AOC

[Ed Hamilton]

AOC, Appelation Origine Controllee, is the official designation for agricole rhums made in Martinique. It took years for this to come into effect, getting a dozen competitors to agree on anything is difficult, especially in a small market.

AOC rhums are only found in Martinique, and now they are quick to tell you that AOC rhums are the best, and that Guadeloupe rhums aren't as good. Don't believe everything you read, or hear.

And now, the rest of the story, or at least part of it.

The complete regulations comprise a stack of papers inches thick, that is growing as we drink. The gist of the requirements are that the rhum has to be made from fresh sugar cane juice. This means that it is impossible to import cane from another island or sugar cane syrup for that matter.

Secondly, it must be distilled to about 70 - 72% alcohol by volume. The type of distillation column isn't specified but everyone uses a single column still. And everyone is recognizing the advantages of copper in the still, in spite of the fact that a copper still requires more maintenance. For rhum blanc, the fresh rhum has to be stored for at least three months before bottling so the rhum can rest. During this time the rhum gives off some of the light esters formed during fermentation.

To be called rhum vieux, it must be aged at least 3 years in oak barrels of less than 650 liter capacity. In reality, almost every barrel is less than about 250 liters, most are in the 168 liter range. In the French islands, if the rhum is in the barrel by July 1, it is one year old on that date. In the US, it has to be aged 365 days to be considered a year old. But recognizing that longer is better, most distillers don't try to push the shorter time to the limit. And they recognize that rhum agricole that is exported must adhere to different rules.

Years ago, St James began marketing Rhum Paille, pronounced pie, but a few years ago they started enforcing their trademarked name and now other distillers are calling their rhums, which have aged at least 18 months in large vats and have a straw color, such monikers as Ambre and Dore.

There is no restriction on caramel coloring for AOC rhums that I'm aware of, and some are colored more than others.

If the rhum is bottled at the distillery and has rhum agricole on the label you can be sure that it is made from sugar cane juice and is rhum agricole. But I know of at least one unaged rhum agricole that is colored with caramel and bottled at 40% alc by vol, as opposed the 50 or 55% alc found in the islands. That particular rhum is only exported to Germany, no word yet on the popularity of this new blend.

I've been trying to translate the entirity of the regulations, but believe me, it isn't easy, especially in the islands.

I was surprised to learn that not all sugar cane grown in Martinique can be used to make rhum agricole. If the fields don't have good drainage, the cane grown doesn't have enough sugar content and is used to make sugar. The French islands are some of the last to support the sugar industry. Barbados is the only other island where sugar is still being made. Trinidad gave it up last year and will be selling off the old mills as soon as someone buys them.