USA Consulate Visit to Casa Noble Distillery

Casa Noble hosts even for The Consul General and a number of diplomats from the Guadalajara Consulate, at Casa Noble Tequila Distillery


Tequila, Jalisco (PRWEB) April 27, 2005 -- The U.S. Consul General for Guadalajara, Ms. Sandra J. Salmon and her husband Mr. Lawrence R. Salmon, along with a distinguished group of the American Consulate in Guadalajara visited the Casa Noble Distillery. The tour began in the adjoining blue agave fields to distillery, where Quirino, the head “Jimador” (or agave harvester), made a demonstration on the harvesting technique. Some guests got involved firsthand and had fun learning how to perform this hard chore. After all the hard work in the fields it was time to visit the distillery, where the whole production process of Casa Noble Tequila was viewed and explained in detail: from the traditional cooking to the triple distilling. Next on the schedule was a mandatory visit to the Tequila Museum, where hundreds of pieces of Mexican art related to Tequila and a part of its history are on display. The final stage of the visit was in the barrel facility where a toast was made to Tequila and of course, a big toast to USA.

Ms. Sandra J. Salmon and the rest of the group were invited to join Jose Hermosillo and Carlos Hernandez from Casa Noble for lunch, where adorned tables with small Blue Agave plants and long white linens were set under the 100 year old mango trees, where traditional Mexican food was served accompanied by Casa Noble Tequila. The guests enjoyed the food and tequila along with Mariachi music and a show of skilled Charros and their horses.

The Casa Noble Distillery dates back to the 1700’s and is situated in the outskirts of the City of Tequila, in an area of more than 100 acres of beautiful trees and “Blue Agave”. The Distillery itself is set in the middle of this blue and green scenario.

About Casa Noble:For many years, our love, pride and passion in producing exceptional Tequila has been demonstrated in Casa Noble's quest for perfection. The result is a unique concept that blends originality in both the superior tequila and their decanters.

Casa Noble ultra premium Tequilas begin as carefully selected individual 10-year-old plants of Blue Agave. Each one must meet the strict requirements for water and sugar content. Then, slow-cooking for 38 hours in stone ovens is mandatory procedure. Using only the core and hearts of the agaves, we extract their potent juice. The fermentation process is 100% natural, followed by a triple distillation. The result is Tequila so pure and full of agave flavor that it has elevated the concept of tequila to new levels around the world.

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/4/emw233277.htm

Temequila part 2

Stolen from the Fort Wayne Gazzette. The source of all breaking news about tequila.

Roadblock for tequila firm California brewer faces Mexican trademark issue
By Andrew Wang (His names "Wang"...HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!)
Los Angeles Times

As trade squabbles go, it’s a tempest in a margarita glass.
But for Temecula, Calif., resident John B. Wagoner, the cross-border quarrel over his homegrown liquor business is turning into a major headache.
In October, when he finally perfected his recipe for an alcoholic beverage distilled from the “pina,” or core, of blue agave plants, he knew he faced a potential legal problem. Just as the French own the name champagne, the Mexican government holds – and vigorously protects – the rights to the name tequila.
So Wagoner, 44, came up with Temequila, a play on the name of his adopted hometown that he hoped would forestall a legal challenge.
The name “kind of flowed nicely,” said Wagoner, who plans to start selling his 100-proof concoction this month for $58 per 750-milliliter bottle.
But in Mexico, Wagoner’s wordplay is seen as a distinction without a difference.
A Guadalajara-based group that represents agave growers, tequila producers and distributors sent a letter in February that warned him to stop using the name or face legal action.
Making a spirit called tequila is “impossible to do in any other part of the world than Mexico – not in South Africa, not in Europe, not in the United States,” said Ramon Gonzalez, director of the Tequila Regulatory Council.
Temequila, he said, is “phonetically similar” enough to fool tequila buyers into thinking it’s the genuine, Mexican-made article.
The Mexican government, which contends that the name tequila is specifically protected by the North American Free Trade Agreement, is also weighing in.
“We don’t see it as a minor problem,” said Salvador Behar, general counsel for trade at the Mexican Embassy in Washington. “Whoever is trying to mislead the consumer is a threat, and we take it seriously.”
The small scale of Wagoner’s operation is not an issue, he added. “If it’s one bottle or 10,000 bottles, the problem is the same.”
More than 8.5 million cases of tequila were sold in the United States, last year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. That was up 5.8 percent over 2003 – the fastest growth of any major category of distilled spirit. And nearly 78 percent of the 109 million liters of tequila that Mexico exported last year went to the United States, the tequila council reported.
“This is a very important matter for (Wagoner),” said Tom Pirko, president of Santa Barbara-based consulting company Bevmark. “But it’s much more important for Mexico.”
Wagoner, a Compton, Calif., native who owns a staffing agency in Long Beach that finds jobs for developmentally disabled people, was an unlikely candidate to start an international trademark dispute when he bought land in the rugged hills near Temecula in 1996. The divorced father of two was in search of fresh air and open spaces, which he found in southern Riverside County, about 50 miles north of San Diego. He also was looking for something to grow on his five-acre parcel, his motivation more aesthetic than agricultural.
Wagoner’s neighbors were partial to avocado or citrus groves, but he settled on the low-sprouting blue agave, a cousin of the wild variety that dotted the hills near his land.
“I didn’t want something that would block my view,” Wagoner said.
The prickly plant would thrive, he surmised, because the local climate, elevation and soil – a reddish-brown volcanic variety – were similar to conditions in the Mexican state of Jalisco, the center of the country’s tequila industry.
Wagoner at first considered selling his agave plants to Mexican tequila producers. Then he decided it would be more lucrative to make his own product.
After a few years of studying distilling texts, numerous visits to distilleries in the United States and Mexico, lots of Googling and dozens of test runs, Wagoner had his agave spirit. With money from his savings – he won’t say how much – Wagoner established Skyrocket Distillers.
Only the problem of the product’s name remained.
In 1974, “tequila” was the first trademark granted protection by the Mexican government as an appellation of origin, which said only agave spirits made in the city of Tequila in Jalisco state could bear the name. The designated area has since been widened to include the entire state, as well as 56 towns and villages in four other states.
Wagoner faces formidable foes in the tequila industry and the Mexican government, Bevmark’s Pirko said.
“I wouldn’t want to be a little guy fighting that,” he said.
Despite the tequila council’s threats, Wagoner, late last month, said he planned to stick to his mid-April launch date. To that end, he has just replaced his old 25-gallon still with a new 300-gallon version he designed himself, financed with money from outside investors. In February, 20,000 bottles arrived from a factory in China, squat, bell-shaped and painted red, white and blue with “Made in the United States” emblazoned on the front.
His goal for the first year is to produce 120,000 bottles, or 90,000 liters. (Jose Cuervo, Mexico’s oldest tequila maker, sold nearly 30 million liters in the United States in 2003.)