Foley Family Wines & Spirits, the Santa Rosa, California drinks company controlled by Bill Foley, announced on September 30, 2026 the release of Gran Nota Triple Oak Reposado, a tequila made by Texas whiskey founder Chip Tate with Jalisco's Bañuelos family.
The bottle is produced at Hacienda El Mexicano, listed under NOM 1588 in the highlands of Arandas, Jalisco, and carries a suggested retail price of 55 dollars. It is being sold at select retailers across the United States, in Mexico, and through the brand's own website, according to the company's release.
Who is Chip Tate, and why is a whiskey maker distilling tequila
Tate founded Texas whiskey maker Balcones Distilling in Waco in 2008, building his own stills, and introduced the Baby Blue expression in 2010. He left the company in 2014 following what Whisky Advocate described as an acrimonious dispute with his investors, after which he started Tate & Co. Distillery, gaining a distillery license in 2017 and opening the following year. Foley Family Wines & Spirits named him master distiller for innovation in January 2024, tasking him with expanding the company's move into spirits beyond its wine holdings.
Gran Nota is the first release under Tate's own agave-spirits label, which he has also attached to a mezcal project called Penumbra. Tate has said his background in brewing, rather than tequila, shaped how he approached the new spirit, describing an interest in applying malt-whiskey analysis to agave fermentation.
What actually goes into Gran Nota's production
According to the company, production begins with 100 percent mature Blue Weber agave from the Jalisco highlands, cooked for three days in brick ovens using atmospheric steam rather than the pressure-cooked autoclaves common at larger distilleries. Foley Family Wines & Spirits says this is meant to build caramelized agave character while avoiding harsher, acrid notes that can come from faster cooking methods.
The company says fermentation runs five days using a proprietary malt whiskey yeast strain more typically associated with Scotch-style whisky production, a departure from yeasts used across most tequila houses. During distillation, the company says only the finest hearts are selected for the final spirit. From there, the liquid rests for five to fourteen months in what the company calls a Triple Oak maturation program that combines new custom American oak and new custom European oak; the company's materials describing the third wood component were not available in full at publication.
Foley's spirits buildout and the Bañuelos connection
Foley Family Wines and Spirits, established by Bill Foley in 1996 as a wine company, says its global spirits portfolio began in 2023 and now spans Tequila El Mexicano, High Ground Estate Vodka, Minden Mill whiskeys, Charles Goodnight Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Evil Bean Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, New Zealand's Lighthouse Gin, the Loch Lomond Group, Two Stacks Irish Whiskey and Killowen Distillery.
The Bañuelos family's involvement follows an April 2024 agency agreement in which Foley Family Wines became the exclusive importer and seller of Tequila El Mexicano outside Mexico, a brand the Bañuelos family owns and produces. The family's history in the category dates to 1973, when Don Félix Bañuelos and his son León partnered with family friends to create the Cazadores brand in Arandas, Jalisco. Gran Nota marks an expansion of that relationship into a bespoke label built specifically for Foley's portfolio rather than an import of an existing Bañuelos brand.
What this means
Gran Nota has not been evaluated against Tequila Watch's four-pillar TW Score, so there is no read on how it compares to peers. Tequila El Mexicano Blanco, made at the same Hacienda El Mexicano facility under the Bañuelos family, currently carries a TW Score of 58 of 95 in the database, though that figure describes a different, existing product and says nothing about how a whiskey-inflected reposado from a new production line will score.