| Before we knew exactly what Melate was going to be, we started out by visiting about 70 producers in the Oaxaca region back in 2018. Darinel took us to one of his favorite producers, Semei, who we are now featuring for a third time. Alongside his Arroqueno in May 2020 and his Mexicano in October 2022, his new Tepextate batch will be the first time a producer has appeared three times in the Melate club.
Some may recall, we intentionally wanted to revisit some of our favorite producers for the 2025 lineup. Our initial contact with two dozen mezcaleros didn’t yield any clear features (including Semei, apparently!). We believed any repeat mezcalero needed to be justified by a truly standout batch.
Last September, a few club member brand reps from Colorado and Arizona came down to Oaxaca and we embarked on a classic two-day route through the valley, stopping in Minas, Ejutla, and Miahuatlán (and a failed attempt to reach Logoche due to washed out roads). From the five producers we visited, we sampled around 45 mezcales and identified about 15 expressions as high potential for the club. |
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| Semei’s 9 AM tasting comprised of about 18 batches alone. It was quite the challenge and process just narrowing this set down to four. Whether it’s his farmland with that rich red soil in Miahuatlán, the well water sourced from this land, or the three generations of fermentation and distilling knowledge passed on to him by legends in the craft, everything Semei touches seems to turn into mezcal gems. He is one of those standout producers that never seems to miss or have a mediocre batch.
It’s not by design, nor by chance, that this 30-year-old maestro is the first to achieve a three-peat in the club. |
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A sourcing effort unlike any other
15 aficionados tasting 15 pre-selected samples
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| We visited some of our all-time favorite mezcaleros in a region that offers over 10 mezcals to try per maestro. After much consideration, we landed on 15 well above-average samples. We then tasted them blindly with a group of 15 agave aficionados, perfectly suited to be ambassadors for the club.
We organized the samples into three groups primarily based on town. Bottles, copitas, and notes were all coordinated with colored stickers so that only the host (me!) would know what was what. Reps, club members, and even a few industry friends experienced in sourcing came together in a concrete box to democratically elect which expressions belong in the club.
We split into four groups, conducted a silent tasting, then had sub-group discussions, with each group appointing a representative to announce their summarized results. It sounds formal… it wasn’t. It was busy and beautiful—a blast filled with friendly disagreements. In the end, we sourced a total of six batches, including two 375 club features and two bonus bottle features.
One of those two club features is Semei’s 2023 Tepextate, making this feature perhaps our most extensively sourced batch in some sense. Thank you to Chris, Mark, Wes, and all our friends and club member participants! |
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| Want to meet Semei (again) and learn more about this 2023 Tepextate batch?
Follow along throughout the month on facebook or instagram to get all the videos, fun facts, and conversations about this month’s feature. Some topics to look forward to include:
- We’ll be using “vintage” footage that was filmed in 2020. So if you are a long time subscriber get ready to be overwhelmed by a sense of nostalgia, and if you are new to the club you’ll get to experience some of the Maguey Melate early vibe.
- Semei has quite a unique eloquence and charm. A great representation of the new generation of mezcaleros moving the industry forward.
- We’ll publish some pictures and footage that we’ve captured in Oaxaca, trying to give you a “feeling” of this culturally diverse space that, to this day, is the ultimate mezcal powerhouse
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Quote of the Month
“If I were an agave, I would be Tepextate.
I mean, each plant takes a certain number of years to mature and Tepextate can take up to 35 to 45 years…
That’s a lot of wisdom.”
~Semei García Ramos |
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| CRAFTSMANSHIP TRADITION SUSTAINABILITY |
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