this week of mezcal reviews with Del Maguey’s Tobala, which I rather liked. Here now is another of their releases: Wild Tepextate. As per the Mezcal Reviews site the producer is the same as that of the Tobala, which means it’s also from Santa Maria Albarradas. Tepextate is also a variety of agave found at high altitudes—you’ll never guess but it grows wild. That pretty much exhausts my knowledge about this mezcal. Well, I can tell you it also costs in the neighbourhood of $100 in most parts of the US and that it is currently available in Minnesota for a bit more than that. Okay, let’s get to it.

Del Maguey, Wild Tepextate (45%; Lot: TEP 181; from a bottle split)

Nose: More acidic than the Tobala, with more of a mineral note as well. Otherwise, similar notes of lime, green chiles and salt with mild passionfruit. Some charred pineapple in there too. More savoury as it sits with a bit of ham brine joining the party. With a couple of drops of water the “green” notes recede and the savoury notes expand.

Palate: Comes in sweet but there’s a bitter, vegetal note anchoring it. Good bite at 45% but the texture is a bit thinner than the Tobala. More lime on the second sip but also more of the vegetal bitterness. The bitter note comes to the fore with time. No real interesting change with water.

Finish: Long. The lime turns to lime zest here and the vegetal note hangs out as well. A bit more lime emerges with water.

Comments: This is pleasant enough but I far preferred the Tobala. I gather there’s a fair bit of batch variation from release to release, and so I don’t know how representative my notes for this one might be for another batch; but between the Tobala I reviewed and this batch of the Wild Tepextate, I’d take the Tobala, no question.

Rating: 84 points.