Daniel Baudin is passionate, a connoisseur, an expert. Voted best Cellar Master in the world in 2018, he has worked for Trois Rivières and Maison La Mauny since 1991. Thus, he and his team have been blending and aging the Grandes Cuvées and Millésimes of the Trois Rivières and Maison La Mauny brands for over 30 years. Daniel was first trained by a first rum house as head of stocks and blends, then by the Martinique Cane and Sugar Technical Center. He then joined Trois Rivières in 1991 in the newly created position of Cellar Master for monitoring distillations, batch blending, monitoring aging and customs and the AOC.
On a daily basis, it is surrounded by a 300-year-old heritage. The cellars of Plantations Trois Rivières and Maison La Mauny are home to many vintages, the oldest of which are still aging and are nearly 20 years old.
Work and passion recognized during international competitions, since in 2018 the Trois Rivières VSOP old rum received the Rum Trophy of the Year during the “International Wine & Spirit Competition” in London.
Can you tell us what your job involves?
The job of cellar master is above all a job for enthusiasts. It consists of monitoring the distillation, ensuring good control and good practice from the reception of the cane, to the distillation, since it is the cellar master who will take over in the cellars.
The cellar master ensures the quality of the rums entering the cellars, by an organoleptic and physicochemical test (chromatography). He organizes the storage and monitors the development of the rums (reductions), keeps a stock inventory (regular inventory), monitors the bottling (checking the contents, tasting, volume by weight, degrees). He also checks the condition of the barrels purchased and everything that enters the cellars, monitors the aging and the evolution of these rums placed in wood, creates the range for each brand.
He also makes declarations to customs (SACI) and to the AOC union, requests for samples for appearance before the tasting committee, and organizes checks by CERTIPAQ and the DGCCRF (General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control).
Its role is to welcome customers, educate them in tasting, demonstrate our know-how and represent the brands at trade fairs.
This also involves answering questionnaires, interviews (newspapers and TV), giving masterclasses, assisting chefs with food pairings, etc.
And above all, make sure that it all makes sense.
Are you surrounded by a team? What is it made up of?
My team is made up of 1 assistant cellar master, 2 preparers/laboratory technicians and 1 cooper and his assistant.
What is a typical day like for you?
Arrive on site, greet the teams, then give the day's instructions. Read and respond to emails, enter data on the movements of the vat room, talk to logistics to organize the bottling of the day, ensure the proper functioning of the line and carry out checks on it (rate, visual, compliance with labeling, check the volume and degree of the bottles several times during the day, do tastings of the bottled products), enter manufacturing data at the end of the day, one or two meetings, taste the aging .
And during the campaign, go up to the distillery to carry out checks, receive the distillates, taste them, orient them according to the organoleptic profiles, and enter the data of the rums received. And constantly exchange with the teams.
How much rum comes out of the columns each year?
Approximately 3,000,000 liters at 55%.
What varieties of cane do you work with?
In order, we use:
REED CANE B_59_92.
CANE STRAW R_570.
CANNE ZIKAK B_80_08.
BLUE CANE B_69_566
The others
REED CANE B_59_92.
BLUE CANE B_69_566 .
STRAW CANE R_570 or other Reunion canes R_582, R_583, R585.
What are the different soils/terroirs that you have at your disposal?
In the far south, we have sandy vertisols rich in silica and clay. They correspond to 28% of the soil type in Martinique. The natural porosity of these soil types allows organic matter to infiltrate, which leads to high microbial activity and therefore good soil fertility and aeration.
The rarest soils on the island (only 9% of the territory) are found on the La Caravelle peninsula, and a large part in Rivière Pilote, precisely in the La Mauny estate.
How would you define the identity of each brand?
Trois rivières has “masculine” notes (with character, power, salty and even iodized notes)
Maison La Mauny is on more “feminine” notes (with complexity, fruity, floral, even honeyed)
Can you tell us about the different distillation devices that you have?
We have 5 distillation columns, one of which is made entirely of copper, called a Creole column. They have different diameters, which gives each brand a unique characteristic. Each column has its own manufacturing plan which remains unchanged.
Is it always the same rum that comes out of each column, or do you make different adjustments, in order to assemble more or less heavy/light rums later?
For some vintages the fermentation will be different, as will the type of yeast.
Each column produces a unique rum with a few variations depending on the flow rate, its diameter, the number of exhaustion trays and concentrations, etc.
The columns are of different sizes and offer different organoleptic profiles which are then assembled according to the brands.
What is the average resting time for a white rum?
As required by the AOC: 6 weeks of maturation.
The white rum rests in a stainless steel vat.
Can you tell us about water infusion reduction?
When water is added to alcohol, an exothermic reaction occurs. In order to preserve all the aromas of an agricole (the most volatile aromas), the water will be added drop by drop (about a hundred liters) without any mechanical stirring.
A lowering of a few degrees on entering the barrel is necessary, and some are reduced during aging. Systematic topping up is also practiced.
What types of barrels do you work with?
We work with French and American oak barrels, new and red.
Can you explain to us how a barrel behaves depending on its place in the cellar?
