Clase Azul ages its new Día de Muertos tequila partly in Champagne casks

Clase Azul has released a new Día de Muertos tequila partly aged in casks that once fermented Champagne. The expression is called Día de Muertos Edición Limitada Trascender, and it pairs two añejo tequilas chosen by master distiller Viridiana Tinoco.

The release

Each of the two añejos aged for 30 months, but in different wood. One rested in American whiskey barrels. The other sat in casks previously used to ferment the wine that becomes Champagne, giving this limited release its defining detail.

Clase Azul puts the run at 10,000 one-liter decanters, each priced at $2,000. They will reach partner locations in Mexico, including the brand's boutique in San José del Cabo, plus the Loft brand home in Brooklyn, New York and other international retailers in the coming weeks.

Trascender is not the first bottle in a new series, the brand says. Rather, it opens the practice of issuing Día de Muertos limited editions as standalone expressions. It arrives after the Nuestros Recuerdos series concluded last year, closing a run that began in 2021.

The earlier series delivered five bottles: Sabores, Colores, Aromas, Música and Recuerdos. Before it, a very limited Día de Muertos expression from 2017 set a record as the most expensive tequila ever sold at auction the following summer.

The decanter

Clase Azul builds its name on ceramic decanters hand-painted by artisans in Mexico, each one a display piece as much as a vessel. The Trascender bottle carries a blue and magenta glaze with 24-karat gold brush strokes and two marigolds.

The marigolds symbolize the soul's transition from life to the afterworld. Creative director Sofía Ortiz says the team returned to its signature hand-applied feathered brush strokes to root the piece while honoring one of Mexico's most beautiful celebrations.

"With each brushstroke, the flowers come to life and transform into light, emerging against the depths of a dark blue night," Ortiz said. She frames the decanter as a retelling of an ancient story about passage from the earthly world into the spiritual one.

The Champagne casks

The Champagne casks matter because of autolysis, the fermentation process in which yeast cells break down and release compounds. Clase Azul says the barrels passed on what it calls warm, buttery aromas reminiscent of toasted nuts and freshly baked bread.

Tinoco credits the process directly. "The tequila inherits the aromatic legacy of autolysis," she said. "The soul of the agave, a plant that embodies patience, resilience, and cyclical life, meets the memory of the wine."

She closes the thought by saying the two together give rise to a spirit celebrating a permanence that transcends time, which is where the release takes its name. The tasting notes describe pear, apple and sourdough on the nose.

The palate follows with agave nectar, cacao nibs and toasted walnut. It is a fuller profile than the agave-forward style Clase Azul's everyday bottlings lead with, and it leans closer to the dessert-like character the brand reserves for special editions.

We know Clase Azul as one of the ultra-premium names in our guide to the world's best tequila brands, a maison built on hand-painted ceramic decanters rather than glass. Each bottle is finished individually, which keeps runs tight and prices far above the category's center.

Two thousand dollars places Trascender among the most ambitious limited editions in the category, ahead of most single-barrel releases and comfortably above 1800 Tequila's collectible line or Teremana's everyday ambitions, which trade on volume and accessibility.

The Champagne finish is the point of difference. In our survey of the finest Champagne houses, the region's barrels are prized for the yeast character autolysis leaves behind, and using them to age agave spirits is still rare even among luxury tequila makers.

That rarity carries risk as well as story. A cask that ferments Champagne is seasoned differently from a bourbon barrel, and putting an añejo in one for 30 months rather than a finishing flourish is a bolder move than the brand has made before.

Availability begins in Mexico and Brooklyn before widening to other international retailers, though Clase Azul has not published a specific on-sale date for most markets.