Ron Cristóbal Santa Maria Recioto

Ron Cristobal Santa Maria Recioto is a blended Caribbean rum given a finish tied to Recioto, the sweet passito wine of Italy's Valpolicella, an unusual cask choice that pushes the rum toward a rich, vinous register. It is bottled at 43% with no age statement.

The wine influence shows clearly, the nose sweet with chocolate and raisin, the palate building cherry, raisin, chocolate and brown sugar, and a short, spicy finish rounding it off. Orange and dark chocolate sit among the impressions, giving it an almost dessert-and-fruit feel. This is a rounded, sweet-leaning style where the wine cask does much of the talking, more about indulgent fruit and chocolate than dry cane character. It suits drinkers who enjoy wine-finished rums and a softer, after-dinner mood, taken neat in a small glass where the cherry and cocoa notes have room to show.