Erstwhile Mezcal is a boutique agave spirits importer out of Brooklyn, NY founded by Yuan Ji and Kevin J. Brown. Their focus is to advocate for small, independent, family-owned producers who lack representation outside of their local markets, and bring them into the international distillate scene they so deserve.

They work closely with their partners to assist them in guiding the complicated process of export... Covering expenses related to attorneys, accountants, license fees - absorbing the producers marketing and supply chain costs as their own.

Every bottle of Erstwhile sold creates jobs in the local Mexican communities, enabling the producers to hire their own team of local men and women. When you sip Erstwhile, you support their partners and partake in their family traditions. You experience the complexities and flavors of a slow, timeless art that's been honed and passed down through generations...

THE MEZCALEROS

Epifania Gómez Mejía & Silverio García Luis Three-generation Mezcal family of Zapotec heritage, based in Rancho Blanco Güilá, Oaxaca. Epifania did not grow up in a Mezcal family, but learned the ropes and became a master distiller of her own right. She was recognized as a Woman in Mezcal by the Mezcal Regulatory Council (CRM) in Mexico in 2020. Silverio’s father, renowned master mezcalero Lorenzo Antonio García, was recognized as a Cultural Treasure of Mezcal by the CRM in 2016 – a rare honor reserved for the few masters who have preserved the virtuosity of artisanal mezcal production for at least 60 years.

Juan Abel Quiroz Agustín Born and raised in Santa María Sola where he still resides, Abel saved for years before achieving the dream of building his own palenque next to his house. He has proudly run his own palenque since around 2009. Santa María Sola is a municipality in the district of Sola de Vega, in the Sierra Sur region of Oaxaca. Following the tradition of Sola de Vega, Abel distills exclusively with clay pots and makes some of the most unforgettable ancestral mezcal expressions we know.

Hortensia Hernández Martínez A master distiller of Zapotec heritage from a five-generation Mezcal family, Hortensia heads her women-owned, women-led family distillery in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca. She and her daughters have taken the reins of the family business, bringing their own aesthetics and business acumen after the tragic passing of Hortensia’s husband - the late master mezcalero Juan Hernández Méndez - in 2020.

Lucas García Family Nine-generation Mezcal family from San Isidro Guishe in the southern highlands of Oaxaca. Of all Erstwhile partner producers, the Lucas García family is perhaps the most focused on legacy: looking beyond the present day, focusing on sustainability, and passing on the family’s collective knowledge and traditions to future generations. José and Clara are the patriarch and matriarch. Their sons Mario and Chano head the family distillery. Grandson Diego, the 9th generation, joined the family business after graduating from college.

Fair was created in 2009 to develope a spirits line with a positive impact on people and the planet. They have been committed from the very start to giving 1% of their revenue back to the farming communities that provide their crops. They belive they are creating real sustainable change by equitably distributing resources to the beginning of the supply chain, leveraging local and regional agricultural expertise, and creating standards that protect people and the enviorment. All of their bottlings are Fair Trade, Non-GMO and Vegan Certified. Ethically sourced and distilled in Cognac, France

Isabel Ferrando’s reputation for outstanding wines has grown every vintage since her first release in 2003. She launched Domaine Saint-Préfert with 13.2 hectares, purchased from the Serre family, one of the first to estate-bottle in the appellation in the 1930’s. This is the heart of the winery, a single parcel called Les Serres, south of the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It’s one of the hottest areas in the appellation, but Ferrando manages to coax ethereal wines from this site. Under the Saint Prefert name, she had bottled three wines from Les Serres, “Giraud”, “Auguste Favier” and a classic Chateauneuf-du-Pape. The next year she purchased vines in the north of the appellation and started making the 100% Grenache cuvée Colombis, primarily from the lieux-dit of Colombis, with sandy soil.

