That phrase is on the label of every Jose Cuervo bottle, but what does that phrase actually mean?
In the American Southwest, tequila is about as American as apple pie.
The United States consumes more than half of the world's tequila and recently has dominated the bottling side of the industry, as well.
But the Mexican government is moving to change that.
The Tequila Regulatory Council, a governmental committee that oversees the tequila trade in Mexico, is looking to require that all bottling take place in Mexico and to ban the bulk shipments that currently dominate the tequila trade with its neighbor to the North.
Though true tequila is derived from blue agave plants grown only in southwest Mexico, 83 percent of tequila consumed in America is picked there but bottled in local U.S. distilleries, according to The Economist.
And it is this discrepancy that is at the heart of this trade battle over el alcohol nacional de Mexico.
The integrity of tequila has long been a capital concern for Mexico, much like the purity of champagne for France. To this end, in the 1970s the Mexican government established criteria for the production of tequila.
These criteria, called NORMAS, stipulate that tequila must be derived from at least 51 percent blue agave reduction and only from plants grown in certain states; in addition, tequila must be distilled twice, made of 100 percent natural ingredients and be labeled with "Hecho en Mexico."
Citing NORMAS, Mexico says that its move to end bulk shipments stems from a lack of quality control in the American factories.
In addition to quality control, the TRC's proposal would move bottling jobs back over the border to the Mexican side, where they belong.
We believe that Mexico deserves distilling rights and growing rights to its most popular export plant.
While much lip service was paid to increased border amity and equitable trade development between the United States and Mexico at the beginning of President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox's tenures, little progress on these fronts has occurred. If it takes tequila to bring attention back to this relationship, then we say Salud.
Tequila is a natural and economic resource for Mexico and a rare one, at that. The Mexican government is right to increase its oversight of the production and distribution of such a precious commodity.
