Rum 970 Agricola de Maderia Reserva Ans 6 Anos. This Agricole style rum was produced at the Engenhos do Norte (North Milling Company) Distillery, on the Portuguese island of Madeira. Which is (unsurprisingly) more famous for being the home of Madeira wine.

Rum 970 Agricola de Madeira Reserva Ans 6 Anos is, as mentioned already, produced in an agricole style from freshly pressed cane juice. The rums at Engenhos do Norte are, from what I gather produced on both Copper Pot and a Barbet Column stills. This rum (if I have translated the rear label correctly) is produced on a Copper Pot “Alembic” Still. The rum has been aged for a minimum of 6 years on Madeira. The ABV is a respectable 40%. This rum is one of Engenhos do Nortes continuous brands. I paid £40 for a 70cl bottle. Other than Oak Casks I am unsure as to what barrels this was aged in – I suspect ex-Madeira but could be completely wrong.

Presentation wise you get a 3/4 size stubby style bottle with a synthetic cork closure. The design is fairly modern and you get a fair amount of information about Engenhos do Norte and the rum on the rear label. Unfortunately for me, it is all in Portuguese.

Engenhos do Norte are more “famous” for their Rum North bottlings, which have grown in popularity over the past couple of years. Along with William Hinton rum Portuguese/Madeira Agricole Rhum is growing a bit of a cult following. Appearances at the London Rum Fest have done its profile no harm. Awareness amongst Rum Enthusiasts is growing steadily.

With that in mind I think we will move onto the tasting of this rhum.

When poured Rum 970 Agricola de Madeira is a very dark and quite dense liquid. It’s a very dark brown with an orange hue.

The aromas on the nose are best described as fortified – huge wafts of port, sherry and tannic red wine. It’s pretty intense stuff. Despite the port and sherry notes it isn’t overly sweet. There is quite a lot of oak which combines with more familiar aged agricole notes to balance the overall experience.

I get the feeling the barrels used to produce this rum are quite well used. It has a slightly “musty” note to it which wrestles a little with the sweeter grassy agricole notes.

Sipped the rum is quite floral. It’s sweet and very rich. It’s intensely flavoured. The initial entry is very sugary but this quickly fades into an almost herbal and quite grassy taste. It has a slight bitterness to it – almost Angostura like at times.

This is quite a complex rum but it is not 100% balanced. It’s a little dry. The finish in particular. It’s very much like a red wine but with some added oak chips. The finish is long but a little strange – again you get a slightly old, musty flavour,

Flavourwise it has a briny/herbal note that I haven’t really experienced all that often. It is quite distinct even for an agricole rum.

It’s not a rum to mix – it’s just a bit to dominant to really work like that and it does work best as a sipper. Small sips are the best way with this rum. It’s very intensely flavoured.

Overall this is a decent rum at a good price. I don’t think everyone will enjoy this – some people will enjoy it a lot. Some will be left cold by its very heavy red wine notes. If you like intense fruity dry red wine then you will probably really enjoy this.

It has notes which remind me of Rhum Agricole from French-speaking islands such as Guadeloupe and Martinique but more surprisingly I also find hints of St Lucian/Fiji rumin its make up. Slightly briny, salty and herbal notes.

If you want to try an Agricolewith a bit of a twist give this a whirl.