How Enrique Fonseca Became a True Tequila Pioneer
Enrique Fonseca isn’t just Cierto’s Master Distiller, he’s a legend in the tequila industry.
Against all odds, he transitioned from a humble agavero (agave farmer) to a renowned tequila pioneer – leaving his home in Jalisco at a young age to change the face of tequila as an outsider, introducing novel production techniques and embracing a progressive agricultural point of view, all while making Cierto a uniquely global luxury spirit.
Enrique’s fascinating story is one of resourcefulness and resilience, balancing innovation with tradition and the importance of family, community and nature.
ENRIQUE’S EARLY DAYS IN JALISCO
In his hometown of Atotonilco El Alto, in the Jalisco highlands, Enrique Fonseca learned at a young age to work hard and take matters into his own hands, tending to his family’s agave orchards. “I spent more than forty years of my life working with my father in the field,” he says. As a fourth generation agavero, agave cultivation was in his blood – his great-grandfather farmed in the late 1800s, and his grandfather and father continued the tradition.
The Fonseca family were some of the largest and best agave growers in the region. In the mid-1980s, Enrique’s father secured large, 12-year agave supply contracts with two of Mexico’s largest tequila suppliers. However, a slowdown in the tequila industry caused both suppliers to cancel their contracts with the family just 5 years in, leaving them with a vast acreage of maturing agave plants – and nobody to sell them to. “We needed to find a way to preserve our mature agave or risk losing it completely,” he remembers.
Determined to take his fate into his own hands, Enrique decided to buy the historic La Tequileña distillery and produce his own tequila rather than waste his family’s excellent agave plants. He knew that the agave was the best in Mexico and that it would produce excellent tequila, but he didn’t know the first thing about the distillation process. He recalls that he was “completely lost.”
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LEARNING TO MAKE TEQUILA, IN SCOTLAND
When Enrique purchased La Tequileña, the distillery was equipped with alembic pot stills and a continuous column still, neither of which he knew how to operate. And the other distillers in Jalisco, now his competitors, weren’t willing to teach him.
So Enrique made a commitment to teach himself.
As a lover of Scotch whisky, he learned that many Scottish distillers used both types of stills to blend their products to create whisky with incredible texture and finish. He needed to know more, so he packed his bags and headed for Scotland.
Once ashore, Enrique apprenticed under Scotch whisky distillers, who were more than happy to share their distillation, maturation and blending techniques – but did not yet know they were providing him the experience that would one day culminate in the Most Awarded Tequila in History, Cierto.
THE FRENCH CONNECTION
After Scotland, Enrique recalls that he “became fascinated by the aging process and wanted to educate myself further.” He departed to France, studying barrel maturation from traditional winemakers and the art of blending from Cognac producers.
He realized how the French oak barrels used in the production of French wine and spirits imparted subtler, more layered flavors upon the alcohol – the wood is softer, less dense and more finely grained than the often heavily-charred American oak barrels used by other tequila distillers. The aging process in French oak is longer and slower, with less barrel interaction and oxygenation. Cierto’s elegant finish and balanced integration of agave and oak is a result of this process, which requires more diligence and patience – which Enrique has, in droves.
Upon returning to Mexico with his newfound European wine and spirits production knowledge, Enrique did what no other distiller in Jalisco was doing – and developed new methods of tequila-making and maturation that would change the industry forever.
He used both types of stills at La Tequileña and went a step further, blending spirits from multiple stills to produce perfectly balanced tequilas. He also noticed how his añejo tequilas, aged for 12 months at the minimum, tasted better and more interesting the longer they matured. Over the years, Enrique procured many incredible barrels of French oak, previously holding some of the finest wines, Cognacs and Armagnacs in which to age his tequilas. And over the years, he put more and more of the tequila away into his private barrel library, which has grown into one of the world’s largest and most sought-after collections of aged tequila. These tequilas are eventually blended into Cierto, resulting in some of the finest tequilas ever created.
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KNOWLEDGE OF TEQUILA FROM THE GROUND UP
As Enrique tells it, “maturation begins in the field” and his unique grower-first perspective understands that the primary factor in a tequila’s flavor is the quality of the agave. That’s why he only uses estate-grown agave harvested from land he owns, leveraging generations of expertise in soil, growing conditions and the entire agricultural process to ensure the most control and discretion.
He considers a wide variety of factors when spot-harvesting mature agave plants to meet his extraordinarily high standards for Cierto, such as elevation, humidity, temperature and soil – essentially, terroir. “All of these things will affect the ultimate flavor of a tequila,” he says.
Cierto is crafted from agave grown in the Jalisco highlands, or Los Altos, where Enrique notes the plants are “fruitier and peppery, depending on exactly where the agave was harvested. Because the agave from Los Altos can be riper, with more sugar, the flavors tend to be riper as well.”
LA TEQUILEÑA TODAY
Enrique Fonseca has become an expert on all things related to tequila-making, from planting the agave to blending and bottling the aged spirit. And unlike those distillers back in the day who wouldn’t teach him, Enrique enjoys sharing the vast wealth of knowledge that he has acquired with those who want to learn.
La Tequileña distillery, NOM 1146, is one of most highly respected tequila distilleries in Mexico, producing a number of acclaimed tequilas including the Most Awarded Tequila in History, Cierto.
To date, Cierto has amassed more than 1,000 international medals and awards and has been described as “the world’s best tequila,” “the hottest name in spirits” and an “absolute masterpiece of craftsmanship.” It’s all thanks to our Master Distiller Enrique, the generations of agaveros that came before him and his global journey in pursuit of knowledge.
Ready to enjoy the fruits of Enrique Fonseca’s expertise? Shop Cierto’s Reserve Collection Blanco to taste his fascinating exploration of agave terroir or Cierto’s Private Collection Extra Añejo to experience his masterful, artful blending of French oak-aged tequilas.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jim Ruane is the Chief Growth Officer of Elevated Spirits and Cierto Tequila. During his 20-year beverage career, Jim has led some of the world’s most respected brands, has studied and taught the engineering, chemistry and cultural significance of spirits distillation and is one of the industry’s most dynamic leaders.
