DON JULIO GONZÁLEZ

After sharing his vision with a local businessman, he's granted a loan to start his first tequila distillery, La Primavera, in the Jaliscan Highlands. For the next forty years, Don Julio González would devote his life to making the world's finest tequila. Each day he'd wake up early to walk along the agave fields, cutting the grass around each individual plant to protect it. With a coa in hand, he'd carve flavor from every piña, expertly balancing the bitter and sweet leaves of each agave. And when it came time to harvest, he'd harvest each plant one by one, picking only the agaves at optimum maturity and health. Sitting 6500 feet above sea level, the highlands of Jalisco is where it all began. It's in this extreme climate, surrounded by rich volcanic soil, where the legendary distillery of La Primavera was founded and Don Julio Tequila was born. The Jaliscan Highland's warm days, cool nights, and rich clay soil create the perfect microclimate for the cultivation of blue agave. Don Julio didn't think of his agave as a crop, he considered them his children. And through his extraordinary devotion to making exceptional tequila, his legend lives on today.