Rhum Marie-Louise: Guadeloupe moving on… Again!
In recent years, the agricole rum scene in Guadeloupe has been gaining an extraordinary place and notoriety, as I had already had the opportunity to write in some of my articles: new distilleries, new brands, new products, new know-how, and, it must be said, a great desire to revolutionize a world which, contrary to what is happening in Martinique, is not made up of large groups, but of large families who have written the history of rum here for over of a century, and who manage to “modernize” more slowly”.
The rum I’m talking about this evening also stems from the story of a family from Guadeloupe, but was only able to cross the threshold of interest from enthusiasts and the local time market thanks to the passion of one of the members of this family, Rodolphe Payen: in 2020, this 40-year-old boy, until now at the head, with his brothers, of one of the largest bottled water producers and traders in Guadeloupe, as well as owner of a Wine and Rum Cellar, decides to highlight a unique family estate, located in the north of Grande-Terre, on magnificent and totally virgin land, where for three generations, starting with the grandmother of Rodolphe, who lived there and who was the first owner, the Payen family used to spend the holidays and the convivial moments: it is the Domaine De Bel’Air, a few minutes by car from the magnificent cliffs overlooking the ocean of Anse Bertrand. It is the memory of Marie-Louise, this benevolent and generous grandmother, who pushes Rodolphe to want to enhance these places and make them something for which they will be recognized forever: he decides to plant a hectare of sugar cane, of a single variety, which he appreciates for its aromatic character and its richness, the B69.566, called “Blue Cane”, a “super-hybrid”, which produces almost no flowers, with a very long, waxy stem and rich in bacterial flora, able to load up on sugar like few others. He personally takes care of the agronomic part, with a few planters and farmers who work his land: it is rare to see the Blue Cane on Grande Terre, where the soil is a mixture of clay and limestone, the water rare and the drought becomes dangerous for the long-stemmed sugar canes, so Rodolphe, deciding to fully embrace a philosophy that imposes the least possible impact on these lands so dear to him, decides to intervene manually to clean the weeds, to defoliate the stems one by one, and to adopt a micro-irrigation system which allows a complete development of this variety.
The sugar cane grows healthy, on this atypical ground, and its health is very much due to the constant presence “in the field” of Rodolphe and his planters, but also to the sea winds which blow between the stems, which dry and keep away parasites, while giving, as we will see, the white rum an undeniable “iodized” accent. Not only that, the hyper-mineral soil and the good water supply, combined with the much “dry” climate, contribute to a formidable aromatic and sweet richness. Around this hectare there are century-old fruit trees, palm trees, spontaneous vegetation and, in the time of Rodolphe’s grandmother, there were cattle: a typical family house dominates the property and inscribes it unequivocally in the human history of this magnificent mound placed on the blue and rich in traditions that is Guadeloupe.
When I meet Rodolphe for the very first time we are on a boat trip, in the waters off Baie-Mahault, he with his boat and his family, me on a boat with friends: during a swim in the warm, shallow waters , we briefly exchange a few words on sugar cane in Grande Terre. I’m still working on the sly for various clients at the time, and I’m just a new face here. The second time we talk more: we are at Whiskey Live last September, in Paris, I work behind the counter to present the fruit distillates of the great Gianni Capovilla, in the company of Michele Lunardon, while he, proud of his brand new rum, arrives at the counter to let it taste to “Capo”: in the end, between the crowds and the distraction, no one really concentrates on his “creature”. A few minutes later I walk away, because I understand how much he cares at this moment and I want to give him the attention he deserves, so I join him and ask him to be able to taste his rum “neat”: it has some fixable flaws but lots and lots of texture. I tell him, ask him a few questions and leave him my contact details. He recalls me straight away one month later: from the study of aromas and the most expressive ABV, to the very slow reduction and oxygenation on this rum tasted on the fly, my collaboration on this project begins, and it is a collaboration of which I am proud and which today has allowed me to be able to independently manage a second production of white which will see the light of in a year. One of the first things I did with Rodolphe was a visit to his plantation, one of the most beautiful ever seen in the Caribbean: the perfect and well maintained rod, the landscape, the sun and the sea breeze described me in an instant how much passion, respect and desire to do things well are driving him.
