October 01, 2008 As I noted in my review of the CN reposado, CN was very scarce and very expensive around here until recently. Actually, this blanco I got about a year ago, when my local liquor store seemed to get in about a case. I think I paid $29 a bottle. Probably mismarked or something for that time. An interesting thing happened re me re this blanco. I had really looked forward, based on on-line discussions, for years to getting some CN, really aiming for the reposado. When I first was drinking this, though, I was a maybe little disappointed. It seemed perhaps too smooth. Not as bad that way as Patron, but toward that. It is tripled distilled. I was thinking that maybe double distilled would have worked better. Good body and excellent finish though, and all the flavors that are there--and I would say that it has all of the complex agave flavors I so love--are good, balances, and complex. It just seemed to me that, say, a Don Julio or El Tesoro de Don Phillipe blanco had just about as good a nose, flavor, and finish, with good body, but with more intensity that the CN. Maybe others that have given lukewarm reviews have had similar initial experiences to me. However, since I have managed to get and have been drinking the CN reposado, it seems to somehow bring out aspects of the CN blanco that were not as apparent to me in the past. Now the CN blanco seems deeper and more nuanced to me, to have more "going on" in it that I have previously thought. It seems to have a purer agave flavor (pepper, citrus, spices, licorice (not sure re licorice) and "sweetness" (I think the sweetness is really in the aroma, I doubt that the sugar content is any higher than any other tequila) than the other blancos I really like. Other blancos taste a little less balanced to me now, their finishes a little less polished and less lingering. A few more slight off notes and hotness (although I like some "burn" in any tequila and the CN could perhaps use a little more) in the others some how. In any event, I find myself coming back to this CN blanco more consistently than to any other tequila, even the CNR, which I truly love, too, and I own a bunch of different tequilas and have tasted lots and lots more over the years. I could go for a bit more intensity. Like I say, maybe just double distilled or maybe even a more refined, and thus even more expensive, agave selection. This may well be my favorite tequila of any kind at this point. I may be more sensitive to agave specific tastes at this point that I was a year ago, and this tequila seems to present as pure an agave flavor profile as I can imagine. That and a stunning, pure, lingering finish. I have said it before, I think the finish separates the merely wonderful from the great, and this blanco has as good a finish as I have ever experienced in a tequila.

 October 01, 2008 I have not tried doing a rating on this web site before, so we will see how this goes. Casa Noble was very hard to get in this Washington, DC market until recently, but seems much more readily available now at a generally much lower price than when it was truly scare, or even what it used to be nationally on various web sites. I am paying $38 for the CNR at the Montgomery County, MD liquor store. (The county operates all liquor stores in the county.) I had been very anxious to try this tequila for years based upon what I had read on-line. I have been drinking it frequently in every possible manner lately. I do not think it disappoints in any way and is clearly among my top three or so reposados. I really do not see how it could be any smoother. Seems very well-balanced to me, with the full and complex complements of tequila and especially "pure" agave flavors. To me, good citrus (I would say orange and lemon), earth, vanilla (light vanilla, the way I like vanilla tones) and other spices in the nose, taste, and finish, with that singular agave sweetness in there, too. I am not usually big on anejos, and the wood here is just about perfect for my tastes. It adds nuance and complexity (a little leather, a little cedar maybe, a tiny bit of tobacco?), but in no way overwhelms or distorts. (Tequila should not be whiskey.) I agree with other re nice body and excellent, long finish. In my experience, finish separates the great from the merely wonderful. If there was anything more or different I might like in this tequila it might be more intensity, maybe even a little "burn" in there somewhere, which might add a note of complexity without throwing it all off. Something like some of the best bourbons have even when they are not over-proof. Patron to me, for instance, is just too darn "smooth" and light. CNR does not err nearly to that extent re smoothness. I wonder, for instance, what this would be like double rather than triple distilled. Casa Noble seems to use really high quality agave. I wonder what it would be like if they used an even more stringent selection criteria for the agave quality. I would not want more wood or age. Just more agave intensity. It would be more expensive, naturally, but it would be amazing. To me this reposado is truly a real McCoy. Whether it is someone in particular's favorite reposado or not, I think Casa Noble is structuring a really wonderful tequila within the bounds of what truly remarkable tequila is supposed to be.