Know your
pour.
What the label tells you, what time in a barrel changes, and what can go into tequila.
It starts with blue agave.
Tequila is made from Agave tequilana Weber, blue variety, in its protected Mexican region: Jalisco and specified municipalities in Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit and Tamaulipas. Other agave spirits are not automatically tequila.
The NOM number on a bottle identifies its registered producer. It is useful for tracing who made the tequila, but it is not a quality score.
Two categories.
Read the name.
Tequila 100% de agave
All fermentable sugars come from Blue Weber agave. Bottled at origin, under the authorized producer’s control.
Tequila
At least 51% of the fermentable sugars come from Blue Weber agave. Up to 49% may come from other permitted, non-agave sugar sources.
These are the official category names. “100% agave” describes the source of the fermentation sugars; it is not an age statement. Siempre makes 100% agave tequila.
What time in wood means.
Category and class answer different questions. Either category can have these classes. The milestones below show minimum aging requirements, not a ranking of quality.
Blanco / Plata
0months required
Unaged, or less than 2 months in oak.
No minimum barrel time
Reposado
2months minimum
Direct contact with oak or holm oak.
No 600 L cap specified for this class
Añejo
1year minimum
Oak or holm-oak vessels.
Maximum vessel size: 600 L
Extra Añejo
3years minimum
Oak or holm-oak vessels.
Maximum vessel size: 600 L
And Joven / Oro?
A blend of blanco with aged tequila, or blanco treated with the permitted mellowing ingredients. It has no single minimum barrel age; gold colour alone is not an aging claim.
Maturation takes place within the protected territory. In blends, reposado with añejo or extra añejo remains reposado; añejo with extra añejo remains añejo. These are minimums, not mandatory bottling deadlines.
What else can go in?
The Mexican standard enforced by the CRT permits abocamiento: mellowing with caramel colour, natural oak extract, glycerin or sugar-based syrup. Its 1% limit is measured against the tequila’s weight before bottling, not its volume.
These ingredients can change colour, sweetness, texture and flavour. They can also conceal shortcomings in a spirit. Their use alone does not prove poor production, and a darker colour does not prove longer aging.
At Siempre, we do not use those mellowing ingredients. We want the flavour to come from the agave, fermentation, distillation and, for our aged expressions, the barrel.
The 1% rule is not a blanket rule for every addition
Section 6.1.1.1 separately addresses permitted sweeteners, colours, aromas and flavours, with limits of 75 g/L sugars and 85 g/L dry extract and applicable flavour/aroma labeling. Blanco is defined without abocantes. See the standard below for the distinctions.
Give it a moment in the glass.
Try a small pour neat, or over a large piece of ice. Notice the cooked agave, citrus or pepper before looking for the vanilla and spice that oak can bring. There is no prize for preferring the oldest bottle.
And if you prefer a margarita, make a margarita. A bright blanco gives the agave room alongside the lime.
Read the sources
Sources checked September 2026. For a particular release, its label supplies the category, class and alcohol strength.
