Domaine de Séverin Marsolle No. 05 2020

Domaine de Severin sits in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, and its Marsolle line carries the traditional agricole spirit of the island into oak. This is the No. 05, a 2020 vintage rested two years in ex-bourbon barrels, distilled from fresh-pressed sugar-cane juice rather than molasses and bottled unsweetened under the looser Guadeloupe IGP rather than the Martinique AOC.

Like most French-island agricole, it comes off a tall creole column run low to keep the grassy, vegetal cane congeners in the spirit, which is why the nose stays floral and herbaceous even after time in wood. Two years in ex-bourbon adds a woody, lightly spicy frame without burying the cane, and at 45% it reads dry and direct rather than sweet. A pour for drinkers who want the snap of young agricole with a little oak structure, and a natural base for a Ti Punch.