Michel Couvreur Le Rhum Selon 2012

Michel Couvreur Le Rhum Selon is an aged French-island agricole, distilled from fresh-pressed cane juice and selected by Michel Couvreur, the maverick negociant better known for unconventional maturation of spirits in his Burgundy cellars. This is a blend in the region of nine years old that has spent a long time in sherry casks, an unusual treatment for agricole.

The sherry influence dominates the aroma, oak, dried fruit and a strong Amontillado-like note, with whisky-cask character and a savoury edge that polarises drinkers. On the palate the grassy cane reasserts itself under mocha and black pepper, finishing dry and spice-driven. It is an idiosyncratic bottling that trades the clean freshness of a typical blanc for sherried complexity, and at 52% it leans firmly toward the experimental end of the agricole spectrum rather than the classic Ti Punch register.