Fortaleza Still Strength Blanco Tequila

review by Rachel DelRocco Terrazas • October 25, 2018

The Fortaleza family has been making Tequila for four generations, following traditional methods of production. Using agave crushed with stone tahonas, they produce their Still Strength Blanco in copper pot stills, then bottle it without watering it down to a lower proof. It’s complex and beautiful, playing vegetal notes of corn, beet and bluegrass off fruitier flavors of green apple skin and papaya, with a hint of campfire in the background. You won’t be disappointed just sipping this straight out of the copita.

Spirits Type:

Tequila

ABV:

46%

Importer:

Park Street Imports, Miami, FL

Price:

$65

Rachel DelRocco Terrazas

is the former W&S Tasting Director turned freelance writer for the Vintner Project.

This story appears in the print issue of Winter 2018.
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David Paradela
Associate Editor

David joined Wine & Spirits in 2021 after immersing himself in the world of wine at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally from Boston, he graduated from Boston University with a degree in English and completed a master’s degree in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College in 2021. Prior to working at the magazine, he served as an editor and staff writer for the music blog Sound of Boston and worked in scientific publishing. Aside from wine, he loves basketball, arguing about Taylor Swift’s best album, and everything Greta Gerwig touches.

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Tastings Editor

Corey Warren moved to New York in 2015—fifteen years too late to join The Strokes—after earning a degree at Cornell in Comparative Literature. He started polishing glasses at Betony and threw himself into the restaurant world. Later, while a captain at Aquavit, he began working part time in the Wine & Spirits tasting department. Now, in addition to running tastings, he serves as critic for the wines of the Loire, Southern France, Argentina and South Africa. Corey likes almost anything bubbly, from Miller High Life, the Champagne of beers, to Champagne, the Champagne of Champagne, but he’ll drink anything once, and loves finding unique wines.

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Patricio Tapia
Senior Correspondent

After graduating with a degree in journalism from the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Patricio Tapia attended Bordeaux University in France, where he studied for a diploma in wine tasting and winemaking. Since then, he has visited wine regions around the world and authored several books, including his annual Descorchados, a Chilean wine guide; The Wines of Colchagua Valley; TodoVino and Wines for Great Occasions. Tapia is also the South American correspondent for The Oxford Companion to Wine, The World Atlas of Wine and Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Book. For the past three years, he’s been a host on the El Gourmet channel in South America. At Wine & Spirits, Tapia is the critic for the wines of Argentina, Chile and Spain, and regularly contributes articles on these regions.