A happy and prosperous new year…

2013 ends with about thirty notes, a few interviews and articles, and there is no doubt that 2014 will bring its share of new discoveries and thrills; and good news: the supply of rums (and its success) continues to increase , which shows the good times we still have to spend.

So let's start 2014 with a rum that would have made the most demanding connoisseur happy if placed under the tree: a vintage from the JM house, which although distilled in 2000 will make you forget any year... (and the worries that usually go with it). Direction Martinique for the tasting of the JM rum ​​vintage 2000...

Price : count on around a hundred euros (100/110€) for 70cl. at 47.2°.

Age : 9 years: this rum was aged in September 2000 then bottled in 2009. This is a numbered edition.

Distilled and aged at the Fonds-Préville distillery, this AOC agricultural rum was bottled to mark the arrival of the new millennium. 14 years later, it was finally time to put my impressions on paper, and given the quality of the brand's rums, the bar was rather high . The metal label that adorns the vintage is very effective, it is efficient and you can immediately sense the unusual product.

Once in the glass, the rum reveals a very beautiful slightly coppery hue with succulent golden highlights . A crown of fine droplets forms and gives the appearance of a pearl necklace to the divine nectar; the pearls detach and fall imperceptibly towards the bottom of the glass. A very beautiful first impression that combines with an already very present (and very elegant) nose with scents of exotic fruits.

The nose is very airy, excessively sweet and delicately fruity , an elegant nose like I have rarely encountered. Elegant and sufficiently gourmand to make you want to taste it without waiting: with fruit, but forbidden fruit… gourmand but luxurious, far from the buttery and heavy gourmand that reminds you of Sunday cake. Here everything is voluptuous. Here is a nose that takes you on a journey and exposes us in turn to exotic fruits (banana), veils of vanilla and fresh almond, candied citrus fruits (orange) and cedar wood, all delicately spiced and always restrained for a great moment that we could easily prolong for hours. Diabolical! Captivating! Voodoo for sure…

The attack is mellow and we waver between sweetness and spices in a register just as seductive as the nose , always without any apparent false note. A beautiful outfit (tuxedo and matching socks), complex and well balanced. The vanilla and the fruitiness are caught up by the woodiness which leaves behind a slightly smoky trace. It is fresh and vigorous, warm and fruity.

The woodiness is a little more noticeable on the finish, but the exoticism persists and everything balances perfectly. Still no false note. Very subtle and long in the mouth , the fruity note remains for a long time and even allows itself the luxury of leaving a trace of its passage.

A magnificent dress for a rum with an enchanting nose that knocks you out right away, gets you dressed for winter in a few seconds. It's simple: it's not a rum, it's a perfume... It's subtle and very well balanced from start to finish, the wood and spices, melted, providing the final blow, the little something extra that transforms a very good rum into an exceptional rum. Do you think I'm exaggerating? I'm bewitched, perhaps, but I will remain so. Rating: 85.5

To help you (and me) find your way around, regarding the notes:

90 and + : exceptional and unique rum, it is the best of the best
between 85 and 89 : highly recommended rum, with that little something that makes the difference
between 80 and 84 : recommendable rum
75-79 POINTS : above average
70-74 POINTS : in the low average
less than 70 : not very good

Review courtesy of DuRhum.com.

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