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By Michael Forbes
Next time you venture north of the border ask one of your head-in-the-sand friends what he knows about Mexico. Chances are he'll mention mariachi or, perhaps, tequila. You might feel that's your cue to groan and begin explaining how much more there is to your adopted country than those two things.
But wait a second. If you live in Jalisco there's no reason why you shouldn't feel proud.
This state is endowed with many natural wonders and its inhabitants say tequila is one of them. Although there are about 20 established companies making tequila in Jalisco, only one--Tequila Sauza-can lay claim to being the local favorite for more than a century.
While Sauza's fiery liquor can't claim to have any greater redeeming qualities than its major rivals, the company is blessed to have been led by three generations of owners with exemplary standing in the community and service to it.
The Sauza name has been synonymous with Jalisco ever since and Cenobio Sauza founded a commercial factory in the town of Tequila in 1873. His son, and then his grandson don Javier, kept the firm in family hands until it was sold to Pedro Domecq in 1976.
But the Sauza family link with Jalisco hasn't died completely. It is being revived by another Sauza: the grandson of the late don Javier, U.S. citizen Guillermo Erickson Sauza. Along with partner Luis Castellanos Romero, 35-year-old Erickson--who was brought up in Chicago and has spent most of his life north of the border--has become fascinated with his family's past and is now offering a Tequila tour--with a difference.
The all-day tour (named Mayahuel after the goddess of the agave plant) rises head and shoulders above the competition because it not only includes a visit to Sauza's modern La Perseverancias distillery but also fascinating sidetrips to several additional attractions still belonging to the Sauza family.
These include an interesting Tequila Museum, housed in the gorgeous 16th century home of don Cenobio; the original 200-year-old distillery started by the Sauza family and a tour of don Javier's luxurious mountainside villa with its spectacular views of the region.
After this engrossing sightseeing, the fun really starts. A slap-up lunch is served on don Javier's private island (Isla de la Amistad) located on his private lake, encircled by fields of turquoise agave. The delicious Mexican cuisine can be savored leisurely to the strains of an accompanying mariachi band. Further entertainment is provided by a local folkloric ballet troupe and rope-twirling charros. The tequila will keep flowing for as long as you ask--but take it easy, the ever-so-friendly waiters won't be telling you when to stop.
The flavor of this tour is essentially jalisciense. Regional music is played as the bus ferries the group from Guadalajara to the rustic town of Tequila through enormous fields of tall, spiny agave plant. A bilingual guide explains how this plant takes from eight to ten years to mature, at which point its huge root, resembling a pineapple, but up to 500 pounds in weight, is excavated.
Each visitor is given a piece of sugary agave root to suck on as they are shown around Tequila's neoclassic church and pretty main plaza.
The museum borders the plaza and is a real treasure. Three generations of tequila memorabilia, art and personal items offer an insight into this extraordinary family and their importance not only the town of Tequila but also to the state of Jalisco. Pride of place goes to letters signed by former Mexican Presidents Benito Juarez and Porfirio Diaz and scores of photographs of don Javier hobnobbing with U.S. celebrities and politicians adorn the walls.
Single-handed, don Javier Sauza made tequila a household word throughout the United States. His promotion of the product never let up for one moment. A guest at President Richard Nixon's inauguration, he once had Senator Barry Goldwater to stay at his villa. John Wayne was a friend; the United States' most enduring cowboy learned of tequila's medicinal qualities from don Javier.
From the museum (where piping-hot coffee and pan dulce are served), the group is driven to Sauza's modern-day distillery where the agave piñas are softened in steam ovens, minced in a huge mill, before the pulp is placed in a sieve and the plant's complex sugars washed out. The resultant liquid is fermented with a yeast from the spines of the plant and distilled twice in pot stills similar to those used to make cognac or malt whiskey. It's smelly but fascinating stuff.
Before leaving the factory, visitors get to admire Gabriel Flores' huge, colorful mural charting the history of tequila. The mural alone is worth the trip to Tequila, but much more is still to come.
The comfortable tour bus then winds its way up a narrow cobblestone street as far as the entrance to Villa Sauza, where don Cenobio's original distillery has been fully restored. Here tourists may enter the ten-ton oven, which was loaded by hand, and visit the cool, aging cellars where workers used to end their day with a quick snifter of tequila before going home to the missus. (The first tequila of the day is downed in these caves while a local singer serenades the group.)
Thus fortified, it's a quick march (or drive) up the hill to don Javier's sumptuous villa and some extraordinary views of the town and surrounding countryside, before descending to the island for lunch prepared by doña Lola, don Javier's personal chef for more than 35 years.
The charming bilingual guides stay with the group throughout the tour and are ready with a wealth of information at their fingertips for inquisitive visitors. Their relaxed style gives the tour a laid-back, dreamy quality--the free-flowing tequila also helps in this respect.
But perhaps the greatest bonus about this tour is the sense of privilege of being able to enter the private world of a legendary Jalisco family. Lounging on don Javier's private island, listening to the guide telling you tales of gunfights as the Sauza and Cuervo families struggled for dominance, you can close your eyes and almost dream of being a tequila baron.
How you experience the return journey to Guadalajara might depend on the amount of tequila you have consumed. But in whatever state you get back to Guadalajara, you'll be certain to have brought one thing with you: a basketful of memories to last a lifetime.
For more information about regular and private tours with Mayahuel Tours call (3) 616-93-97.
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