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The history
The Depaz distillery is located in Martinique, on the slopes of the Mont Pélée volcano, with a splendid view of the Caribbean sea and the town of Saint Pierre. Its history began in 1651, when Jacques Duparuet founded the habitation La Montagne, on land originally given over to tobacco cultivation and livestock breeding, where sugar cane quickly conquered the fertile fields of volcanic earth.
One of the families working on the estate was Victor Depaz, who was in Paris as a student when, on 8 May 1902, the volcano erupted, razing the whole area to the ground and causing over thirty thousand deaths. The only survivor of his family, in 1917 Victor decided to buy the 521 hectares of the Montagne and rebuild a distillery, the first and only one on the mountain: a real challenge, which proved to be successful.
Reconstruction work began in 1922 and then, in the 1950s, the distillery passed into the hands of his sons André and Raoul, who began the modernisation process that led Depaz to become the distillery the distillery we know today.
PRODUCTION METHODS
Depaz rums are made from pure juice of the freshest sugar cane, which is transported to the distillery immediately after harvest in February. Here, the cane is immediately pressed, in order to keep the aromas intact.
At Depaz, fermentation takes at least 48 hours, using selected yeasts. The yeast is dissolved in the freshly pressed juice, to which water has been added through mills driven by the power of the steam engine.
The AOC specification stipulates a minimum fermentation time of 36 hours, but in order to create greater complexity, Depaz has chosen to extend this time even further. The resulting fermented wine is called vin de canne and has an alcohol content of between 5 and 6 degrees, ready to be distilled.
Distillation takes place in two French-style copper Creole columns, formed from a single column of traditional mould. The columns produce a pure juice rum at a maximum alcohol content of 70°, with a very intense aromatic richness, typical of rhum agricoles, and regulated at a minimum of 225 gr/hlap, as required by the AOC specification.
Depaz keeps 5,400 barrels in its stores for ageing, as well as 8 foudres of 1,000 litres and 3 of 4,000 litres, in wood from the French forests of Charente.
DEPAZ TASTING KIT
The different expressions of Depaz in a unique gift box that contains a mini-tasting trail to explore Martinique's agricultural rums.
- Blanc
- Vieux
- VSOP
- XO
Buy the Depaz Tasting Kit exclusively at Spirit Academy, for yourself or as a gourmet gift.
