Where to Taste Mezcal in Oaxaca, from Palenque to Copita
Experience
Written by:
Dave Pratt
Partner
Key takeaways
Oaxaca dominates: the state produced 89.47% of certified mezcal in 2025, according to the industry's regulatory council.
Three categories: Mexico's mezcal standard separates Mezcal, Mezcal Artesanal, and Mezcal Ancestral by how the agave is cooked, crushed, and distilled.
Many agaves: espadín made up 84.5% of certified production in 2025, but mezcal can be made from wild species such as tobalá and tepeztate that take far longer to mature.
Not tequila: tequila must come from blue agave, and only its "100% Agave" category excludes other sugars. All mezcal must be 100% agave.
Where to go: Santiago Matatlán, about 45 km from Oaxaca city on Highway 190, is the best-known mezcal village. Santa Catarina Minas is known for clay-pot distilling.
Why Oaxaca is the center of mezcal
Mezcal can legally be made in about a dozen Mexican states, but almost all of it comes from one. Oaxaca produced 89.47% of certified mezcal in 2025, according to the annual report of COMERCAM, the council that certifies the spirit. Puebla, in second place, made 3.26%.
Most of that mezcal is still made in small distilleries called palenques, many of them family-run, in the valleys south and east of Oaxaca city. Plenty of palenques take visitors, and the whole process can be seen in an afternoon, from the earth oven to the still.
How mezcal is made
Mature agave plants are harvested and stripped down to their hearts, called piñas. The piñas are roasted for several days in a conical pit oven lined with hot stones and covered with earth, which is where mezcal's smoky character comes from. The cooked agave is then crushed, traditionally with wooden mallets or a tahona, a large stone wheel pulled around a circular pit, often by a horse or mule.
The crushed fibers and juice ferment in open vats of wood, stone, or clay, and the liquid is then distilled, usually twice. A study of 10 palenques in San Baltazar Chichicápam found that a liter of mezcal took 9 to 9.6 kg of espadín, or 16.66 kg of the wild agave tobalá.
The three official categories of mezcal
Mexico's official mezcal standard, NOM-070-SCFI-2016, sorts mezcal into three categories by method. The category is printed on every certified label.
Mezcal | Mezcal Artesanal | Mezcal Ancestral | |
|---|---|---|---|
Cooking | Pit ovens, masonry ovens, or autoclaves | Pit ovens or raised masonry ovens | Pit ovens only |
Crushing | Tahona, Chilean or Egyptian mill, trapiche, shredder, milling train, or diffuser | Mallet, tahona, Chilean or Egyptian mill, trapiche, or shredder | Mallet, tahona, or Chilean or Egyptian mill |
Distillation | Stills, continuous stills, or columns | Direct fire, in copper pot stills or clay pots | Direct fire, in clay pots only |
Artesanal is by far the largest category, making up 91.03% of certified production in 2025. Labels must also name the agave species, and most mezcal is sold unaged, as Blanco or Joven.
The agaves behind mezcal
Espadín (Agave angustifolia) is the workhorse. It's cultivated, matures in roughly six to 10 years, and accounted for 84.5% of certified production in 2025.
Tobalá (Agave potatorum) is a small wild agave from the mountains of Oaxaca and Puebla, usually around 10 to 15 years old at harvest. The area around Miahuatlán, in the Sierra Sur, is known for it.
Tepeztate (Agave marmorata) grows wild on rocky slopes and is generally reported to take 20 years or more to mature.
Cuishe (Agave karwinskii) grows in a tall, trunk-like shape. In Santa Catarina Minas, a local form of the same species is often called largo.
Maturation times for wild agaves come mostly from producers and the trade, and vary widely with altitude and soil, so treat them as approximate. Because wild plants take so long to replace, a bottle of tepeztate costs more and is harder to find than one of espadín.
How mezcal differs from tequila
Tequila and mezcal are both distilled from agave, and they're regulated very differently. Tequila must be made from a single plant, the blue agave (Agave tequilana Weber), and the standard "Tequila" category needs only 51% of its sugars to come from it. Only bottles labeled "Tequila 100% Agave" are pure. Mezcal, by contrast, must always be 100% agave and can be made from many species. Our guide to food and drink in Mexico covers tequila and raicilla in more detail.
Production differs too. Many large tequila distilleries cook agave in steam ovens or autoclaves, and some extract sugars with diffusers, while artisanal mezcal is roasted in earth pits. That's the main reason most mezcal tastes smokier.
The villages to visit
Santiago Matatlán. About 45 km southeast of Oaxaca city, Matatlán is widely called the world capital of mezcal, and palenques line the roads in and around the town. It's the usual end point of the Ruta del Mezcal along Highway 190, which passes Santa María del Tule and Tlacolula, with turnoffs for Teotitlán del Valle and Mitla along the way.
Santa Catarina Minas. This village is known for minero-style mezcal, distilled twice in clay pots over a direct fire. The Ángeles family, which makes Real Minero, has distilled there for generations.
San Baltazar Chichicápam. About an hour south of Oaxaca city, in the Ocotlán district. Del Maguey sells a single-village mezcal from here under the name Chichicapa.
Mitla and Yagul. The Tlacolula valley also has older history. Its prehistoric caves, including Guilá Naquitz, where some of the earliest evidence of plant domestication in the Americas was found, have been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2010.
Visiting a palenque
Palenques are working sites rather than visitor centers. Expect dust, smoke, piles of spent agave fiber, and a tasting at the end.
Most palenques on the route pour tastings, so a driver means no one has to skip them, and a local guide can explain each step of the process.
Uncertified mezcal is also sold along the route, sometimes in reused bottles. Certified bottles carry the category, the agave species, and the COMERCAM seal.
Mezcal is traditionally sipped from a jícara, a dried gourd, or a small clay copita. Orange slices dusted with sal de gusano, a salt ground with toasted larvae, come afterward.
The Feria del Mezcal is held in Oaxaca each July, alongside the Guelaguetza, with producers from across the state pouring.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between mezcal and tequila?
Tequila must be made from blue agave, and only bottles labeled "100% Agave" are pure agave. Mezcal must always be 100% agave, can use many species, and is usually roasted in earth pits, which gives it a smokier taste.
What does Mezcal Ancestral mean?
It's the strictest of the three official categories. The agave must be cooked in a pit oven, crushed by hand or with a stone wheel or mill, and distilled over direct fire in clay pots.
Where is the best place to visit a mezcal palenque in Oaxaca?
Santiago Matatlán, about 45 km from Oaxaca city on Highway 190, is lined with palenques. Santa Catarina Minas is the place to see clay-pot distilling.
When is the mezcal fair in Oaxaca?
The Feria del Mezcal is held every July in Oaxaca, during the Guelaguetza. Our festival calendar lists the Guelaguetza dates.
Which agave is most mezcal made from?
Espadín, a cultivated agave that made up 84.5% of certified mezcal in 2025. Wild agaves such as tobalá and tepeztate are used for smaller, more expensive batches.
