The Wine Reference🍷 SupportMartinique: Rhum agricole
Photo: Claudia Mejia de la Cuz on Unsplash
The only rum with a French AOC (since 1996), made from freshly pressed cane rather than molasses.
How it's made
Cane juice is fermented and distilled in single column stills. Blanc is unaged; vieux is aged at least three years in oak.
Fresh-cut sugar cane is crushed and the juice is fermented, usually for a day or two, then distilled in a single copper column still (colonne créole) to around 65–75% ABV. The juice must be distilled soon after pressing because it spoils quickly.
History
Sugar cane arrived in Martinique in the 1600s, and rum was first made from molasses. After sugar prices collapsed in the late 1800s, many estates began distilling fresh cane juice instead, creating rhum agricole.
Ageing and label terms
Blanc is unaged or rested briefly in steel; Élevé sous bois spends at least 12 months in oak; Vieux at least 3 years in small oak casks, with VSOP at least 4 years and XO or Hors d'Âge at least 6 years.
Styles
Fresh, grassy rhum blanc for cocktails, amber élevé sous bois, and rich aged rhum vieux that can rival fine cognac. Some estates make single-vintage rums.
Rules and protected names
Rhum agricole Martinique gained an AOC in 1996, the only French AOC for rum. It sets the cane varieties, harvest period, fermentation and distillation rules, and blanc must be bottled at least 40% ABV.
How to serve and classic cocktails
The classic Ti' Punch: a little cane syrup, a disc of lime and rhum blanc, stirred in the glass. Also great in a Daiquiri or a Rhum Old Fashioned.
With food
Accras (salt-cod fritters), Creole fish and seafood, grilled chicken colombo and coconut desserts.
Good to know
Agricole rum tastes very different from molasses rum: grassy, vegetal and fruity. Producers include Rhum J.M, Clément, Saint James, Neisson, Trois Rivières and La Favorite.
Producers
- Rhum J.M
- Clément
- Neisson
- Saint James
Bottles to try
Rhum J.M Rhum Blanc Agricole 50%
Fresh cane juice, grass, citrus and white pepper.
Serve: In a Ti' Punch
Rhum Clément VSOP
Cane, vanilla, toasted wood, dried fruit and spice.
Strength: 40% · Age and cask: At least 4 years in oak (VSOP, AOC Martinique)
An aged rhum agricole from Habitation Clément in Le François, bought by Homère Clément in 1887. Made from fresh cane juice under the AOC Martinique rules.
Serve: Neat or on ice
Rhum J.M VSOP
Grassy cane with honey, vanilla, dried fruit and a peppery finish.
Strength: 45% · Age and cask: At least 4 years, re-charred ex-bourbon casks
Made at Habitation Bellevue in Macouba, at the foot of Mont Pelée in northern Martinique. As AOC rhum agricole it is distilled from fresh cane juice, not molasses.
Serve: Neat, or in a Rhum Old Fashioned
Rhum Clément Canne Bleue
Fresh-cut cane, green herbs, citrus, pepper and floral notes.
Strength: 50% · Age and cask: Unaged
An agricole rhum made from the juice of a single cane variety, blue cane, grown on the Habitation Clément estate. Each bottling is dated with the year of the harvest, like a wine.
Serve: In a Ti' Punch with lime and cane syrup, or neat
Neisson Rhum Blanc Agricole 50%
Bright and grassy: fresh cane, white flowers, citrus, pepper and a hint of olive.
Strength: 50% · Age and cask: Unaged
A family distillery at Le Carbet on Martinique's north-west coast, founded in 1931. Neisson crushes its own cane and distils the fresh juice in a single small column still, under the Martinique AOC rules.
Serve: In a Ti' Punch with lime and cane syrup
Saint James Fleur de Canne
Fresh and grassy: cut sugar cane, lime, white pepper and a floral, earthy note.
Strength: 50% (42% in some markets) · Age and cask: Unaged
A rhum agricole made from fresh sugar-cane juice rather than molasses, under Martinique's AOC rules. The Saint James distillery in Sainte-Marie traces its origins to 1765.
Serve: In a Ti' Punch with lime and cane syrup
More rum & cane regions
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