Fortaleza is the tequila for people who think tequila lost its soul to industrial shortcuts — because at Destilería La Fortaleza in the town of Tequila, Jalisco, almost nothing has changed in a century: agave cooked in a brick oven, crushed under a two-ton stone wheel, fermented in open wooden tanks, distilled in small copper pots, and bottled with zero additives. Del Mesa Liquor carries the brand deep — including something genuinely hard to assemble: five consecutive vintages of the limited Winter Blend reposado, 2019 through 2023, in stock at the same time.
Five generations of Sauzas
The Sauza name starts tequila's modern history: Don Cenobio Sauza founded one of the first tequila distilleries in 1873 and was among the first to export the spirit. Five generations later, his descendant Guillermo Sauza walked away from the industrial family business and reopened the family's old distillery — La Fortaleza, a small stone distillery on the family estate that had sat quiet for decades — to make tequila the way his great-great-grandfather did. In Mexico the bottles are labeled Los Abuelos; in the United States and export markets, the same tequila is Fortaleza (NOM 1493).
How Fortaleza is made
- Cooking: blue Weber agave, slow-cooked in a traditional brick oven (no autoclave, no diffuser)
- Crushing: a two-ton volcanic stone tahona, the pre-industrial method almost no one still uses
- Fermentation: open-air, in wooden tanks, with natural yeasts
- Distillation: small copper pot stills
- Nothing added: verified additive-free by Tequila Matchmaker — no glycerin, no flavoring, no shortcut
The core range
- Fortaleza Blanco Tequila — $119.99. The unaged benchmark — cooked agave, citrus, butter and the famous oily tahona texture. The bottle that converts vodka drinkers.
- Fortaleza Still Strength Blanco Tequila — $169.99. The blanco bottled at still strength (92 proof) with nothing diluted away — the purest expression of the distillery.
- Fortaleza Reposado Tequila — $169.99. Rested in American oak — where the Winter Blend experiments begin. Soft vanilla and caramel over bright agave.
- Fortaleza Anejo Tequila — $229.99. The longest-aged core bottle: deeper oak, dried fruit and butterscotch, still unmistakably agave-first.
The core range sells through fast at Del Mesa — each product page shows live stock. The shelf that rarely empties is the collector corner below. For the wider agave shelf, browse our full tequila collection or the mezcal selection.
The Winter Blend run: 2019–2023, all in stock
Every winter since 2019, Fortaleza has bottled a one-off reposado — same traditional base tequila, a different barrel program each year, never repeated. Most retailers see a handful of bottles of the current year. We currently hold five vintages deep:
- Fortaleza Reposado Winter Blend 2019 — $1,799.99 (3 in stock). The inaugural Winter Blend — the vintage that started the series and the hardest to find anywhere.
- Fortaleza Reposado Winter Blend 2020 — $1,099.99 (2 in stock). The second vintage, from the year the series became a collector chase.
- Fortaleza Reposado Winter Blend 2021 — $999.99 (4 in stock). The cask-strength vintage at 92.6 proof, finished in ex-Marsala French oak — jammy fruit and baking spice.
- Fortaleza Reposado Winter Blend 2022 — $899.99 (4 in stock). A multi-barrel program at 87 proof: ex-bourbon barrels with Oloroso sherry and Tokaji Hungarian oak — the most structured of the run.
- Fortaleza Reposado Winter Blend 2023 — $799.99 (5 in stock). The fifth vintage and the natural first pour of a vertical tasting.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fortaleza tequila additive-free?
Yes. Fortaleza is verified additive-free by Tequila Matchmaker and made entirely by traditional methods — brick oven, tahona, open fermentation, copper pot stills.
Why is Fortaleza hard to find?
The distillery is tiny and the process is slow — a tahona crushes a fraction of what a roller mill handles — so production is small and bottles are allocated. Core bottles like the Blanco and Reposado sell out quickly; the Winter Blends are annual one-offs.
Which Fortaleza should I buy first?
Start with the Blanco for the pure distillery character, or the Still Strength if you drink whiskey. Collectors go straight to the Winter Blends — and a vertical of consecutive vintages is a tasting almost nobody gets to do. Any of them also makes a remarkable gift; see our gift sets for dressed-up options.
Where can I buy Fortaleza Winter Blend?
Del Mesa Liquor currently stocks the 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 vintages, all available to order online at the links above.
Whiskey drinker crossing over? Start with our rare bourbon shelf. Every new guide and arrival lands on the Del Mesa Blog. Shop Fortaleza and the rest of the top shelf in the Rare & Top Shelf collection at Del Mesa Liquor.