Credit: Photo by John Anderson

This has been a great year for new tequilas. And while the conventional wisdom is that the best are from the reposado and añejo classes, my heart belongs to the blancos (aka silver, platinum, or any other idea the marketing folks can come up with to describe a clear tequila). The extra fruitiness and agave intensity is muted in the aged versions. I’m sure to get plenty of guff about this from the tequila conservatives. Sorry, give me a young, vibrant blanco, and I’ll be a happy bebedor. By the way, if price is an absolute issue, the Jose Cuervo silver at $17 is a great bottle of tequila. In a price-is-no-object world, these are the 10 best blanco tequilas I’ve tried this year, arranged alphabetically.

1) CABO WABO ($35)

2) CHINACO ($45)

3) CORAZÓN DE AGAVE ($35)

4) CORZO ($46)

5) DON JULIO ($40)

6) 1800 ($27)

7) EL TESORO PLATINUM ($45)

8) GRAN PATRÓN ($175)

9) REPUBLIC ($40)

10) Z ($30)

This article appears in 2009.

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Wes Marshall is the author of What's a Wine Lover To Do? (Artisan) and The Wine Roads of Texas (Maverick), as well as the Executive Producer of the PBS television series of the same name. Wes has written for The Austin Chronicle since 1999, covering wine, cocktails, food, and travel.