Destilando Amor

Destilando Amor (Essence of Love) is a telenovela remake of Café, con aroma de mujer.It premiered on January 22, 2007, and in the USA on March 26, 2007 taking the place of the Mexican version of Mundo de Fieras in both countries. It is a production of Nicandro Diaz and the main characters are Eduardo Yanez and Angelica Rivera, who return to the Telenovelas scene after four years of absence. Angelica Rivera's last novela was Mariana de la Noche in 2003, in which she played Marcia.

Cast

• Eduardo Yañez-Rodrigo Montalvo Santos
• Angelica Rivera-Teresa "Gaviota" Hernandez Garcia
• Sergio Sendel-Aaron Montalvo Iturbe
• Chantal Andere-Minerva Olmos de Montalvo
• Martha Julia-Isadora Duarte de Montalvo
• Ana Patricia Rojo-Sofia Montalvo Santos
• Alejandro Tommasi-Bruno Montalvo Gil
• Jose Luis Resendez-Hilario Quijano
• Joana Benedek-Pamela Torreblanca
• Carlos de la Mota-James O'Brien
• Patricia Manterola-Erika Robledo
• Julio Camejo-Francisco de la Vega
• Archie Lafranco-Benvenutto
• Ana Martin-Clara "Clarita" Garcia de Hernandez
• Martha Roth-Pilar Gil de Montalvo
• Joaquin Cordero-Amador Montalvo
• Julio Aleman-Roberto Avellaneda
• Irma Lozano-Constanza Santos de Montalvo
• Olivia Bucio-Fedra Iturbe de Montalvo
• Gustavo Rojo-Nestor Videgaray
• Jorge Vargas-Felipe Montalvo
• Fernanda Castillo-Daniela Montalvo Santos
• Jan-Patricio Iturbe Solorzano
• Miguel Galvan-Carmelo
• Rebeca Mankita-Colette
• Julieta Bracho-Elvira
• Jacqueline Voltaire-Mother Felicity
• Roberto Vander-Ricardo Duarte
• Norma Lazareno-Nuria Toledo de Duarte
• Rosita Bouchot-Flavia
• Mariana Rios-Sanjuana
• Jaime Garza-Roman
• Maria Prado-Dona Jose
• Adriana Laffan-Ofelia
• Rene Strickler-Alonso Santorena
• Gabriela Goldsmith-Cassandra
• Adalberto Parra-Meliton
• Bibelot Mansur-Acacia

Plot

The story takes place in the state of Jalisco, in the town of Tequila, about 50 kilometers away from Guadalajara. Workers Teresa Hernandez Garcia (a.k.a Gaviota) and her mother, Clarita (Ana Martin), go to Tequila every spring to work in the cutting of agaves at Hacienda La Montalveña, property of the Montalvo family and whose owner is Amador Montalvo (Joaquin Cordero), an old man who is the patriarch of the family.

This spring, Amador has a feeling he is going to die, but his wife, Pilar (Martha Roth), tells him it is nonsense. And that's just what happens. While his son Felipe (Jorge Vargas) and his wife Constanza (Irma Lozano) are visiting, Amador is dying at his deathbed, hoping to see Clarita and Gaviota (Angelica Rivera), but he doesn't. So, before he dies, he tells Roman (Jaime Garza), the overseer at the hacienda, to not leave the two without work.

Meanwhile, while Amador is dying and Pilar,Constanza, and Felipe are grieveing for him, his nephews Rodrigo (Eduardo Yanez),Sofia (Ana Patricia Rojo), and Daniela (Fernanda Castillo), are in Europe. Rodrigo lives with his cousin Aaron (Sergio Sendel) in London, and is studying for a doctorate at Cambridge University. Sofia is also living in London with her fiancée, James (Carlos de la Mota). Daniela is in Paris studying dance. Bruno (Alejandro Tommassi), the uncle of these nephews, is in New York City managing the Montalvo Corporation headquarters there. All four are shocked when they get the news of Amador agonizing, and they decide to leave at once. In Sofia's case, it's not easy. James wants to go to Tequila and meet the Montalvos, but Sofia says that the circumstances are not good. So James doesn't go.

Amador dies, and the Mass is held the next day. At the reception in the Hacienda before the coffin is taken to the church, Gaviota gets a glimpse of Rodrigo, although they don't meet. At the church, Gaviota takes flowers to the coffin of Amador and prays alongside Rodrigo, who is praying there too. Once finished, the two see each other face to face. They see each other they fall in love. The next day, the will Amador left is read by the family's lawyer, Nestor Videgaray (Gustavo Rojo, father of Ana Patricia Rojo). The will states that Aaron is in charge of the Corporation headquarters in Mexico City, that Bruno is in charge of the headquarters in New York City, Rodrigo is in charge of the Montalveña, which is the Hacienda, and the will states that if Daniela and Sofia were to marry, then their firstborns wouldn't receive the privileges of the fortune, so they depend on Rodrigo. The will states two things, one of them being the capsule that will spark the jealousy between Rodrigo and Aaron. The first one is that there is a document in one of the notaries in Mexico City, but it has to be opened in 4 years. The second one, which is the most horrible one, is that Rodrigo or Aaron will be the heir to the fortune of the Montalvo fortune if any of them marries and their wife gives birth to a male baby. This gets Sofia and Daniela worried, if Aaron is the first one, he will want to get the fortune for pleasure and for envy, and Rodrigo,Sofia, and Daniela will stay poor.

After the funeral most of the family had to go back to their places. That is when Teresa (a.k.a Gaviota) and Rodrigo meet.

