HSE Rums have brought out two new products this autumn: their first plot-specific rum and a 2016 cuvée. Beware! Great vintages coming your way!
HSE – Rhum blanc Agricole – Parcellaire #1
A handful of very lucky people were able to taste this at the last Rhum Fest Paris otherwise you had to go directly to the source in Martinique.
This is a first for HSE Rums: a rum that is plot-specific and monovarietal. The plot in question is located at the entrance to Habitation Saint Etienne and had lain fallow for a long time. There they planted type R570 sugarcane, a very rustic cane which gives incredible results, according to HSE. The juice was distilled in 2016 at the end of the season and rested for a year and a half, giving it an aromatically rich profile.
Cyrille Lawson, HSE Rum’s Sales Manager, is thrilled with this product’s feedback: “This rum takes longer to produce and we have been rewarded by the excellent feedback that we received from tastings.”
Given its success, we think that there might be other plot-specific cuvées from HSE. Again, Cyrille Lawson and his teams aren’t ruling anything out: “To make another plot-specific rum, the juice must be of excellent quality, we’d need to validate the level of production before maturation. We won’t create a new plot-specific rum just to release a new product, the quality really has to be there”.
Tasting notes provided by the producer:
The nose opens on intense notes of exotic fruits, mature cane and citrus fruits.
A warm and smooth attack delights the palate with its unusual complexity and aromas of blood orange and passion fruit.
Then the aromatic bouquet is enriched with floral notes and a touch of white pepper with remarkable elegance and length.
HSE Parcellaire #1 – “Canne d’or”
70cl bottle – 55°
RRP: €37
Available: From Dugas
HSE – Rhum blanc Agricole – Cuvée de l’an 2016 :
2016, a great year for high-quality juice, which marks the return of HSE’s vintage rums (ed: There had been no cuvées since 2012).
Take note of the new packaging for this 2016 vintage. The latter hadn’t evolved since the 2000s, so it was time for a little “update” as Cyrille Lawson points out.
This rum represents just a tiny fraction of the total production and has benefited from slow circulation and dilution – two years.
Why this choice? Cyrille Lawson explains that “this allows for the evaporation of volatile alcohols which burn the palate the most”. There is a natural lowering of the alcohol content, so less water is added than in a classic process which leads to an exceptional aromatic concentration.”
“Slow maturation unleashes an aromatic spectrum of great complexity, this is a full-bodied rum with a viscous texture. It’s a really concentrated juice, very gourmet. It’s a new tasting experience: usually the attack from a white agricole rum is direct and explosive, but with the 2016 cuvée, it’s smooth and round. The aromatic expression is progressive and is accentuated on the retro-nasal olfaction to give way to an apotheosis of a finish.”
Tasting notes provided by the producer:
The nose opens to a perfect balance between notes of white, honeyed flowers, star anise and citrus, gently heightened by a touch of white pepper.
The mouth, with a full-bodied texture and smooth attack, gradually intensifies to give its full measure on the retro-nasal olfaction.
There is a delicate harmony, mixing notes of orange flowers, white tea and eucalyptus.
HSE Cuvée 2016
70cl bottle – 50°
RRP: €35
Available: From Dugas