Agave Wine or Watery Tequila: La Quinta De Oro Agave Wine

Recently I found this interesting item in the orphaned wine & beer bin at my local Wholefoods and decided to give it a temporary home. The La Quinta De Oro Agave Wine is produced in the Tequila region by the San Gabriel Beverage Group using 100% Blue Agave and fortified with 100% agave spirits. The fortification cuts off at 20% abv so that the beverage maintains its wine status.

The color is a cloudy light yellow and the aroma all agave. In fact you'd think you held a neat tequila in your hands. On the palette, the fresh agave flavor appears and then rapidly dissipates leaving a watery bland finish. Very difficult to get used to - because from the aroma and initial taste, I was expecting the strength of a tequila which obviously was not present. Fortunately we lucked into the appropriate food pairing, spicy chili, where the chili spices reinforced the weak finish. Instead of falling flat, the agave wine and chili combination was quite pleasant. Thus we only recommend paired with Los Lonely Boys and chili. Cheers.