Brand creator David Ravandi, founder of 123 Organic Tequila, found success by staying one step ahead of the premiumization curve. It’s taken twenty years but tequila has finally shed its sophomoric image and graduated to the big league. The super-premiumization of the category which has grown by 72 percent over the last decade has reached triple-digit price points and produced consumers who are confident about quality when trading up. It’s estimated that 30 to 40 new tequila brands are being introduced to the market each year. Given this dynamic and highly-competitive landscape, the resources and talent required to propel a fledgling artisanal brand to success can’t be underestimated. Of the key milestones that mark tequila’s rise from joven shooters to cask-conditioned extra anjeo, the practice of aging resposado and anjeo tequilas in white French oak was pivotal. Introduced by artisanal brand creator and tequilero David Ravandi in the early 1990s in a tequila line that he subsequently sold, the practice is now de rigueur for ultra-premium aged tequilas. Inspired by oak-aging regimes favored by winemakers, Ravandi …