Dispute Over Territory
The Dispute Over Boundaries
Even protected boundaries aren't set in stone forever. Mezcal's territory grew in both 2018 and 2021, against the resistance of some connoisseurs, and more and more distillers are deliberately turning to an unprotected name instead.
How the Mezcal Region Grew
Unlike Tequila, whose region, comprising 181 municipalities, has long been fixed, the Mezcal region has expanded several times since its founding in 1994. In 2018, the states of Aguascalientes, Morelos and the Estado de México were added, on top of Tamaulipas, Guanajuato, Michoacán and Puebla, which had been included earlier. Each of these expansions required its own application and its own proof of established tradition.
In 2021 came a further, considerably more controversial expansion: four municipalities in the state of Sinaloa were added to the Denominación de Origen via publication in the Mexican federal gazette. As a result, the Mezcal region now spans over twelve states plus parts of a thirteenth. Critics see a pattern in this: the region is growing faster than its underlying justifications can be properly reviewed each time.
Why Sinaloa Is Controversial
Mexico's own Mezcal Regulatory Council spoke out critically against precisely this Sinaloa expansion. In its view, there was insufficient evidence that the communities in question actually possess the kind of established mezcal tradition a Denominación de Origen is supposed to require. Despite this, the expansion was officially published and has been in effect ever since. Supporters, meanwhile, point to individual families in the region who have long been distilling informally using similar methods.
Such conflicts reveal a fundamental problem with protected designations of origin: they're meant to safeguard established traditions, yet ultimately get negotiated by authorities and interest groups who don't always agree. Critics worry that a rapidly expanding region dilutes the original purpose of that protection.
Criticism beyond the map
Criticism of expanding protected zones extends well beyond individual districts. Environmentalists and some small producers have long warned that a growing market for protected names increases pressure on wild agave populations. The more land officially opened up for cultivation, the greater the temptation to produce quickly and industrially rather than traditionally and on a small scale.
Proponents of the expansions argue the opposite: that a larger protected zone gives legal standing to more traditional small-scale distillers who previously operated entirely outside any official framework. Both sides invoke the same designation of origin, yet draw opposite conclusions from it.
The way out: Destilado de Agave
Anyone distilling outside the protected zones, or using methods that aren't approved, doesn't necessarily have to give up. In Mexico, the term "Destilado de Agave," literally agave distillate, has become established for exactly this purpose. It carries no designation of origin and no fixed standard, but it grants producers freedoms that Tequila or Mezcal simply don't allow. For buyers, the label mainly signals one thing: none of the strict rules governing Tequila or Mezcal apply here.
Some distillers choose this path voluntarily, even though they could technically work within Tequila or Mezcal territory. Wild agaves that aren't among the approved species, or old techniques not covered by any official standard, are far easier to work with under "Destilado de Agave" than under the strict requirements of NOM-006 or NOM-070. This leaves room for experimentation that would be nearly impossible within the established Denominaciones de Origen.
What remains in the end
These eight stops make one thing clear: the name of an agave spirit is rarely accidental. It's tied to a place, to one or more plant species, to a precisely regulated process, and to an authority that verifies it all. Tequila was one of the first spirits outside Europe to follow this path all the way through. Once you understand this chain, you'll read every label with new eyes.
Where these rules are missing or become too restrictive, new terms emerge, like "Agave Spirit" or "Destilado de Agave," not as a fallback, but often as a deliberate choice for greater freedom outside the protected name.