Isle of Fiji Rum (700 ml)

Alexandre Gabriel's Plantation project revived a practice dormant since the 19th century: shipping Caribbean rum to European cellars for a second maturation, mirroring the dock-ageing tradition once common in Bristol and Bordeaux. The Isle of Fiji expression sources its distillate from the Rum Co. of Fiji, using a sugarcane-derived base fermented and distilled on the volcanic South Pacific island before beginning its two-stage journey. Stage one sees the spirit mature tropically for 8–15 years in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels, where the tropical climate drives an angel's share of 6–7% annually — concentrating the distillate at a rate more than double what French cellars would achieve. Stage two moves the rum to Château de Bonbonnet, Ars, Charentes, where ex-Ferrand French oak Cognac casks layer dried-fruit depth and baking-spice structure onto the tropical core. The result carries the maritime and volcanic character of a South Pacific terroir that no Barbados or Jamaican expression in the Plantation range can replicate — Fiji's cane-derived base and equatorial fermentation profile produce a distinctly floral, grassy register absent from molasses-driven peers. Select expressions also receive Plantation's Cognac-style dosage: toasted brown sugar aged one year in Ferrand Cognac barrels, added as a flavour-enhancing syrup rather than a blunt sweetener. As a non-vintage blend, drinking window is open now.