Saint James Les Éphémères – N°6 2006

Saint James Les Ephemeres N6 2006 comes from one of Martinique's oldest and largest agricole houses, dating to 1765 and known for its squared bottle. As an AOC Martinique rhum it is distilled from fresh pressed sugar cane juice on the creole column still, and as a stated vintage it carries the higher ageing floor the appellation places on millesime bottlings, here reaching sixteen years.

Matured in ex-bourbon oak and bottled at cask strength, it pushes the grassy agricole core into deeper territory: intense orange peel, dark cocoa, roasted wood and spice, with a long, dry, citrus-and-vanilla finish. There is no added sugar under the AOC, so the depth is all spirit and cask, and tropical ageing lends maturity beyond its years. At 54.4% it is powerful, complex and slightly technical, a serious pour for drinkers who enjoy dry, high-strength agricole and the savoury, wood-driven end of the style.