Exclusive Interview with Mr. Marc Sassier, Oenologist for Saint James

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Q: What is your full name, title, company name and company location?

Marc SASSIER

Oenologist for SAINT JAMES

Sainte-Marie, Martinique

Diploma: Agronomist & Oenologist

Engineer

Q: For those not familiar with the title of Oenologist , could you explain to our readers your job functions? Also, how long have you been with Saint James and what prepared you for this position?

I’ve been working at SAINT JAMES for 5 years.

My oenologist diploma first concerned wines. It’s my tasting skills and knowledge of the winemaking process which allowed me to obtain my first job in Martinique as an A.O.C. inspector, and then obtain a job at SAINT JAMES to develop, among others, the range of Old Rums.

If the elaboration of a new white or old rum is a very interesting task, from a conceptual and aromatic aspect, the majority of my work consists in following during 100 days in a row the harvest (fermenting choices, distillations, allocation of produced rums) but also in keeping schedule of the bottlings and keeping track for the customs.

Q: I understand that in 2015 you were a part of the creation of Cuvée 1765 which was a rhum developed to mark Saint James’ 250th anniversary. Can you describe the process involved in creating this jewel? Also, what did it mean to you, to be a part of such an important release?

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of a brand is to try and share its history. With the help of a historian we developed a whole book on the subject, but also a unique 250th Anniversary Cuvée. We could have bet only on a bottle, or the image, but last we decided to focus on our core business, that’s to say Agricole Rum. Therefore, bearing in mind that SAINT JAMES invented the first ever Rum vintage in 1884 (the first one to be commercialized was in 1885). I put forward the idea of launching a Cuvée elaborated from a blend of the best vintages in SAINT JAMES history.

By the way, you must note that SAINT JAMES holds the greatest stock of vintages in Martinique, from 1885 to present. 

SAINT JAMES has always been trendsetting in its approach towards Rum, being the first ever deposited brand of Agricole Rum, with its iconic square bottle. We had to pay tribute to the history and the men who left us this heritage. This Cuvée presents the evolution of the brand throughout the evolution of elaboration processes: from heated cane juice (1885 and 1934), to harmonization of the pasteurization methods = improved control of the fermentation (1952 and 1976), but also the A.O.C. switch (1998 and 2000).

Q: You were also elected president of the AOC Martinique recently, congratulations! Can you tell us what the AOC Martinique is about and about your new role as its president? How does your new position affect your current responsibilities with Saint James?

From an inter-professional point of view, I already have been fore more than ten years President and instructor in the A.O.C. Tasting Commission, which is the ultimate step in Agricole Rum approval from Martinique.

My election at the A.O.C. presidency is a sign of the will to follow this long and difficult challenge, initiated on the 5th of November 1996 (the first request dating back to 1974) and which celebrates its 20th anniversary today.

In the large world of Rum, we have specificity, the role of the President is to defend and promote our excellence, renowned by an A.O.C., for all our Agricole distilleries, and therefore with strict and qualitative criteria in order to produce the best Rum from the Martinique terroir.

The A.O.C. is outside our own borders and represents a guarantee of a product “à la française” which allows us to sell in more than 80 countries around the world.

Q: We at “Got Rum?” enjoy Rhum Agricole regularly, we also dedicate our November issue to it every year. What are your comments and recommendations for those readers of ours who have not tried agricole rhums yet?

Agricole Rhum was created in the French Indies, where Martinique is the first worldwide producer, but still represents less than 1.5% of global Rum sales, which makes it a rare product.

Agricole Rhum from Martinique is the most “natural” Rum there is. 

When we think of Rums, we intuitively think of a simple elaboration process: sugarcane harvest, then crush the cane, ferment the juice and then distill. This is Agricole Rhum.

All the rest is Rum elaborated from molasses, the residue of the sugar industry. This elaboration implies heating, then concentrating, the elimination of impurities which give a burnt sugar taste, etc…

With French Agricole Rum there is no concentration or purification process, therefore in the Rum that exits the distillation column you can find the cane juice base component.

For the A.O.C. Martinique, it’s forbidden to remove anything during the distillation; therefore you’ll be even closer to an “original” Rum.

But beware, this original Rum cannot have any added sweetening or flavoring, it can surprise by its intensity and its aromatic component. Taste it pure to (re)discover the taste of sugarcane juice, and then let your imagination take over: in a traditional Ti-Punch or in a cocktail (Rhum Agricole will give personality and originality to any cocktail). 

Q: What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen since you started working in the rhum industry? What are some of the biggest challenges in the road ahead, for rum in general and for rhum agricole in particular?

The gamble of the A.O.C., born several decades ago is already a success, which must be sustained. The choice of the A.O.C. was strategic and life-saving for Agricole Rum from Martinique. It was really a daring gamble, as it can appear not natural to add ourselves even more constraints and to have them approved by the French state, but it was rewarding given the aura we have today, amongst the diversity of the offer on the Rum market.

This A.O.C. allowed producers to identify themselves to their Rums, to give more notoriety to the Rums, to associate them with tourism, and to foster the enlargement of the offer in matters of ageing, up to a point today when Martinique has the biggest stock of Old Agricole Rums amongst the French territories.

We have on one side the taste, but also the transparency of our elaboration process, which lacks for many other Rums.

Often the other regulations are much more open or have a different philosophy (Solera system, sugar, flavoring, etc…) which can lead to a lot of confusion in the Rum market.

Our biggest challenge is to protect the denomination “Agricole” from envying similarities. 

Q: If people want to contact you, how may they reach you?

By searching you can easily find me on Facebook, it’s a personal account (but deals a lot with Agricole Rhum) or on site in Martinique. ;-)

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

I hope to see you soon on our island, on the road throughout the different distilleries scattered on the way, which will offer beautiful sites and complete change of scenery.

Thank you very much for your interest in Agricole Rhum from Martinique. There are many brands produced throughout the island and I hope your readers will be inspired to come and taste the diversity we offer and that they will find the style that they like with our originality. Cheers!

Margaret: Once again Marc, thank you very much for this opportunity and your insights into the world of Rhum Agricole. I wish you all the very best!

Margaret Ayala, Publisher