Habitation St Etienne Parcellaire Rhum Blanc Agricole Rum (700ml)

Aiming to demonstrate the nuances of Agricole Blanc, HSE is focusing on different cane varieties and terroirs. "Parcellaire #2" is a distillation of pure sugar cane juice from the Verger and Coulon plots in 2019. The R570 cane variety, also called "golden cane" or "straw cane" has been harvested. Creole distillation and resting in steel tanks has captured classic agricole aromatics of green olive brine, mustard pickles, unripe citrus, wax and white pepper. Grassy, pungent and a little fiery, the profile extends to flavours of castor sugar and baking spices with green capsicum lifting the finish. So typical of the category at high strength, this perky, peppery spirit is completely engaging on its own, but will pop in exotic cocktails. 55% Alc./Vol. Tasted from a 30ml sample.

Other reviews... The differences between the regular run of blancs from HSE and this one can be chalked up to miniscule divergences deriving from batch variation rather than anything so refined.  Admittedly though, I’m not a professional sommelier, and lack the experience such people bring to sensing gradations of wine hailing from neighboring vinyards in France – so someone with a more finely tuned snoot may take more away from this than I did. But I liked it. I liked it a lot. Above, I wrote that really good whites are either cheerfully rude or deceptively polite:  this one tilts slightly more towards the latter while still remembering its objurgatory antecedents. It’s an enormously drinkable dram, near perfect strength, with wonderfully delicate and strong tastes mixing up both sweet and salt in a terrific white rhum.  You could drink it alone or mix it as you please, and you’d enjoy it either way, with nothing but a nod of appreciation for what HSE have achieved here with such seeming effortlessness. And for its price? This thing may just be an undiscovered steal. - thelonecaner.com