Tequila's ageing words are the most precise part of the label and the part most often skipped. Blanco, reposado, anejo, extra anejo. They are not marketing tiers and they are not a quality ranking. Each one is a minimum time in wood, written into Mexican law, and knowing the numbers tells you more about what is in the glass than any tasting note will.
This guide covers the two in the middle, reposado and anejo, because they are where most of the interesting tequila sits and where most of the confusion lives. Our blanco tequila guide covers the unaged end and our mezcal guide covers the wider agave family.
Where the rules come from
Tequila is governed by a Mexican official standard, NOM-006-SCFI-2012. It sets out what tequila is, where it may be made, and what each class on the label means. It also sets the strength band: under Table 1 of the standard, every class of tequila must be between 35 and 55 per cent alcohol by volume.
Australia recognises that band. Standard 2.7.5 of the Food Standards Code sets 37 per cent as the minimum for anything sold as a spirit, with one exception written into the section: tequila, which may be sold at 35 per cent. That is why a tequila can sit below 37 per cent on an Australian shelf when nothing else may.
One point before the classes. There are two categories underneath them. "100% de agave" means all the fermentable sugar came from blue Weber agave grown in the denomination, and it must be bottled at the producer's own plant. The plain "Tequila" category allows up to 49 per cent of the total sugars to come from somewhere other than agave. That split is separate from the ageing words and it matters at least as much.
Reposado
Reposado means rested, and the rest is short. Clause 4.36.3 of the standard defines it as a product matured for at least two months in direct contact with the wood of oak or holm oak containers. Clause 6.4 repeats the requirement and adds that maturation must be carried out by the authorised producer inside the territory of the denomination.
Two months is the floor, not the practice. Many reposados sit for six months or longer, and there is nothing on a label that tells you which. What the standard does not do for reposado is cap the size of the vessel, which is the quiet difference from anejo. A producer may rest reposado in a very large tank, where the ratio of wood to liquid is low and the wood contributes slowly, or in a small ex bourbon barrel, where it works fast. Two reposados with identical label wording can be completely different drinks for that reason alone.
There is a further clause worth knowing. Under 4.36.3, a blend of reposado with anejo or extra anejo is still classified as reposado. So a bottle labelled reposado may legally contain much older tequila.
Don Fulano Reposado rests what its producer describes as mature highland agave in French Limousin oak, which is a wine cask tradition rather than an American whiskey one. Don Fulano Tequila Cimarron Reposado is a second reposado from the same house. Clase Azul Tequila Reposado is the bottle most people arrive at this category through, and our Clase Azul guide covers the decanter and the range. Camarena Reposado is the straightforward everyday option. The full set sits on our Reposado Tequila page.
Anejo
Anejo means aged, and this is where the cask size rule appears. Clause 4.36.4 requires at least one year of maturation in direct contact with the wood of oak or holm oak containers whose maximum capacity is 600 litres. Clause 6.4 states the same requirement again.
That 600 litre ceiling is the most consequential number in the whole standard. It rules out the large tanks a reposado may legally use and forces anejo into barrel sized vessels, where the surface area of wood per litre of tequila is far higher. Combined with the twelve month minimum, it is generally why an anejo reads rounder and more obviously oaky than a reposado, and why the agave character steps back.
The same blending logic applies one level up: under 4.36.4, a blend of anejo with extra anejo is still anejo.
Don Fulano Anejo is described by its producer as a coupage of very old tequilas aged in French Limousin and Nevers oak casks that previously held wines from Burgundy and the Loire, which is an unusually specific claim for the category. Camarena Anejo is the accessible one. Rooster Rojo Tequila Anejo is a third option. It sits below the 40 per cent most people expect, which the 35 to 55 per cent band allows and which is a real difference in weight rather than a rounding. The range is on our Anejo Tequila page.
Extra anejo, and the two classes either side
Extra anejo is clause 4.36.5: at least three years, again in oak or holm oak containers of no more than 600 litres. It was added to the standard well after the others and it is still a small part of what is made.
Blanco or plata is clause 4.36.1. It may spend less than two months in oak, so a blanco is not always literally unaged, it is simply below the reposado threshold.
Joven or oro is clause 4.36.2 and is the one people misread most. It is blanco blended with reposado, anejo or extra anejo, or blanco with permitted mellowing ingredients added. Gold does not mean aged.
Mellowing, and why two reposados can look identical and taste nothing alike
There is one more clause that explains a great deal about the category. Clause 4.1 of the standard defines abocado, a procedure for softening the flavour of tequila by adding one or more of four ingredients: caramel colour, natural oak or holm oak extract, glycerine, and sugar based syrup. Clause 6.1.1 caps the total at 1 per cent of the weight of the tequila before bottling.
Reposado, anejo and extra anejo are all defined in the standard as products that may be mellowed this way. Blanco is defined as being made without abocante. Clause 4.36 says its provisions apply to both of the standard's categories unless 100 per cent agave is expressly mentioned, and the three aged class definitions carve out no exception, so a bottle can be 100 per cent agave and still be mellowed within that 1 per cent.
The practical takeaway is not that mellowing is bad. It is that colour is not a reliable guide to time in wood. A pale reposado that sat a year in a big tank and a dark reposado that sat two months with a little caramel are both legal and both correctly labelled, and only the producer knows which is which. This is why the house matters more than the class word.
Every bottle also carries the official mark and the registration number of the authorised producer, required by clause 10.4 and the labelling list in the standard. That number identifies the distillery that actually made the liquid, which is a more useful fact than most of what is on the front label.
The labels you will see in English
Clause 5.2.2 lets producers substitute English terms for the international market, and the translations are not the obvious ones:
- Silver in place of Blanco or Plata.
- Gold in place of Joven or Oro.
- Aged in place of Reposado.
- Extra aged in place of Anejo.
- Ultra aged in place of Extra Anejo.
So a bottle marked "extra aged" is an anejo, not an extra anejo. It is worth reading twice.
How to drink them
Reposado and anejo are both sipping propositions, in a small measure, at room temperature, in a glass with a narrow enough rim to gather the aroma. Neither needs ice, and neither needs salt or lime, which flatten the wood character you paid for.
For mixing, the rule of thumb is that reposado works where you want a little weight without losing the agave, so a Tommy's margarita or a paloma made with reposado works well. Anejo generally does not belong in a citrus drink. Where it works is in stirred builds, an old fashioned or a manhattan style drink, where the oak has something to sit against.
If you are moving up from blanco, go reposado first and give it a fair hearing before you spend on anejo. A reposado from a producer you like tells you more about the house style than an anejo does, because there is less wood covering it.
Where to start
- First reposado: Camarena Reposado.
- Reposado worth sitting with: Don Fulano Reposado.
- First anejo: Camarena Anejo.
- Anejo for a stirred drink: Don Fulano Anejo.
- Something lighter in the band: Rooster Rojo Tequila Anejo.
- As a gift: Clase Azul Tequila Reposado.
Our Don Fulano guide covers that producer in more depth. The full range sits on our Tequila page, and we deliver to every Australian state and the ACT.