Espolon Released a New Extra Anejo Tequila Aged in Wine Barrels

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There is a lot of tequila out there to choose from, and some brands—shockingly—don’t even have a celebrity, actor, or athlete backing them. One of those is Espolon, a dependable tequila brand owned by Campari, which just released a brand-new extra añejo expression that gets a lengthy finish in wine casks.

Espolon has been around for a while now. It was founded in 1998 by master distiller Cirilo Oropeza and is made at the San Nicolas distillery (NOM1440) in the Los Altos region of Jalisco (Oropeza passed away in 2020, and the current master distiller is Jesús Susunaga Acosta). The tequila is distilled on both pot and column stills to create two different styles of spirit after the agave is cooked in autoclaves, and perhaps most interestingly the distillery plays classical music during fermentation. Does this really have an effect? That’s hard to say, but the thought is the sound waves help the yeast to activate, although that’s something it would do regardless. The aged tequila is matured in char number two ex-bourbon barrels, much of which likely comes from Wild Turkey since that distillery is also owned by Campari, but the new Extra Añejo takes things a step further.

Espolon released a very different extra añejo back in 2016 called Añejo X. That was a limited-edition tequila aged for a full six years in American oak and came in a black matte bottle with a design inspired by Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The new Extra Añejo expression was aged for half that time—three years—in a combination of casks. The tequila spends its first two and a half years aging in American oak, and then a final six months in French Chardonnay barrels.

“With Extra Añejo, we wanted to push the character of our flavor profile while staying true to what makes Espolòn unmistakably itself, and the double-cask approach adds new layers of flavor,” said Acosta in a statement. “I’ve always appreciated the complexity wine barrels can bring, so finishing the liquid in French Chardonnay casks felt like a natural choice. The result is a tequila that can stand alongside aged spirits while remaining accessible for more people to experience.”

We did not receive a sample to try yet, but the official tasting notes describe caramel and vanilla flavors on the palate, combined with toasted oak and sweet spice on the finish. Each black bottle comes with a label that features “The Serenata,” a design inspired by Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada. Espolon Extra Añejo is available now at select retailers around the country and at websites like Total Wine (SRP $70).

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