Image 1 of 1
SIEMBRA ALTENO - Tequila Blanco
David Suro first began visiting the Alteña region of Jalisco in the 1980s, exploring the region’s distillers in support of his landmark Philadelphia restaurant, Tequilas. On that very first pilgrimage, the renowned agave experts Rogelio Luna and Ana G. Valenzuela-Zapata introduced him to the Camarena family, the historic beating heart of tequila production in the highlands of Arandas. This encounter marked the beginning of a deep and passionate friendship between David and maestro tequilero Carlos Camarena, such that the walls of David’s restaurant were adorned with vintage photographs documenting the visit and a still life painting of the Camarena family’s bottle, El Tesoro de Don Felipe, tucked among a display of flowers and plants.
Years passed, and David launched his own iconic brands under the Siembra moniker, collaborating with the likes of the Rosales family at Cascahuin, and the Vivanco family at Viva Mexico (on the other side of town in Arandas). But that early friendship, that life-changing connection, remained a constant in both men’s work and lives.
Now, four decades later, Carlos Camarena and David Suro have found the opportunity to collaborate at last, creating a tequila which speaks to their shared journey and philosophy of agave spirits: the newest (and most hotly anticipated) release from David’s label, Siembra Alteño.
Distilled to 55% ABV with the agave fibers, or bagasse, left in the still during the first distillation and then proofed to a historical 46% ABV on the Blanco and 40% ABV for the Repo, Siembra Alteño represents the shared efforts of these two giants of tequila to recreate and preserve the traditional flavors, aromas, textures, and terroir of the Los Altos region in Jalisco’s highland plateau. The results are beautiful, complex, bold—even challenging, and immediate cult classics.