Rivière du Mât Cuvée Spéciale Agricole is a rum made exclusively from fresh sugar cane from Réunion Island. This agricultural rum is aged for several years in oak barrels in the estate's cellars.
Nico's tasting notes
The nose opens with spicy, lemony old rum. The star anise and cardamom explode and sparkle, while the lemon juice and zest are ripe and flow over a licorice woodiness. This licorice opens the way to a vegetal and medicinal register, between cedar, eucalyptus, pine and camphor. It's a fairly gentle profile, with a few incursions of toasted wood.
On aeration, lemon and herbal spices compete with serious notes of fermentation. We get a glimpse of a heavier rum, with peppery artichokes and ripe fruit, grappling with a certain freshness of lemony white rhum agricole. The nose is dynamic and interesting, with a chic nutty edge.
The first taste is very mild, even sweet, before the palate is invaded by surprising medicinal notes, but above all very peppery. The taste buds are even reminded of chili pepper. Cherry pit and camphor follow, before we return to our toasted wood with coffee and licorice.
The finish is greedy, though still medicinal, and settles on fresh resin.
"This agricole has a profile far removed from that of its West Indian cousins. Its medicinal side is an interesting signature, rather usually reserved for molasses rums..."
