This tequila is aged two to three years in oak barrels and has a beautiful silky smooth character that does anejo right: rich, but not cloyingly sweet. Guillermo Erickson Sauza, a fifth-generation family member, produces Tequila Fortaleza, using traditional techniques. This is a beautiful artisan hand-crafted, stone milled tequila. Tequila Fortaleza is produced entirely within the walls of their estate, using centuries old traditional methods which, although are very labor intensive, create a tequila which is unequaled in taste and smoothness. Using an old oven with its meter thick brick walls, they cook their agave for thirty-six hours. Then they crush or mill the agave as Guillermo’s Tatarabuelo did over 135 years ago in our stone mill called the Tahona. The crushed agave is then washed with the pure mountain water from the Volcán de Tequila to separate the pulp from the woody fibers to create an agave juice called mosto. The woody fibers of the agave, called bagazo, are removed at this time and taken to the fields to use as compost. The agave mosto is then fermented naturally for five days in small wood vats, and then double distilled using small, labor-intensive copper pot stills. The result is authentic tequila, created by people who care about keeping it traditional. This tequila garners our highest possible recommendation.