Our most up-to-date pilgrimage to the land of Tequila was to go to LVMH-owned Volcan de mi Tierra and its state-of-the-art distillery in Jalisco, Mexico.
LVMH took on the Volcan model in a 50-50 possession take care of the Gallardo household, fifth-generation Tequila makers, in 2016, after they acquired the distillery Nom 1523 in Jalisco.
The distillery is a single Nom, which means it makes Tequila for Volcan, and Volcan alone. The model is a part of an unique membership of 20 single Nom distilleries, out of the hundreds of Tequila manufacturers floating round at present.
Co-founder Santiago Cortina Gallardo, who grew to become CEO in early 2023, was kindly on-hand to play tour information, as was common supervisor and chief industrial officer Carlos Pechieu.
LVMH: why? How? The story behind the French connection was defined to us by Pechieu, who mentioned Don Juan, Gallardo’s uncle, met with the French agency’s executives in Paris. Pechieu remembers that by means of “a really cordial and clear dialog”, Don Juan queried how LVMH – a pacesetter in luxurious with Dom Pérignon and Moët & Chandon in its portfolio – didn’t have a Tequila. Tequila was the new factor within the US on the time, so this felt like an oversight on LVMH’s half.
LVMH agreed to get into Tequila with Don Juan below two situations. The primary was they wanted to do it collectively as a result of LVMH is French and due to this fact missing the 5 generations of Tequila-making the Gallardos might name upon, and the second was a mandate to make the most effective Tequila – “as a result of a luxurious model begins by being a top quality product”, Pechieu says.
“In these early days of partnership the settlement was that the household was chargeable for crafting a terrific Tequila and LVMH as companions have been chargeable for the model constructing, technique and enterprise deployment of Volcan around the globe,” he provides.
Gallardo notes the enterprise mannequin has developed since: “The precise story is we’re not in it for a fast buck both as a result of it could possibly be seen as a chance of, ‘Hey, let’s promote this to MH [Moet Hennessy] as quickly as we are able to, scale and get out of it’; no. The household is 100% chargeable for each resolution made by means of the method.
“Volcan is uncompromisingly crafted Tequila that pays homage to the Tequila Volcano that provides title to the area, to the spirit, to every part my household has been round since 1774, and a dedication to speaking about an undiscovered Mexico.”
The time period ‘additive-free’ at present takes up a lot of the Tequila discourse, however Pechieu would somewhat steer the dialog to the concept of workmanship: “There are increasingly customers within the US recognising additive-free as a normal of higher high quality, proper or improper, or a minimum of there’s extra of an urge for food from the patron to drink additive-free Tequila.
“Our view is that it’s not sufficient to be additive-free, and that’s why we need to promote the story of crafting our Tequila,” he says.
Strolling the fields
Because the solar was out (not a assure, because it had their rainiest season in a very long time in 2025), Pechieu led us to Volcan’s agave plot, which sits in view of the Tequila Volcano. The volcano’s eruption some 200,000 years in the past left a lot of the valley in prime form for rising Blue Weber agave and its soil is dispersed with traces of obsidian rock.
Pechieu factors out that not all the land in Jalisco has the best minerality to plant agave although, with Volcan’s maestro tequilero, Marcelino Lucke, in fixed monitoring mode: “That’s the reason our Blue Weber has a wonderful blue-green color to it,” he says, additionally noting that Volcan doesn’t harvest within the wet season as there’s an excessive amount of water within the land and the piñas are swollen.
Relating to the distillery’s finest Tequila mandate, like a great restaurant, Volcan first must get the most effective out of its uncooked supplies. Volcan procures its agave from each the highlands and lowlands of Jalisco, which kind its trademark mix and flavour profile. “In expressing what Tequila is about, we couldn’t simply give attention to one or one other, so we thought to mix the 2,” Pechieu explains.
Volcan’s distillery is positioned within the lowlands (the highlands is a three-hour-plus drive away), so the staff have recreated the 2 terroirs in separate plots as a result of particular variations in soil. The highlands is softer and richer in iron for a sweeter profile, whereas the lowlands is darker volcanic soil, richer in minerals for an earthier profile.
Pechieu stresses the significance of treating the plant throughout the jima course of, or the harvesting of the agaves. He says six to eight years is the standard timeframe for Blue Weber harvesting, however Volcan doesn’t get tied up on this. “It’s not simply concerning the measurement and getting kilos, it’s concerning the maturity and high quality of the plant – and ensuring we have now the best degree of sugar content material [from 32% to 36%],” he says.
The agave our group walked amongst had simply completed its first cycle and have been planted lower than a 12 months in the past. When requested how Volcan at all times ensures it has at all times new agave, Pechieu calls forecasting a fragile and tough factor. “That you must forecast at present how a lot you have to to purchase in six years, which suggests it is advisable know the way a lot you’re going to be promoting subsequent 12 months. You can’t purchase if you happen to’re not promoting,” Pechieu notes.
Inside the power
As deep as Pechieu might have gone into the agave harvesting gap, it was getting sizzling. So, after the obligatory poses for images with the volcano within the background we have been taken below cowl for the manufacturing a part of what makes the model tick.
As you’d anticipate from a Hennessy-backed enterprise, the power is a powerful specimen. The distillery is working at 30% of its capability and ships almost 50,000 nine-litre circumstances yearly. There are 240,000 circumstances prepared in ready for the best markets, and Gallardo believes Volcan is without doubt one of the few Tequilas that may “actually scale persistently”.
At Lucke’s insistence, the distillery can be ISO-22,000-certified. The audit is a giant deal within the meals trade, although distilleries will not be usually topic to it. Gallardo says acquiring the stamp was “very advanced”, but it surely gives traceability and the platform for constant scaling.
