Rivière du Mât Grand Millésime 2004

Riviere du Mat distils on Reunion in the Indian Ocean, and this Grand Millesime 2004 is made from fresh pressed sugar cane juice in the agricole manner, sitting under French overseas rules rather than the Martinique AOC, so it reads as a Reunion agricole rather than an AOC bottle. A single cask aged seventeen years in ex bourbon oak, it carries the depth that long maturation brings.

The nose is fruity and overripe with wood and caramel, while the palate turns fruity and chocolatey with wood and a caramelised edge, slightly menthol with citrus and overripe fruit alongside. It drinks as a typical Reunionese aged rum, rich and rounded, leaning toward the dessert end of the spectrum rather than the dry agricole snap of the French islands. Bottled at 46% as a single cask, it is a mature, characterful pour for relaxed neat drinking, a sweeter toned, wood and fruit driven expression of long aged Reunion cane juice rum.