From Top Chef to Tequila Maker: Michael Voltaggio’s Marcado 28 Journey

10 Minute read

09 Sep 2025

Journalist

Michael Voltaggio is known for many things: winning Top Chef, earning a Michelin star, and opening acclaimed restaurants across the country. Now he’s added a new title—spirit creator. Unlike other celebrities who simply endorse a label, Voltaggio was involved in developing Marcado 28 tequila from the very beginning.

The project began when Spirits That Rock approached Voltaggio about launching a new tequila. He saw it as an “opportunity,” but wanted to get everything right. So he traveled to Guadalajara to meet Bruno Barba, co-creator of Marcado 28, and Barba’s mother, Maria. They guided him through a tasting of more than 75 tequilas before he found “exactly” what he was looking for. Maria recalls realizing that Voltaggio “wasn’t just some tattooed chef who wanted to put his name on an agave spirit”—he was committed to making something authentic. “I went through the entire process from the soil to the bottle,” Voltaggio says. “Being there with Bruno and Maria and their family, and everyone that works on their farm, and learning that their family created reposado—that got me super excited, and I’m like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna make something really special.’”

Learning the Craft with the Barba Family

That was the moment Voltaggio jumped in fully—because at the core, he says, he loves to learn. “I’m a nerd,” he admits with a smile. “The reason I do what I do is because I genuinely love the fact that I am required—I’m supposed to learn every single year to continue to evolve.” His curiosity goes beyond food; he wants to understand every aspect of his work, from business to spirits. At one point, he even taught himself pastry because he didn’t feel comfortable hiring a pastry chef without knowing the process himself.

Making Tequila the Right Way

The same mindset guided his approach to tequila: he couldn’t sell a spirit without fully understanding it. “So, for me, it’s the education,” he says. He loves the chance to learn something new, and Marcado 28 offered exactly that. “I still wanna have a conduit between where I started and what I’m doing now,” he continues. “Because of the lineage and the people we were working with, and the information I had access to, I knew I was gonna learn something—but also maybe tell a slightly different story and surprise a market that some would perceive as oversaturated, and do something that speaks to how I live my life, and how I think other people fantasize about living their own lives sometimes.”

That drive to learn pushed Voltaggio to study every detail of tequila-making from the family credited with creating reposado. Once he understood the process, he, Barba, and Maria Barba committed to doing it the right way. Voltaggio wanted “a smooth tequila” with no additives or artificial colors. Could they make something that pure? The Barbas, who have been producing tequila for 10 generations, assured him it was “absolutely” possible. “Does it take longer? Yes. Is it harder? Yes. Does it cost a little more money? Yes,” he says. “But we ended up with a tequila that tastes like a hug when you drink it. And I think, specifically the reposado, there’s something special.”

Rethinking Cocktails with Agave

A longtime Scotch drinker, Voltaggio doesn’t care for sweet drinks. He may love dessert, but in a glass he prefers it dry. “I don’t put sugar in my coffee. I don’t love dessert wines and things like that,” he explains. “I like drier liquids. And when we got our reposado to where we wanted it, I thought, ‘Wow, this drinks like Scotch, but you taste the agave.’ And I wondered, ‘Why can’t every classic cocktail be made with agave spirits?’”

To test the idea, he started with his “absolute favorite” cocktail, the Penicillin—the drink that first got him into Scotch. He swapped in his reposado, added a float of mezcal, and realized it was just as good as the original. Now he often replaces lighter spirits like gin or vodka with Marcado 28 blanco, and reaches for the reposado when he wants Scotch. “I think that any recipe for a cocktail, you could swap out our tequilas and make a traditional, classic cocktail using this one spirit,” he says.

Voltaggio believes anyone can master classic cocktails with just four bottles: reposado, blanco, añejo, and mezcal. “You can pretty much work through all the cocktails by just using agave spirits,” he explains. “And that’s what’s so fun and interesting—and why tequila is having this renaissance, if you will. It feels healthier. It feels lighter. You feel better the next day if there’s not a bunch of shit added to it. And if you’re dabbling in cocktails and don’t want to invest in every spirit out there, start with tequila, figure out what flavor profiles you like, then branch into the others.”