Rodrigo and Gaviota rapidly fall in love and believe that they are soulmates. One late night, Rodrigo and Gaviota sneak into the agave fields and passionately make love to one another under a large tree. After a night of unforgettable passion and love, Rodrigo packs his belongings and returns to Europe so that he could continue with his studies. However, before Rodrigo left, he made a promise to Gaviota that he would return to Tequla in exactly one year...so that he could make Gaviota his wife. Shortly after Rodrigo's departure from Tequila, Gaviota discovers that she is pregnant with his child. Gaviota is too excited to wait for an entire year to give the news to Rodrigo that he will soon be a father, so, she makes a bargain with a photographer. The bargain was that if Gaviota would let the photographer take photographs of her as she modeled for him, he would send her to Paris, France, where she could model for clothing lines. After the photographs are taken, Gaviota is introduced to Madame Colette, a woman of elegance and refinement, and is immediately sent to Europe. While in Paris, Gaviota discovers that she has been viciously tricked by both the photographer and Madame Colette. She was not sent to work as a fashion model...but as a prostitute.

Gaviota successfully escapes from the whore house and with the help of a kind gentleman she is able to travel to London, England. Once Gaviota arrives in London, she instantly begins to search for Rodrigo. On her way from Cambridge University, Gaviota sees Rodrigo walking in the streets. She begins to shout his name, but he does not hear her. Because Gaviota was so excited to see Rodrigo after such a long time, she crossed the street without looking, and was forcefully struck by a car. Rodrigo notices the accident, however, he does not it is Gaviota. Thanks to Mother Felicity, a kind and generous nun, Gaviota was rushed off to a hospital and was performed surgery on. Fortunately, Gaviota's life is saved.

Rodrigo, later on, meets an attractive, young woman named Isadora Duarte (Martha Julia), who comes from a prestigous and wealthy family. A week before Gaviota's arrival in Tequila, Rodrigo proposes martimony to Isadora, because he believed that Gaviota was prostituting herself in Europe. Isadora accepts Rodrigo's purposal even though they cannot have a sexual relationship. Although he does not love her, Rodrigo marries the beautiful and charismatic Isadora in the Montalvo Hacienda. Once all the guests left, Isadora suggests that she and Rodrigo retire for the evening, however, Rodrigo refuses. Furious, Isadora scurries to the Hacienda and Rodrigo spends the entire night drinking liquor and celebrating with the servants of the household. The following day, Gaviota arrives in Tequila with the hope to see her darling Rodrigo once again. However, once she arrives at the Hacienda, she is immediately informed by Roman that Rodrigo has married another woman. Gaviota is devastated and believes that Rodrigo betrayed her.

In the fews days that Gaviota is there, Isadora discovers that Rodrigo had never had a sexual relationship with any woman...except for Gaviota. Gaviota is hurt and leaves the Hacienda, She moves to the Capital with her mother because she thinks that Rodrigo won't be think to look for her in the city. Rodrigo sets up a big campaign to try to find her but nothing he does is successful. Meanwhile his wife Isadora finds the truth abour Gaviota, she becomes obsessed with Rodrigo and Gaviota. Isadora tries everything to try to ger Rodrigo to sleep with her but nothing she does works for her the only thing that she achieves is that Rodrigo reject her more and more each time. Mean while in the city Gaviota gets a job at a hotel as a receptionist. While working at the hotel Gaviota also attends night shoool to better herself. She also becomes convinced that she wants to work for Aaron Montalvo as his secretary at The Montalvo Tequila Corp. Throught many comings and going she finally achieves her goal of working for Aaron, who is Rodrigo's cousin. Isadora leaves Rodrigo beacause she becomes convinced that he will never make love to her and fall in love with her. Isadora is so desperate for her husband to make love to her that she ended up sleeping with Hilario, the stable boy. Hilario believes that their relationship is for real at least until Isadora said, "I will never again be as so low as to sleep with a mere stable boy like you!"

When Gaviota begins working for the Montalvo Co. she changes her name to 'Mariana Franco' so that the Montalvo family, or Rodrigo, won't find out that it's really Gaviota. Mariana begins her work as the receptionist of the coproration, thus making Aaron fire Margarita(Yulianna Peniche), the former receptionist. She assumes the role as a secertary when Aaron fires one of his secretaries because she would spy on him and report to his wife, Minerva. Mariana accepts the new position and convinces Aaron to get Margarita to return to the receptionist spot. Mariana Franco aka "Gaviota" moves up to be Aaron's executive secretary where Mariana proves to be worthy of the position and is the right hand of Aaron. Rodrigo is then pressured by his grandmother Pilar to go to a convention of tequila companies and honor Amador's memory. In the city, Mariana Franco is discovered by Rodrigo when he comes to ask about some flight reservations,but after discovering that Mariana is Gaviota, he is glad to see her but they must hide their relationship. After various happenings, such as the death of Gaviota's friend Artemio, a party in which Gaviota explodes at Rodrigo for confusing things when he thinks Artemio and Mariana are lovers, and after Gaviota gains the family's trust, on a trip to find out about irregularities at the ports,Rodrigo pressures Gaviota to go off with him on an escape to a tropical island so they can enjoy each other's company after being apart for so long. At the same time Isadora Duarte has started an affair with another man, Francisco de la Vega, at the same time Rodrigo is away with "Gaviota" but Rodrigo is racing against the clock as he decideds to leave the company behind and go away with his true love. His sister in-law, Minerva,has suspicion that that Rodrigo has found "Gaviota" and is planning to go after them and put at end to their plans. Isadora Duarte also is determined to keep her marriage afloat but a fling from the past won't let her go.