Why we carry them
Lost Lore is one of the cleanest, most transparent tequila brands on our shelf. It's bottled at NOM 1414 — the Vivanco family's distillery in Los Altos, Jalisco — under Master Distiller Sergio Cruz. Every expression is independently additive-free certified by Tequila Matchmaker (no caramel coloring, no glycerin, no sugar-based sweeteners, no oak extract). What you taste is 100% blue Weber agave from the Highlands, the way the producer chose to bottle it.
Master Distiller · Sergio Cruz
Sergio Cruz is the Master Distiller behind Lost Lore. He runs production at NOM 1414 — the same distillery that makes the Vivanco family's flagship Viva Mexico tequila — and his fingerprint is all over the Lost Lore lineup. Cruz's style is the opposite of the modern celebrity-tequila playbook: no shortcuts on cook times, no flavor additives at bottling, no proof reductions to chase a sweeter palate. His Reposado spends up to twelve months in ex-whiskey barrels; his Añejo, up to thirty-six. The bottles taste like what someone who's been distilling agave for a long time wants to drink, not what a marketing team thinks will sell.
The Vivanco family · NOM 1414, Arandas, Jalisco
Lost Lore is bottled at the Viva Mexico Vivanco distillery — a multi-generational, family-owned operation in the Highlands of Jalisco. The Vivancos have farmed agave and made tequila for decades on their own estate, and they produce both their own brand and a small number of carefully chosen partner labels. Lost Lore is one of those partner labels. That matters: a real working family distillery with real skin in the game, not a contract-bottling factory churning out anonymous house brands. When a NOM hosts only a few names and the family's own bottle is one of them, the partner brands eat at the same standard.
The expressions
We carry the full range — from un-rested Blanco through 36-month Añejo:
- Blanco — un-rested, crisp agave with bright citrus and a clean peppery finish. Tahona-crushed.
- Tahona Blanco — the limited Tahona expression. Stone-mill crushing pulls more pulp and fiber into the ferment, giving it a silkier, more savory mouthfeel.
- Valley Blanco — a higher-proof expression built around Jalisco lowland (Valley) agave, terroir-driven, intensely peppery and earthy.
- Reposado — up to 12 months in former whiskey barrels. Cooked agave with vanilla and oak.
- Añejo — up to 36 months in former whiskey barrels. The deepest bottle in the line: cooked agave, vanilla, and oak with rounded heat.
NOM 1414 · Highlands & Valley
NOM 1414 is the official distillery designation that identifies who actually made each bottle — the Vivanco family's house. Lost Lore's lineup pulls from both Highland and Valley Jalisco agave: the Highland's red volcanic soil and cool nights produce sweeter, fruitier blue Weber, while the Valley's warmer climate and mineral soils give a more aggressive, peppery, earthy profile. Tasting the Blanco against the Valley Blanco is the easiest single-flight in our store to learn what tequila terroir actually tastes like — and you can do it knowing both bottles were cooked, milled, fermented, and distilled by the same person under the same roof.
Additive-free, the long way
Most "premium" tequila on US shelves contains up to 1% additives — caramel coloring to fake age, glycerin to fake mouthfeel, oak extract to skip the barrel — and the law allows producers to call themselves "100% agave" anyway. Sergio Cruz submits every Lost Lore batch for independent additive-free verification by the Tequila Matchmaker team. If you've only ever drunk additive-loaded tequila, the first sip of Lost Lore Reposado is a conversion experience.