The distillery has three hornos (conventional brick ovens) and two autoclaves (trendy stainless-steel tanks). Whether or not the piñas go old skool or new college is dependent upon their origin. If it’s from the highlands it’s the autoclave; for the lowlands it’s the hornos. Highland agave is alleged to be extra fruity and floral, even peppery, whereas the lowlands brings minerals and spices to the fore.
This units the stage for the model’s blanco, which is like no different – a mix of three completely different blanco liquids that additionally every present a base for every part else the distillery does. One is Lowlands agave roasted in a horno, pressed by means of a curler mill after which fermented in stainless-steel tanks; the opposite, Highlands agave cooked within the autoclave, pressed by means of the curler mill and transferred to the metal tank for fermentation; and the third, slow-cooked, or simply steamed within the horno for 24-36 hours, then crushed by way of a tahona wheel earlier than heading to open-air wooden tanks for fermentation.
All the pieces is double-distilled at 55°C in one of many website’s 17 copper stills, hand-built on the distillery – “finest stills within the trade”, as Gallardo says proudly – with the three liquids lastly blended collectively for the ultimate blanco.
Whereas the preliminary concept for the mix got here from Ana Milena Romero, a well known determine in Tequila who was high quality assurance supervisor for Volcan in 2016, Lucke has since are available in as maestro tequilero (grasp distiller) to execute and excellent it.
In contrast to many in his place, he doesn’t hail from an extended line of Tequila makers that stretches again a whole lot of years. Lucke beforehand labored for PepsiCo in Mexico, which Pechieu believes has been advantageous for Volcan. “He got here right here with a really unbiased method to Tequila-making, with no outdated habits or established behaviours in making Tequila extra environment friendly, or extra tough,” he says.
This ties into Volcan’s imaginative and prescient for Tequila. “We had a white canvas from LVMH,” Gallardo says. “The blends are used throughout your entire portfolio, which means we have now completely different agave – Highlands and Lowlands – that by itself provides you a unique profile. We have now completely different cooking or processes. We constructed it purposely incorporating completely different terroir and completely different processes within the craft world, after which in several oak within the blends. That’s distinctive. Nobody else is doing this at present.
“I generally suppose we like to only complicate our lives,” he says jokingly, however with a sprinkle of reality.
As a aspect, Volcan does supply a Tahona Blanco for the purists. The volcanic stone wheel may yield much less liquid than trendy milling machines however “the purity is insane”, we’re advised. “It stays within the mouth for method longer, it is vitally rounded, advanced and the acidity that you simply get is loopy,” Gallardo says.
Ageing and tasting
The following stage of the tour would lead us down a tunnelled path to the distillery’s cellar, revealed dramatically by way of an enormous sliding wood door by the hornos.
The ageing room is lined with hundreds of latest American oak and European oak barrels. Ex-Bourbon barrels are frequent apply in Tequila, however Volcan makes use of recent first-use barrels. “If you make tea, after you utilize the bag as soon as you’ll be able to nonetheless get a great tea, however it is advisable maintain it in for longer,” Pechieu explains. “Usually on the planet of Tequila, you don’t solely purchase the used cask, however you utilize it hundreds of occasions, by which the cask provides you virtually nothing.”
This makes Volcan’s reposado bolder and darker in color than the common reposado, interesting to whisky, Cognac and even rum drinkers. The reposado will probably be a focus for the model in 2026.
Volcan additionally doesn’t age from its blanco mix. Its reposado options Highland agave aged in each American Oak and European Oak, its X.A (Volcan’s status Tequila) options Lowland agave aged in reposado, añejo, and extra-añejo and its cristalino options lowlands agave aged in American oak earlier than charcoal clarification. The latter can be completed in Cognac casks for 15 days to recuperate what was misplaced within the filtering course of.
Gallardo additionally highlights the importance of diluting earlier than they age. “It makes it much more costly, however every part we put in casks is at 43% ABV. We don’t put the liquid within the casks at 55% as a result of if you happen to don’t dilute within the second, you lose many of the profile.
“It means you want much more casks to age if you happen to’re doing it this fashion as a result of, relying on the time frame within the cask, it’s going to lose a little bit of ABV. The dilution is completed with reverse osmosis water, which doesn’t have an effect on the profile in any respect.”
We additionally previewed the model’s yet-to-be-released añejo (to be trialled for Mexico obligation free this 12 months, with a possible wider rollout earmarked for 2027). “I feel it’s about time we have now an añejo that wasn’t the añejo cristalino within the lineup and see what we do with it,” Gallardo remarks concerning the expression.
Additionally spied was the distillery’s particular cask-finishing programme, which had names in Glenmorangie and Ardbeg hooked up to a number of the metal tanks, indicating extra cross-collaboration from the French firm.
Now concerned in Method One and positive artwork (the model launched a marble Tequila bottle in December), Volcan desires no a part of the piñatas and plastic crimson sombrero hats, or the salt, lime and shot tradition of previous years.
“We wished to get away from what’s Mexican cliché at its finest,” Gallardo says. “Mexico has developed in sophistication the place you have got a number of the finest bars and most superb eating places on the planet.”
The staff has a tagline, ‘Tequila ought to style like Tequila’, which Pechieu heard “some man” say as soon as, Gallardo.
“The primary time I heard that I believed, ‘That’s the silliest factor I’ve ever heard’, however to provide him some credit score, that is what number of manufacturers suppose now, and Volcan is what we consider Tequila ought to really style like,” Pechieu reiterates.
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