Ayate Añejo is finished in Chardonnay barrels from Napa Valley.
Napa Valley is 1,920 miles from the Mexican state of Jalisco, but the metaphorical distance from the vineyards, where winemaker Dave Phinney has spent most of his career, to the fields, where the Ramirez family harvests agave to make tequila, can seem much greater. Together, however, they’re trying to bridge the span between wine and tequila with a new collaboration: Ayate.
Phinney has made his name in wine, helping to build brands like The Prisoner Wine Company and Orin Swift Cellars into industry juggernauts. When he decided to turn his talents to tequila, he went to the Casa Ramirez distillery in Guanajuato (one of the few Mexican states outside Jalisco where tequila can be made legally). The distillery is known for producing DeLeón tequila, among others, but Phinney had something different in mind—namely, finishing Casa Ramirez tequila in his wine barrels.
Phinney’s foray into the world of spirits is just beginning. He’s building a distillery on Mare Island—a former naval shipyard northeast of San Francisco and just south of the Napa Valley—along the shores of San Pablo Bay. He hopes the facility will soon be producing whiskey and rum. If Ayate is any indicator, it will bear the mark of Phinney’s impeccable taste.
