Isautier 5 Ans d’Age 70cl 40%Vol

Description

During the reign of King Louis Philippe 1st of France, Louis and Charles Isautier set out from mainland France and sailed across the oceans to move to Réunion Island. Fascinated by the island and its wealth of sugar cane, they founded the family business in 1845. Six successive generations of the Isautier family have built up the distinguished history of the oldest distillery on Réunion Island. Louis and Charles established the Isautier family business, which bears the same name to this day. It is the oldest rum distillery on Reunion Island and the oldest business on the island today. Six successive generations have passed on their knowledge, creating an epic story which spans nearly two hundred years.

The entire Isautier team – including Master blender Marie Ferrand, oenologist Matthieu Cosse and the Isautier family – are deeply passionate about the Isautier style of rum. Their perfectionist approach is enhanced by their outstanding savoir-faire and their unique method of ageing rum.

Reunion Island is an intensely tropical volcanic island in the Indian Ocean. The island came into being around three million years ago and embodies all the contrasting features of the Mascarene Archipelago – comprising the islands of Reunion, Maurice and Rodrigues. These dramatic forces of nature gave rise to soils and sub soils with exceptional qualities: the volcanic ash produces highly fertile soil which is rich in minerals – a perfect growing medium for sugar cane. At high altitudes the soil is clay, but lower down nearer the ocean, it becomes sandy and rich in humus. And it is here that the sugar cane thrives, engorged with superb freshness and taste. For centuries, it has dominated the landscape as far as the eye can see, covering some 23,000 hectares and tended by 3,000 planters.

Agricultural rum is made from sugar cane juice. The sugar cane is sourced from traditional planters and harvested from fields covering hundreds of hectares. The sugar cane is crushed and the extracted juice is fermented, producing a wine with 10% alcohol content by volume. Distilling the wine slowly for six hours produces a white rum with an alcohol strength of 69 to 74% by volume. The rum has delightful perfumes of frangipane and patisserie; it is an expressive, generous rum with substantial character.

Traditional rum is made from molasses (produced from refining sugar). Water and yeasts are added to start the fermentation process. Following fermentation, the juice – wine- has an alcohol content of around 8% by volume. The wine is distilled in a column still: it is brought to boiling point in one column and the alcohol vapour passes into a second, narrower column. In this concentration column, the aromatic compounds are separated – a particularly crucial stage for the Isautier distillers who use their expert knowledge to carefully judge the different constituent elements.

A true emblem of local culture, Isautier white rums are very much part of Réunion Island heritage. Since 1845, Isautier has furthered this tradition and has become the gold standard for these rums.
From among the white rums, batches that reveal particular potential are carefully selected and set aside for ageing. These rums are nurtured in the Isautier cellars for 6 to 14 months in new French oak barrels, followed by ageing in older barrels known as ‘fûts roux’. Each individual batch receives individual attention. Over the years, the rums become enriched by fine, subtle notes lent by the oak. During barrel-making, the oak is toasted according to the stringent criteria set out by Isautier oenologist Matthieu Cosse to achieve the desired aromatic palette and superb richness. Selecting barrels for the ageing process is of the utmost importance: Isautier chooses new barrels to lend colour and aromatic richness and ‘fûts roux’ (that have previously housed Isautier rum) to ‘oxygenate’ the rum and lend the desired roundness. Depending on how the rum develops during the ageing process, the carefully judged use of different barrels for different periods of time enhances the subtle balance of Isautier rums, underpinning their quality.