Carrere Montebello Zenga 2014

This Carrere Montebello Zenga 2014 is a Guadeloupe agricole from the traditional Basse-Terre distillery run by the Marsolle family, distilled from fresh sugarcane juice and matured six years in ex-bourbon oak. Guadeloupe falls under the looser IGP rather than Martinique's AOC, and this bottling lands as a characterful but relaxed sipper at 46%, unsweetened.

Column distillation keeps the cane character present, and the years in cask have rounded it nicely. The nose is fruity and vegetal with sugarcane and orange, the palate round with sugarcane, vanilla, pear and a vegetal thread, the finish on cane, soft wood, honey and a dry close. It leans easygoing and fruit-forward rather than intense, the oak gentle. A well-balanced agricole that works as a sipping rum or a characterful mixer, at home neat or in a longer drink.