Dry cellars: the rums are drier, more alcoholic…
In a dry cellar, with a relative humidity between 40 and 60%, evaporation mainly concerns the volume with loss of water.
The alcoholic strength by volume (ATV) hardly varies.
The rums are drier and have more character.
Humid cellars: the rums are smoother, rounder…
In a humid cellar with relative humidity between 90 and 100%, evaporation mainly concerns alcohol.
The AVR (Alcohol Content by Volume) can drop significantly.
Brandies aged in humid cellars are said to be mellow and round.
How to keep track of each barrel's profile?
To keep track, I put small signs on the barrels so that I have the information when I am in the cellar, but I also have notes that I take. Also, for any blend, a tasting of each batch is done, as well as a tasting of the vintage and a tasting of the range to check the positioning and integration of this vintage.
What do you think makes Martinique rum special?
Martinique Rums are made from pure cane juice, and since 1975 we have implemented monitoring by the Cane and Sugar Technical Center, with real technical support and advice which led to the AOC.
How would you summarize the typicality of AOC Martinique rums from an organoleptic point of view?
What reflects the typicality of AOC rums are first of all typical aromas:
(The percentages correspond to the aromas noted by the tasters of the AOC Martinique jury, editor’s note)
For white rums
Floral (45%) sugar cane, orange blossom, honey
Fruity (38%) citrus fruits, exotic fruits (banana, pineapple, etc.)
Vegetable (12%) tea, herbal tea, dried leaves (tobacco, etc.)
Spicy & Aromatics (4%) pepper, anise…
Balsamic (1%) “ti baum”, eucalyptus, …
For rums aged in wood
Fruity (45%) cooked/jam (citrus, flambéed banana, etc.) candied (fig, date, etc.)
Floral/Vegetal (38%) honey, gingerbread… tea, herbal tea
Spicy & Aromatics (4%) vanilla, cinnamon,…
Balsamic (1%) “ti baum”, eucalyptus, liquorice…
Empyreumatic (27%) cocoa, toasted wood
For old rums
Empyreumatic (45%) roasted (coffee, mocha, cocoa, chocolate, etc.)
Spices & Aromatics (29%) vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg…
Fruity (25%) cooked jam, fruit paste, dried-candied fig, date, prunes in alcohol
Balsamic (1%) “ti baum”, eucalyptus…
But above all the absence of defects such as sulfur, hydrocarbon, rotten wood, pronounced caramel...
Here are the defects and undesirable notes that we do not want to have in an AOC Martinique rum (editor's note):
For whites
Chemical (53%) solvent, vent, metallic, pungent….
Empyreumatic (27%) RIC characteristics: burnt sugar, molasses, battery syrup…
Fermentative (15%), rancid, butyric, milky…
Sulfur (5%), garlic, onion, rump…
For ESB Rums
Lack of floral character
Chemical (53%), acetic acidity, character with acidic, oxidized notes….
Fermentative / sulfur (5%), rancid, butyric, milky, garlic, onion…
For the old
Floral (53%) character of white rum
Plant (22%) sawdust, damp wood, dry plant…
Chemical (20%), acescence, oxidized (apple, sapodilla, rotten fruits)…
Fermentative / sulfur (5%) rancid, butyric, milky, garlic, onion…
Process related deferral defects for all rums
Boiler, metallic, chemical, sulfur, ethereal, ABG (good-tasting alcohol) or pharmacy, oxidized, pungent, acescence, fermentative, rancid.
Defects of postponement related to the type of rum
White: woody
ESB Rum: Caramel
Old Rum: white character: floral, vegetal (sawdust, damp wood, etc.) lack of aging, caramel.
And for all the rums
Burnt sugar, RIC, molasses, battery syrup or other brandy
What makes AOC Martinique rums so instantly recognizable?
The answer is contained in the previous answer: “no defects”.
It's getting more and more complicated. 10 years ago it was much easier to tell the difference immediately.
Do you have a favorite vintage? A memory of a particular vintage?
Maison LA MAUNY Nouveau Monde, the princess cuvée, the 1982 vintage. Due to the complexity of the formulation and the richness in tasting.
What rums would you recommend to someone who would like to discover Trois Rivières or La Mauny?
The Trois Rivières VSOP and the La Mauny XO are the two rums that mark the style of each of the brands. The Trois Rivières VSOP has character and power. The Mauny XO is all lace.
Today, Martinique producers no longer hesitate to leave the AOC, would you say that a certain wind of freedom is blowing on the island?
The idea is not to leave the AOC. It is just to show our know-how outside the AOC and especially to be able to accompany or introduce non-experts to the world of agricultural rum.
The constant demand for novelty means that the pace of new releases is increasing. How can we preserve the DNA of each house in these conditions?
To keep the DNA of each brand, it is necessary to re-test the entire range and make a blend with the old vintage.
How do you see the future of rum in the years to come?
In the world of alcohol, rums have a bright future (Rhum Ron Rum), they are very complex when they are well worked.
Do you drink and enjoy rums other than those from the French Antilles?
At trade fairs held off-island, I was able to taste New Grove sugar rums, which are distinguished by their fruity, floral, slightly woody character.