THE APPELLATION OF ORIGIN
The appellation of origin is the name of a geographic region that serves to designate a product originating from it, and which quality or characteristics are due to the geographical environment and its natural and human factors. Tequila is the first Appellation of Origin of Mexico since 1974, it received its name from the site that saw it born in that country.
Tequila is the emblematic spirit drink of Mexico, on which more than 70 thousand families depend, and that represents part of their culture and tradition, bringing the name of Mexico to more than 120 countries where the drink is exported.
HISTORY
Tequila has more than 4 centuries of history. We go back to 1600, after the Spanish conquest in Mexico when the European distillation process was introduced to produce mezcal wine. Its production was prohibited by the government because it competed with Spanish wines and spirits. This didn’t stop the Mexicans, who until the seventeenth century produced this drink clandestinely. It was in that century when, for tax collection purposes, and taking into account tequila popularity and that the production reached a large volume, the government authorized it.
The Mexican Revolution arrived, which prefixed a new attitude of national pride and which worked in favor of Tequila. Reaching Independence in 1821, which made it difficult to import Spanish liquors, the popular drink began to be commercialized throughout the country. In the middle of the 19th century, it took its origin name: Tequila.
THE AO
In 1949 the first Tequila Standard (NOM 006) was created. In 1974 the declaration of the Appellation of Origin Tequila (AOT) was achieved, which establishes the territory protected by the AO, that includes 181 municipalities of 5 States of the Mexican republic; 125 municipalities from Jalisco, 8 from Nayarit, 30 from Michoacán, 11 from Tamaulipas and 7 from Guanajuato.
In 1994, the Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT) was created as a body authorized by the Mexican Government to verify and certify the accomplishment of the Mexican Tequila Standard and to protect the Tequila Appellation of Origin in Mexico and the world.
SUSTAINABILITY
The tequila agro industry, the Mexican government, and the academy work together on their commitment to the planet and environment, implementing actions to decrease the environmental impact of its processes and transforming the tequila agro industry into a sustainable industry guaranteeing respect towards the Agave landscape, established World Heritage, and all of its surroundings. For this, they reached the creation of 2020-2030 environmental objectives.
And what are those objectives? Decrease the carbon footprint of the industry, reduce the consumption of fossil and electric energy sources, decrease the water consumption and increase the treated water percentage. In addition, a certification against deforestation “Agave Zero Deforestation” will be implemented, establishing that only soils prepared for agave plantations are the only ones used by the tequila agro industry.