Origen Raíz Mezcal Cenizo Silvestre

Rancho El Ojo is a pristine ranch in Durango and the birthplace of Origen Raíz. The ranch lies just outside the Sierra de Organos National Park at an elevation of approximately 6,350 feet. It is owned by the Saravia family, who act as stewards of the land to conserve the balance and rejuvenate the health of the grassland ecosystem. With an abundance of agave and dasylirion, this certified wildlife preserve also presented a wonderful opportunity to make sustainable mezcals and sotols.

Don Valentín Cortés, with his knowledge of traditional mezcal from Oaxaca, joined the Saravia family to build Viñata El Ojo. The two families now produce mezcal and sotol with much love and respect for their culture and heritage. Origen Raíz is the Cortés family’s first mezcal produced outside their home state of Oaxaca. You might be familiar with their other mezcals: El Jolgorio, Nuestra Soledad, and Agave de Cortés.

“Origen Raiz Cenizo is made with maguey Cenizo (Agave durangensis) by mezcalero Ignacio Grijalva Santiago, who is also known as Don Nacho. Though originally from Oaxaca, he moved to Durango with his family to run the palenque at Rancho El Ojo. Cosme Gabriel Simental also helps with the mezcal production. There are also some bottles made by mezcalero Noe Ramirez Varela.  All of the bottles and batches we’ve seen have come from Rancho El Ojo, which is full of wild agave, sotol, and nopal plants. The ranch lies just outside the Sierra de Órganos National Park, at an elevation of approximately 6,350 feet. The agave used in this mezcal are smoked in underground ovens, crushed by mule-drawn tahona, fermented in open-air oak tanks, and double distilled in copper stills.”