Los Cantiles 1905 Bacanora Blanco

Verdict

Bacanora spent decades as a bootleg category and emerged with a vocabulary that mezcal drinkers are still learning. Los Cantiles' blanco is the style bottle, dry, saline, agave-forward, nothing smoothed. At 46-50% the pacifica is doing real work. If you've liked the better Caballito Cerrero pours for their commitment to varietal honesty, this is the Sonoran cousin.

Tasting notes

Nose: Desert herb, then cooked agave, warm stone, saline lift

Palate: Concentrated and dry, the pacifica's arid character carries through with clarity at 46-50%. The bottle reads as what bacanora should be before anyone decided bacanora should read like tequila

Finish: Mineral, clean. Stays long

The bottom line

The bacanora entry point we'd recommend first