As for the brand, it was immediately thought of as a dedication to his grandmother, and in fact his name will be Rhum Marie-Louise: until the choice of packaging, graphics and meticulous details of the first bottling, presented three weeks ago, it was part of this tribute. In fact, the grandmother’s profile stands out on the label, on the cap and even on the seal that closes the cord cap: the attention to detail gives you the key to understanding the philosophy that drives the work carried out on the product and on its maturation. Total respect for the terroir that saw it grow and for the product itself finally earned Rodolphe’s rum the “Bio” designation, which takes on its full meaning here, because it ethically feeds an entire supply chain, from field until the rum production.
As for the production operations, they are carried out today at the Montebello distillery, which welcomes us with kindness and which for an entire week dedicates its operations to Rum Marie Louise, starting with the deep cleaning of the cane yard, mills, fermentation tanks and the distillation column, to meet the expectations of the organic protocol and the high quality of the raw material. The sugar cane is rigorously cut by hand, stripped and transported in trailers to the distillery, where the juice extraction and fermentation operations take place. The latter, made last year with a Lallemand technical yeast, in a single batch, has experienced a clear progression this year towards a practice more in tune with the very nature of the Canne Bleue varietal, its great richness, and the terroir from which it comes from: from a sugar cane with a perfect brix I was able to produce three different batches, in a time between 48 and 55 hours, one of which is particularly close to what I believe to be the true nature of the Domaine De Bel’Air plot. The distillation took place by separating the three batches, in the Creole SOFAC column of Montebello, at alcoholic degrees between 76% ABV and 79% ABV. The new production rests in stainless steel, where it will remain for no less than a year before being bottled, while the 2022 production, gradually reduced to 54% ABV, was bottled a month ago, and presented to the public on June 30, at the Cave by PHP, property of the Payen family, in Jarry: it is a limited edition of 966 vessels, bottled, labeled and stamped by hand one by one. The public price of the 0.50 bottle is €58 in Guadeloupe, where it is on sale at the Cave by PHP, and in the “Terre de Vins” quarries of Antillopoles and Jabrun, as well as in Saint Barth, at the Cellar “La Case”. The bottle can be shipped and the shipping costs corresponding to the country of destination will obviously be applied.
It is not excluded that in the near future, the entire Marie Louise rum production chain will move to the North of Grand Terre, enriching the Guadeloupean right wing with its second distillery. At that time, the definition of the terroir would really be respected in all its contours: a single cane variety, a single plot in a single zone, the water from the North Grande Terre aquifer (one of the zones not at all invaded by the massive production of bananas and pineapples), discontinuous distillation, on-site maturation (we are currently working in a temporary cellar in Jarry). It could be, if all goes well, a great success for Rodolphe, even if in a somewhat old-fashioned world like that of rum in Guadeloupe it is often difficult to dream.
I leave you with the usual tasting notes, which will help to imagine this rum even for those who will not have the opportunity to taste it.
Santé !
Appearance in glass: clear, crystalline, oily
Nose: frank and clean, of good intensity, with a magnificent incipit of white flowers (honeysuckle), a heart of wild honey, fresh cane, tangy yellow fruits (apricot, pineapple), and a long iodized finish
Palate: Dry, clean, of medium intensity, again on notes of honey, vanilla, banana, green tea, and, once again, a long iodized/seaweed finish. Smooth and silky texture.
Finish/Aftertaste: Medium, of some complexity, with a hint of balsamic, vanilla, roasted hazelnuts, seaweed
Empty glass: vanilla, tangy yellow fruits, seaweed
Coeur De Chauffe 