Mezcal November continues. Here is another release from La Luna. La Luna is based in Michoacán where members of the Perez Escot family—from which all of La Luna’s mezcaleros hail—has been making mezcal for four generations. They are a relatively recent brand but have a pretty good presence in the American market. At any rate, a lot of their expressions are available in Minnesota. I’ve previously reviewed a few of these: the Tequilana; the Manso Sahuayo; another Manso Sahuayo bottled for the Minnesota Agave Society; and an ensamble made from a mix of Tequilana, Manso Sahuayo and Cupreata. I’ve liked them all a lot. Today I have review of a bottle of Lot 50 of their Chino. Chino is apparently the name for the wild cultivar of the Cupreata maguey. As with most mezcals, there is a wealth of information on the production methods on the La Luna labels (though unlike Real Minero’s labels, La Luna’s labels dispense this information in Spanish; I like this touch). So I can tell you that the maguey is roasted in conical earthen ovens, spontaneously fermented and distilled in copper and pine stills. I don’t yet know enough about mezcal to make much of this information but perhaps it will be of interest to you. Here now are my notes on this bottle which I opened last week.

La Luna, Chino (48.51%; Lot 50; from my own bottle)

Nose: Vegetal arrival but moves quickly in a more acidic direction: jalapeños in vinegar, salted lime. A little grassy on the second sniff and there’s also a floral sweetness. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that there’s a big hit of smoke from the get-go. As it sits the floral sweetness moves somewhere between cotton candy and talcum powder. A drop of water pushes back the smoke and the green notes and brings out some cream.

Palate: Comes in green and smoky with a nice bitter bite as I swallow. Rich texture and a good bite at full strength. The bitter lime peel and salt from the finish pop out earlier with each sip. Water emphasizes the savoury notes here and pushes the bitter notes back.

Finish: Long. The smoke keeps going and building and then there’s a lot of bitter lime peel and some cracked pepper. Salt gets the last word. Less smoke and less of the bitter notes here too with water.

Comments: A very drinkable mezcal. This is more in the classic/stereotypical mezcal profile of smoke and green pepper and lime and as such is not going to disappoint anyone interested in that combo. I wish I had a bottle of a cupreata at hand to compare the difference between cultivated and wild. I’ll try to save some of this bottle for such time as when I can make that comparison.

Rating: 87 points.