After studying her parcels for more than 15 years Ferrando started a new chapter with the release of the 2020 vintage. She decided to lean into the tradition of blending in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, making a single wine from Les Serres, and it’s now the flagship of the estate. She continues to make “Colombis” as well as her Cotes-du-Rhone, and two white Chateauneuf-du-Papes, including the very limited Vieilles Clairettes in magnum. Now, all of Ferrando’s wines are bottled under the name Famille Isabel Ferrando. In 2023, Isabel’s daughter, Guillemette joined the family winery.

Ferrando has always farmed organically and starting in 2019, the vineyards are being managed following biodynamic methods (certified in 2022). She has very old vines in her holdings: the Grenache vines average more than 70 years old, and she still has some of the original Mourvèdre that was planted in the 1920’s. Les Serres has the famous galets stones on the top soil, and the subsoil has layers of blue clay and stones.

In 2022, Ferrando built a new winery with an assortment of cement vats for primary fermentations and blending. Fermentations start naturally with yeasts on the grapes and she works with whole-cluster fermentations on the Chateauneuf-du-Papes. In the cellar, Ferrando works primarily with neutral demi-muids, but she has also introduced some glass demi-johns, Stockinger foudres, and amphora.

Ferrando has been courageous from the start. Chateauneuf-du-Pape is a small town and even though she grew up in the south, about thirty minutes away, she was still viewed as an outsider. Henri Bonneau took her under his wing as her mentor and encouraged her to make wines in her own style. Over the years, she has made changes, some big, some small but as Jeb Dunnuck noted after tasting the new wines, “…one thing that remains constant is the incredible quality that continues to emerge from this talented winemaker.” These are truly unique expressions of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and it’s fair to say Isabel Ferrando is at the top of her game.

The terroir of Ribeira Sacra is not as ancient as you might think. What little flat land that may have once existed here was submerged with the damming of the Sil and Miño well over 40 years ago. During that time, Spain was also witnessing a mass migration from rural areas into the cities. In places like Ribeira Sacra, only the warmest and driest vineyards remained cultivated – those with southern and western exposures. As the valleys were transformed into lakes, however, the microclimate here gradually changed.  Morning fogs became more common, nighttime temperatures increased, and the amount of light reflecting off the water made the formerly “best” spots just a little too warm for the region’s indigenous varietals. Recently several young growers started looking to those long abandoned, unheralded, and under-appreciated sites: north- or east-facing, randomly planted, difficult to farm, and difficult to reach.

Fedellos do Couto is such a project. For generations, the Taboada family has owned the Pazo do Couto, an ancient manor dating to the 12th century that over the centuries has produced a wide array of agricultural products on the decomposed granite and schist soils at the southern and eastern end of the Ribeira Sacra in the sub-zones of Ribeiras do Sil and Quiroga-Bibei.

Luis Taboada, recognizing the value of his ancient, north- and east-facing vineyards, teamed up with viticulturalist Pablo Soldavini, a proponent of organic farming and winemakers Curro Bareño and Jesús Olivares to found Fedellos do Couto in 2011. Bareño and Olivares were the talented team behind Ronsel do Sil, one of the most heralded estates in Ribeira Sacra, but both began their career in the Sierra de Gredos, where they were close friends and colleagues of Dani Landi, Fernando Garcia, and Marc Isart. This association is obvious in their wines: elegant and nuanced but persistent and powerful. Today Curro and Jesús are also involved in Ca’ di Mat, another Gredos winery imported by Bowler.

The winemaking at Fedellos is minimalist: grapes from  20-70 year old vines,native co-fermentations, long, gentle macerations in concrete, neutral French oak barrels, or small fermentation bins with aging in concrete and/or various neutral French oak barrels and foudres, but mainly 500L demi-muids. Four wines are currently produced: Bastarda, Cortezada, and Lomba dos Ares and a field blend of white varieties, Conasbrancas.

This profile and tasting notes were edited from the European Cellars website, along with the pictures used. For more information please visit: European Cellars.