Rolando Cortés is a fifth generation member of the Cortés family and currently serves as CEO of the Casa Cortés company. The youngest son of José and Crispina Cortés, Rolando grew up on his family’s palenques in Santiago Matatlán, where he learned the value of his Zapotec culture and its inherent ties to mezcal. Twenty years ago, with the mezcal category still in a nascent stage, Rolando successfully set out to get his family’s traditional mezcal placed in this burgeoning market, and in 2010 expanded their catalog with the widely-acclaimed international releases.
Rolando's goal in all of his work is to honor his family's Zapotec heritage and preserve their deep cultural ties to mezcal. He also wishes to highlight the different agave varieties and mezcaleros throughout Oaxaca’s Valles Centrales region. This led to his family’s long-running collaboration with over a dozen mezcaleros in the area. This familial partnership amongst four of these mezcal producing families is documented in Sons of Mezcal, showing the deep familial bonds and generational ties that mezcal has in the lives of those who produce it.
