Héritiers Madkaud Saint James VSOP Cuvée Castelmore

This VSOP comes from Martinique's Saint James, distilling since 1765 and among the island's largest houses, here bottled under the Heritiers Madkaud Cuvee Castelmore label. Pressed from fresh sugar-cane juice and meeting the AOC's four-year minimum for the VSOP tier, it is an unsweetened, classically styled aged agricole at the youthful end of the range.

Run through a creole column still and matured in ex-bourbon oak, it shows a fairly standard agricole profile: fruity with young wood and a licorice edge on the nose, then woody and a touch astringent across the palate as the youthful oak makes itself felt. The finish turns floral, grassy and dry. At a soft 40% it stays light and accessible, a straightforward, honest aged agricole that leans more toward wood and spice than ripe fruit.