Ensemble de Quatro - Mengolí

Batch: VR-01

Release date: Sautter Cigars Exclusive Batch

main image for the Ensemble de Quatro - Mengolí mezcal webpage on the Sin Gusano project Mezcal library
main image for the Ensemble de Quatro - Mengolí mezcal webpage on the Sin Gusano project Mezcal library

At a glance:

  • Maguey: Coyote (A. Lyobaa), Tobala (A. Potatorum), Textate (A. Marmorata), Jabali (A. Convallis)
  • Producer: Victor Ramos
  • Region: Mengoli de Morelos, Miahuatlán District, Oaxaca
  • Cooking: Classic in-earth horno: 1 week roast
  • Milling: Tahona pulled by ox
  • Fermentation: 4-8 days in open air wooden tinas with well water
  • Distillation: Double pass in copper alembic
  • Composition: Heads, hearts and tails
  • Batch size: 50 litres
  • Date of production: Late summer 2021
  • ABV: 47.5%

Victor Ramos and his son Emanuel have a good reputation for producing consistently excellent agave spirits, developed by their batches being bottled by a few brands for the US market.

On the day we stopped in to say hello, there was just 16 litres remaining in the bodega of this already small batch ensemble. We couldn’t leave it behind. Here it is.

With a roughly even spit of maguey Coyote (Agave Lyobaa), maguey Tobala (Agave Potatorum), maguey Tepextate (Agave Marmorata), and maguey Jabalí (Agave Corvallis), this is a heady mix of powerful plants that less experienced producers may shy away from.

Mix of agave species growing on the family land where Ensemble de Quatro - Mengolí mezcal is produced

Mix of agave species growing on the family land

A field of agave for mezcal production in Mexcio

Agave and the milpa

The old palenque this batch of mezcal was produced in

The old palenque this batch was produced in

But Victor and Emanuel are 4th and 3rd generation producers respectively, and no strangers to the field blend.

This 50 litre batch was produced in late summer 2021, and by the time we got to it in October that year it had mostly been sold by the litre locally.

In the Miahuatlán style, agaves are roasted in an earthen horno for around a week, before being milled by tahona and then fermented in open air wooden tinas (well water added), and finally double distilled in copper alembics.

When we visited Victor was working on the build of a new enlarged palenque. So this may be one of the final batches to hail exclusively from the old stills.

Old palenque in the background with filled oven foreground for mezcal

Old palenque in the background with filled oven foreground

New alembics waiting for instillation in a mezcal distillery

New alembics waiting for instillation

Clean fermentation vat at the old palenque for mezcal production

Clean fermentation vat at the old palenque

Sin Gusano Project logo orange

Gracias Victor & Emanuel

House Tasting Notes:

Profile overview: Sweet, woody, grassy

Tasting notes: Sweet roasted agave on first nose, with more woody tones quickly opening that have become grassy even before you’ve had time for the first sip – big change over those first 30 seconds in the glass. Wow, on the palate there’s so much going on – initially sweet but with a peppered tones from the Tepextate kicking in quickly. After that the Jabalí makes itself know, with those powerful grassy woody tones it often has – similar to Karwinski but with the intensity and brightness turned up a notch. A long and round finish fades to a mild tingle and a desire for another sip.

A bottle of the Ensemble De Quatro mezcal made for the Sin Gusano project in collaboration with Sautter cigars

There's just 29 bottles in existence, and they’re all exclusively at Sautter Cigars

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