For years, Martinique’s Rhum Depaz has been making some of the Caribbean’s most extraordinary rums, in large part thanks to its spectacular terroir at the base of the island’s imposing Mont Pelee volcano. 

If you’ve followed these pages, you’ve seen us swoon over expressions like its seminal VSOP, or the remarkable Cuvee Prestige, the latter being a former Rhum Agricole of the Year. 

The company has for most of the last decade had an outstanding, stable collection of aged rums (not to mention its fabulous rhum blanc expressions), centered around the traditional French categorizations, from VO to VSOP to XO and some lovely port finishes. 

The last few years have seen something different. Depaz has begun to release new, smaller batch rums, from small casks to new agings. 

The newest one is particularly interesting. 

It’s called the Cuvee Volutes, volutes being the French word for “spirals” — as in, the spirals of smoke that come while smoking a fine cigar. 

And that’s precisely the point of this new expression: it’s a rhum agricole explicitly designed for pairing with a cigar. (Think of it as the French Caribbean version of Havana Club’s famous Union rum, which was made for enjoying with a Cohiba). 

It’s an XO, meaning a blend with a minimum of six years of aging (though mostly far more than that), but what’s fascinating here is the blend goes through three stages: first resting in ex-bourbon casks, then virgin American oak, then single malt whisky casks. 

The result is unique. The nose has notes of stone fruit, sea salt and raspberry; the flavor profile is marked by confectioner’s sugar, smoked sea salt, peat, dried fruit and caramel. 

It’s a pliant yet tenacious rum that stands up well with a cigar, somehow deepening as the smoke goes on. Depaz’s unmistakable minerality, rooted in its volcanic-soil cane, marries effortlessly with the earthiness of a cigar, in this case a Davidoff Nicaragua box-pressed toro. 

As you sip it with the cigar, it just keeps getting better. Just like Rhum Depaz. 

Rum Journal Rating: 95 Points