Mezcal Production in Oaxaca: Agave Varieties and Methods
All tequila is mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila. This widely repeated formulation expresses a botanical and geographic truth: tequila is a form of mezcal that can only be made from blue agave (Agave tequilana Weber) in defined regions, primarily Jalisco. Mezcal is a broader category of agave spirits produced across nine Mexican states using dozens of different agave species and a range of production methods, many of them rooted in pre-Columbian distillation traditions and passed down through Indigenous communities. Oaxaca is the most celebrated mezcal-producing state, home to the greatest diversity of agave varieties, the highest concentration of small-scale producers called palenqueros, and the traditions that have shaped the global understanding of what mezcal can be.
The mezcal renaissance of the past two decades has brought outside investment, global distribution, and a new vocabulary for describing the spirit to an international audience. It has also raised questions about sustainability, authenticity, and the relationship between artisanal tradition and commercial scale that the industry is still working through.
Agave: The Foundation
The agave plant — sometimes called the century plant, though most species mature in ten to thirty years rather than a hundred — is a succulent of the Agavaceae family native to Mexico and the southern United States. Mexico is home to several hundred agave species, of which perhaps fifty are used for mezcal production. Understanding agave variety is essential to understanding mezcal flavour, because different species produce spirits with fundamentally different aromatic and flavour profiles.
Espadin (Agave angustifolia) is the most cultivated agave in Oaxaca and accounts for the majority of commercial mezcal production. It matures in seven to fifteen years, tolerates cultivation, and produces reliably large pinas — the heart of the plant harvested at the point of flowering. Espadin mezcal tends toward the familiar mezcal profile: smoky, herbal, with mineral and fruit notes.
Tobala (Agave potatorum) grows wild in the high-altitude mountain zones of Oaxaca, maturing over fifteen to twenty-five years. It produces smaller pinas but a spirit of notable complexity — floral, mineral, sometimes flinty — that commands premium prices. Tobala cannot easily be cultivated at scale, and increasing demand for its mezcal has raised concerns about wild population depletion.
Tepeztate (Agave marmorata) is one of the slowest-maturing agaves used in mezcal, taking twenty-five to thirty-five years to reach flowering. The spirit it produces is among the most complex and unusual in the mezcal world — wild, herbal, sometimes described as vegetal or medicinal — and a single bottle represents decades of plant growth in a specific location.
Other species used in Oaxacan mezcal production include madrecuixe, arroqueno, jabalí, sierra negra, and barril — each with distinct flavour contributions and maturation timelines, each harvested from specific elevational zones and soil types across Oaxaca's diverse terrain.
The Pit Roasting Process
The defining step that separates mezcal from most other agave spirits — including standard tequila production — is the roasting of the pina in an underground pit oven. The pit, called a palenque or horno, is lined with volcanic rock and heated by a wood fire. Once the rocks reach sufficient temperature, the fire is removed or allowed to burn down, the trimmed pinas are loaded into the pit on the hot rocks, covered with agave fibre, canvas, and earth, and left to roast for three to five days.
The heat converts the starches in the agave heart into fermentable sugars, and the smoke from the wood fire and the agave itself penetrates the cooking pinas, imparting the characteristic smoky character of mezcal. The specific wood used in the fire — oak, mesquite, or other local species — and the composition of the agave fibre covering contribute to the smoke character of the finished spirit. This is why mezcals from the same agave species but different palenques can taste noticeably different.
After roasting, the pinas are crushed to extract juice. Traditional Oaxacan production uses a stone tahona — a large circular millstone pulled by a horse or mule around a circular stone pit. The tahona grinds the roasted fibre and releases the liquid, which drains into fermentation vessels along with some of the fibrous material. More modern producers use mechanical shredders, which are faster but produce a different proportion of fibre in the fermentation.
Fermentation and Distillation
Oaxacan mezcal fermentation occurs in open vessels — traditionally hand-carved wooden tubs, hollowed tree trunks, or animal hides — using naturally occurring wild yeasts from the local environment. Fermentation is slow, sometimes taking a week or longer, and the exposure to ambient microflora contributes additional aromatic complexity to the fermented wash. Controlled commercial fermentation with cultivated yeast strains is cleaner and more predictable, but many producers and consumers believe that open fermentation with indigenous yeasts produces a more site-specific character.
The distillation tradition in Oaxaca differs fundamentally from the copper pot or column stills used in Scotch or bourbon production. Ancestral mezcal — the most traditional category — is distilled in clay pots connected by bamboo tubes, a technology derived from pre-Columbian indigenous distillation practices. The clay vessels have no copper contact; heat distribution is uneven; the system requires constant supervision and manual adjustment. The spirits produced tend to be lower-proof and retain more of the funky, earthy character of the fermentation.
Artisanal mezcal, the middle tier of the regulatory classification, uses copper or stainless steel pot stills — technology closer to Scotch distillation practice — and allows for slightly larger-scale production. The majority of the internationally sold mezcal that reaches export markets falls into the artisanal category.
Certification and the DO
Mezcal received its Denominacion de Origen (DO) — geographic indication — in 1994, covering production across nine Mexican states: Oaxaca, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas, Durango, Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Puebla, and Guanajuato. The Consejo Regulador del Mezcal (CRM) oversees certification, and all mezcal sold with the denomination must pass through inspection and analysis.
The regulatory framework has been controversial within the mezcal community. Some producers, particularly in Oaxacan communities with long production traditions, have resisted CRM certification on grounds of cost, bureaucratic complexity, or disagreement with the rules' framing of traditional practice. A small but significant proportion of Oaxacan mezcal production is sold without DO certification, either locally or in markets where the certification is not required.
Sustainability and the Wild Agave Question
The rapid growth in international mezcal demand has placed strain on wild agave populations, particularly slow-maturing species like tobala and tepeztate that cannot easily be cultivated to meet demand. Responsible producers have invested in nursery programs to grow seedlings from harvested pinas and replant them in native habitats — a process that takes decades to produce harvestable plants, given the slow maturation timelines of the species in question.
The sustainability conversation in Oaxacan mezcal is also about economic equity. Many of the communities producing the most valued wild-agave mezcals are Indigenous communities whose traditional knowledge underpins the production methods that make the spirits internationally sought. Whether the economic benefits of the mezcal boom reach these communities in proportion to their contribution is a central question in the industry's ethical discussion.
You can explore mezcal-producing regions and specific palenques on the distillery world map, alongside tequila producers and the broader world of agave spirits.